Antiques are old, valuable items, often pieces of furniture. Not everyone knows where to put their antiques. You can have an antique car in the garage, while an antique picture can go in a frame on a wall. Read on to learn the proper way to display antique items in your home.
Antiques Are Fragile
The most important thing to remember when displaying antique items is that they are fragile. Antiques are typically made of finer materials, and they are even more fragile when considering their age. Because of this, you need to display them safely. That means potentially putting them in a curio cabinet or other display case, on a shelf that is not disturbed very often, or up high somewhere.
That said, you don’t want to put your antiques so far away that no one can appreciate them. You must find a balance. You can start by weighing the personal importance of each antique and then take inventory of your home so everything can have a place of prominence but remain safe.
Show the Items Respect
Some antiques hold cultural significance, so it’s important to show these items respect. It can be difficult to know exactly what that respect may look like since everything is different, but do some research and find out. For example, if you have an antique clock, maybe take it to an expert to find out the clock’s age or function and if you can have it repaired and cleaned. Hanging up a working antique clock is monumentally better than sitting a broken one on a bookshelf to collect dust.
Similarly, if one of your ancestors passed an American flag down to you, figure out how to frame it and fold it properly. There is a strict code about how flags can be handled and displayed, and you must follow that code. If you hang up a historical flag improperly, it won’t look great, and you will dishonor the flag and the person who gave it to you.
Create a Theme
Another important consideration you must make when displaying antique items is whether to keep them as one-off items or create a theme around them. For example, many people collect older jewelry or even silverware like spoons, and they’ll create display cases for them. Display cases are terrific because the case itself can serve as a decoration, and it’s also a terrific way to keep pieces safe.
This strategy is a great way to display antiques, but many other antiques don’t fit into a theme. If you don’t have many of the same kinds of antiques, you can create an antique shelf and display them all together! They might not all look the same, but the overall aesthetic will look great in any room.
A home typically needs some decorations to look and feel beautiful, and when you properly display antique items in your home, that beauty is easy to achieve. It is your home, and you can do what you want with it. Antiques are a beautiful way to give a space charm, but you must display them in a way that accentuates their beauty and history.
