I collect perfume bottles. Some artisan made and signed, some Czech glass, some Murano, some Egyptian, some Fenton, and one vaseline glass. I keep them all on a very long mirrored shelf with a captain's rail beneath a set of windows in my MBR. Keeping them out of a case means I have to dust them often, but I kind of like handling them to do it. If you're concerned about breakage, you can use museum putty to keep them in place. I haven't seen my camera in about a week, but I'll try to remember to post a pic once I find it.

I collect Radko ornaments from cities or resorts I've visited or big events, like olympics, etc. Of course, they're displayed each year on my Christmas tree! I also collect antique writing boxes, work boxes, tea caddies and they are all over my house. And the last thing I can't keep my hands off of are dogs...mostly spaniel types, but I have them in ceramic, wood, heavy iron, etc. Sorry, but I dont have any good ideas on where to display your lamps.

I collect Watt Pottery and they'll be displayed in the kitchen when it's finished, some in groups, some standing alone because of their various sizes.

I also collect Royal Doulton's Pretty Ladies of various sizes, and they'll go in my lighted curio cabinet, along with other things.

If I had your lamp collection and no small children or active teenagers, I'd display them in every single room and use them! I think they'd make each room unique. And the chances of them breaking are probably slim, and if one does, well, it does. Enjoy them now while you can!

Shine, please post pictures. We are visual people -- decorating is visual. :o)

Did you see this picture that Dana posted over on my pretty cabinet insides post?

Why not build something like that for your lamps?

If I collected electric lamps I would have them on all over the house with small wattage bulbs - out of courtesy to my DH who likes a low electric bill - but I'd use and enjoy them. However your enclosed wine cabinet in your dining room would also be a good place to display them. You could see them daily and perhaps arrange it so they can be plugged in in the cabinet.

I collect various things - silver holloware, art glass and other glass things, handmade pottery, plates, and original oil paintings and use them or at least look at them all every day. No point in having something if one doesn't get pleasure from it IMO. Sure there is always the risk of damage but the enjoyment rates higher for me than the risk. I'm a bit of a klutz, my DH is not always careful, and we have three cats who sometimes knock things over but we have very little breakage around here. Amazing.

I'm not saving my stuff for succeeding generations to enjoy. They are more likely to sell it or toss it.

My last "collecting phase" was several years ago when I started a small (5) collection of ladies mannequin heads from the 1930ties & 40ties. Which necessitated a small collection of ladies hats from the same period....the more outrageous the better. I have one "lady" in the front hall--frequently known as foyer, but that sounds much too pretentious---, three in the living room at various points, & one in the dining room.

Although I've mentioned previously that once I like the look of a room, I don't change it for decades (save for different fresh flowers & plants...keeps life simple), I have been known to switch hats around.

I collect flower frogs. A few years ago, DH made some shelf supports for some old jalousie window glass he acquired, and they are displayed on those. And yes, I use most of the frogs,

Which reminds me, I need (really NEED) to clean the shelves and run the frogs through the dishwasher! They're a disgrace! But they make a nice wall display, when they're clean.

I collect art. The fairly small TV room I'm sitting in has 21 pieces, mostly oils, some drawings and a few prints, some of them rather large. Not every room is filled to that extent but every room, even the three bathrooms, has art in it. I can't live without art any more than I can live without books. At the same time, I've never thought of art as a collection. At one time I collected owls, but have very few left. I also collected porcelain, but most of it I don't display any more. I have a feeling my "collection" days are over.

1) I have a collection of just about a dozen art-glass paperweights, about 7 inches in circumference, and those are now lined up on my fireplace mantel, next to a large framed photograph that's a closeup of a beautiful orchid leaf. That collection is complete, as far as I am concerned.

2) I used to "collect" glass photo frames (like cut-glass types, and the Mikasa ones), but I had to give myself an intervention! Now I have about 20, with my family photos in them (recent as well as vintage photos), on a very long buffet cabinet thingie near my dining room table (I have an open-space combined LR/DR in my townhouse). All of the other frames--many, many frames--will go out in a yard sale soon. But I still can't keep myself from browsing the frame aisles in stores--tho I have not purchased any additional ones. So that collection is complete, too. Yeah, me!

3) I have a more ongoing collection of dreidels, the spinning tops that are used during the holiday of Chanukah, and those are on bookshelves in the guestroom (the bookshelves hold only knicknacks, not any books). I chose to keep those on open shelves so any guest can feel free to touch them and give them a spin.

I think it's a better look to keep most of the items in a single collection in a single space, then put just 2 or 3 in other places in the house just for your enjoyment. But for your lighting pieces, I wonder if they all need a little space, since it might be that if they're kept together, no one will notice the individuality of each piece.

I'm usually a lurker - I like to see everyone's ideas, but never feel I have much to contribute. I do have a strange collection - I collect old medicine tins and bottles and bathroom items. My husband put up a small shelf with pegs all the way around the main bathroom (not the master bath) and I have them displayed there. I get a lot of comments. The wallpaper looks like old newspaper print, mostly advertisements for ladies items. Above the shelf I painted a taupe color, then sponged over it with white so it looks kind of lacey. I have a small flat basket sitting on the back of the commode full of small sample tins - I love those the most. That is what I originally started to collect when we had a smaller house. They were cheap and I could actually BUY something at the antique stores. Then the hobby got out of hand. The long underwear belonged to my father-in-law as a child. I have a larger pair hanging on the back of the bathroom door. I am still looking for a pr. of bloomers.

I agree with the others - get the lamps out where you can enjoy them. We just sold my aunt's stuff at auction and the things she treasured didn't mean much to anybody else - didn't bring big prices. You might as well enjoy them.

Arlene

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I don't collect anymore but I have a large number of hand turned wooden bowls . They are everywhere throughout the house. I also have lots of art and it is everywhere also . If I see something again in my travels I may add to what I have but so far in the past 2 1/2 yrs I haven't seen anything that "spoke " to me . I would love to see your lamps they sound wonderful. c

luvs2click, now *that* is a brilliantly-displayed collection! I love it because it's in the room that the pieces normally would have been in as functional elements, but made into design elements instead, with their functional significance still resonating. Great work, DH :)

I'm finding myself collecting NW Studio art pottery and Blenko/studio glass, and a bit of vintage NW fiber art and other craft...the last is the most challenging to display, since it takes up so much room! We're planning to create some dedicated, fishing-line-protected shelves in the living room for the glass, so it can be up where we can see the sculptural lines.

I like collections of originally non-decorative items displayed where they would normally have been used. I could see tiny lamps being displayed somehow near their larger cousins, in a few places throughout the house, rather than isolated from function in a display shelf somewhere. I have a vision of maybe two other little lamps put on a little riser near a larger functioning lamp, and repeat that maybe two other places in the house. Rotate the collection. That way, the lamps are in dynamic conversation with their environment and you get a sum that is more than its parts, iykwim.

Decorative items? Somehow in significant groupings or in such a way that each one can be appreciated, rather than the whole seen as one big obsessive mass LOL (I'm not excluding myself from this -- a bit afraid of the day my Blenko/glass collection tips this point).

I try to keep it small, "turtles"....a shelf in the media center holds several,prints on the dinningroom wall, soap dish in the bathroom,candy dish in the livingroom...I added those to the picture...
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I think it would look neat if you can have smaller collections through out the house. Maybe by color or shape? That way people can really enjoy the beauty of them.

I have a couple of collections but I am trying to get up the nerve to get rid of some to the pieces aren't really interesting any more to me. I collect art, glass paper weights, cake and pastery stands, cow salt & pepper shakers, cookbooks and pictures of the grandkids.

With the new house, I just don't have the right places to display many of them. The cake & pastery stands are on the top of my cabinets in the laundry room. I tried so many other places but none looked right. I like to have them somewhat handy to use when we have parties.

The glass paper weights will go into my library after the shelves are built inter mingled with my books. The cook books live in my pantry except of one I keep on display in the kitchen. that one varies depending on my mood.

the grandkid pictures is the only thing that I found a good answer too. After christmas, I purchase the frames that go on christmas trees and put the smaller pictures in there. Each year it is so much fun to look at the pictures and remember the event or year. The kids enjoy finding their pictures also.

I was just thinking about WHERE to put some collections I have too. I saw this huge double glass antique mahagany door on CL and the lady said she was going to build a box for the back and make it into a display and never did..only wanted 90 bucks! Too bad you don't live in AL!

I have a collection of porcelain dolls from when I was young and my dad (Army) would bring them to me when he visited somewhere or if we lived there.

I also have tons of foreign money from the same thing, and spoons, which my grandma got me to collect from around the age of 4.

I have NONE of it displayed, mainly because i've never lived in a home since college that warranted the room (I'm almost 30....6 months left in the twenties...YIKES!) and now have the space...just trying to find where and what to display them in...

I probably will not display the dolls...i've always thought that was a little creepy for some reason since i've gotten older.

Maybe you could do some sort of build in bookcase, or an open hutch, or something painted a really cool color, or just black...i'd check CL

I'm searching right now for one of those lingerie chests or apothocary chests with all the tiny drawers...i think they have so much character and want one to re-finish!

Hi again!! I am very thankful for everyone response, and your great ideas! I have a pic of some of my lamps, and I am trying to figure out how to post it. Wish I could just paste it here, lol.

KF, I had to LOL about your foyer remark. So true! Most people don't have a foyer in the correct sense of the word. I accidentally called our entry way a "foyer" last week and my dh asked me what I was talking about. lol It just slipped out because I have never called it a foyer before. So I looked it up, and unless I move into a mansion, it will always be an entry way to me. :)

Posting pic (trying)

shine, you have a NICE collection. I agree with everyone - you need to get the lamps out where you can enjoy them. I like oceanna's suggestion of a cabinet with a cubbyhole for each one.

Thanks for letting me know you posted the pic. These are PRECIOUS lamps. I sure hope you will put them out so everyone can enjoy them. What a lovely treasure. c

Luvs2click: having worked in medicine for many years, I got the BIGGEST chuckle at seeing your old hospital urinal and bedpan displayed in your collection! Brings back a lot of memories ;^P

Shine, I collect Cottageware from England and Occupied Japan. These are kitchenware pieces, mainly from the Forties and Fifties, such as coffee & teapots, sugar & creamers, flour, sugar and other storage jars, etc. Although I do occasionally use them, I keep them displayed on top of my laundry room upper cabs. To spotlight some of the smaller pieces, I perch them on old cake stands. I know that a laundry room sounds like a strange place for them, but it works for me, as I'm redoing it in a Forties theme.
Lynn