It’s a common design dilemma: You pick up the odd vintage find or antique over the years, or have been lucky enough to inherit an heirloom from a relative, but then struggle to incorporate it into your more contemporary decor. Me: I had some beautiful botanical prints that used to hang on my dear grandmother’s walls passed down to me, as well as sculptures from an uncle who had a keen eye for beauty. I scored a set of quirky advertisements circa 1910 at London’s famed Portobello Road Market, and—after a very heated eBay bidding war that literally left my heart pounding and my underarms damp—won some gorgeous antique china made by my ancestors in England. I amassed a dozen more pieces of that china over the years, but I’ve never thought of myself as a “collector,” a word I associate more with the older elite who frequent auction houses and have experts procure “important” pieces for their vast homes. I treasure the vintage and antique items I do own, but I’m ashamed to say they’re all either languishing in storage or stashed away in a cabinet: in part because I’m afraid to damage them, but mostly because I’ve never known how to add them to my modern furnishing in a way that feels seamless. But recently, I realized that means some of my most interesting possessions—ones that really tell a story—were out of sight, out of mind, and collecting dust.
Incorporating heirlooms and collectibles into modern spaces is one of the things the duo does best, having styled them for magazines, retail and commercial spaces, and homes for years. Many of their display ideas are very doable, like using a silk scarf to create a throw pillow, lining the interior of a drawer with pretty cups and saucers to corral jewelry, mounting the handled lid of a tin on a wall to hang necklaces, and using a chenille bedspread to upholster a headboard. But they can also be grand statements, like lining an entire wall with etched antique mirrors in different shapes, or arranging dozens of geometric wooden pepper mills on individual pedestals on a wall in a grid to create what looks like a large-scale, modernist art installation.
Regardless of the type of collectible, they say not to fall into the “time capsule trap” of thinking antiques must live with other antiques, or that mid-century art or objects must be displayed alongside furniture from the same era. “It’s actually the juxtaposition that makes it all work,” says Karch. “David Hicks was the master of that—mixing pieces from different eras—from bold geometrics living alongside refined antiques to hanging fine art in a barn setting,” he says. “If everything in a space is shiny, bright, and new, it gets boring,” adds Robertson. “Spaces are more interesting with objects that lend a sense of history.” Here, they offer their tips for incorporating collectibles into modern design schemes that are fresh, easy, approachable, and will add that layer of patina and storytelling your home may be missing.
Objects don’t need to be pricey, precious, or stuffy to be interesting or valuable to you. A modest assortment of matchbooks that belonged to your parents can serve as a travelogue from a bygone era and a study in unusual typography. Decades-old toys and games, costume jewelry, posters and postcards, handkerchiefs, cookbooks, sports equipment, and even packaging can make for fascinating collections. Or maybe you’ve always had a thing for relics of more glamorous decades, like vintage fashion magazines, luggage, silk kimonos, bejeweled compacts, hatboxes, letter openers, or engraved cigarette cases. There are no guidelines for what you might collect—only that it be beautiful or engaging to your eye.
Harness the power of multiples.
You might think that displaying like items in a group would make them visually lost in the shuffle. But Karch and Robertson say it actually encourages the eye to take note of the variations in each individual piece. Like when you look at this array of sterling silver boxes from around the globe, your eye roves over each one, taking in the differences in the workmanship and techniques.
Group items together by theme, color, or material.
“The only rule for displaying groups of collectibles is that you have to limit something,” says Karch. “There should be a unifying palette, type of material, or sense of scale.” Here, jewel-hued Victorian-era boxes are laid out on top of (and also peeking out from underneath) a neutral-toned ottoman. They share a common fabric—sumptuous, timeworn velvet—and are arranged in stacks of similar colors for a rainbow effect.
To make a mishmash of different types of items feel cohesive, edit them by theme, or by color-blocking in one shade. “If you’re motivated by a single color, you can have a lot of fun exploring a range of items from common to rare, opaque to translucent, utilitarian to precious, rustic to fine—and in every variation of that hue,” says Karch.
Transform a bare wall into a gallery space for showing off textiles like vintage fabrics and kitschy potholders, or art such as watercolors, comics, or prints. Arranging them in a compact, allover pattern as shown here will ensure maximum impact.
Use display cases for instant polish.
Even ordinary items seem elevated with the right display. Use a tabletop vitrine like the one above, or a Lucite box, glass dome, shadow box, or specimen case to give small items a curated, pulled-together feel. “Putting a dome on anything instantly makes it feels special,” says Robertson.
Often-overlooked surfaces and nooks like the edge of a staircase, the top of a wardrobe or bookcase—even the interior of a defunct fireplace, or underneath a side table—can be the perfect perch for a whimsical tableau. Here, a pack of dog doorstops rendered in cast iron playfully trot down the staircase.
Cull together a display of small objects on a tray, and place it on a coffee table for an interactive conversation starter. In this case, the artifacts are an array of minerals like pyrite and quartz, but you could arrange any small-scale ephemera, including figurines, colored glass, or miniature architectural models. “Coffee table collections will pique visitors’ curiosity, and will encourage you to look at the things you love every day,” says Robertson.