Collection Display suggestions, tips, advice

Come in here to seek help or offer suggestions on great ways to display your collections!

I'll get things started and share my great love of Swedish pre-fab furniture.....

I know that for myself and a LOT of collectors, IKEA is your best friend for shelving and display cases. Their Detolf is a huge seller among collectors - they're glass cases that are about 6' tall with 4 shelves. You can put lights in them. They are HEAVY (like 100 lbs of glass and particle board,) but they are also inexpensive at $59 each you really can't beat them. I once put one together by myself, I still don't quite know how I managed that. I paid someone to put my second one together.

IKEA also has their Billy bookcases. These come in a variety of widths, heights, and colors. White are their cheapest ones. Currently their largest White Billy is on sale for $59 - $10 off. Colored versions are $79. You can buy glass doors to go on them also. Billy's are really easy to assemble. I used to be able to fling and put together the smaller ones in a really short period of time. The tall ones are heavy (they're particle board) but they do last. A lot of the cases that are similar at Walmart or Target etc are a lot flimsier than a Billy. I've moved mine across town 3 times to new places and they didn't crack, break, or get scratched. They're pretty tough. I also had my Detolfs move that number of times they moved in tact and again took zero damage to them. They're tough.

IKEA has lots of other shelves in different styles that are more expensive. They also have free floating shelves that you can hang on walls as well. They occasionally put out other sorts of display cases, so they're a good place to keep watching.

What are your favorite shelves and display items?

 

Awesome new thread!! Great idea!

I know I will have plenty of questions as I slowly revamp everything. My son wants more room to display his stuff so I must move more of my stuff to other bookcases and my bedroom. I love displaying in the bedroom because then I can look at all my stuff all the time! I have never been to IKEA. I just bought two bookcases from Sam Levitz. They are five shelf units, six shelves if you count the top of case and they are right at 70" tall.

I just looked at IKEA! I want the huge corner billy bookcase, over $300 but I have the perfect place for it in my bedroom.

 

I love IKEA, they always have great stuff.

So another great place to look is to look at either thrift shops, flea markets, or yard sales for display items. So long as the item isn't damaged, looking at it w/ eyes for updating can help to get you items that are unique and for much lower prices. It's also great to recycle older items and give them new life.

Tonight I just picked up a little wall shelf at Goodwill for $7.99. It's very girly - white with lilac in the back and a frilly wooden embellishment on the top of it. It's got either 6 or 8 cubes shelves in it. So either it's going into my craft room where girliness is 100% acceptable OR I might try to whack off the embellishment and then paint the whole thing so it'll be more Star Wars-y. The little cubes would be perfect for little displays of figures. Where will I display it exactly I'm not sure though. But I always love having options

 

I have not ever thought about second hand stores for shelving units or drawers. Duh!!

 

FYI IKEA has their Billy bookshelves all on sale through 6/24.

 

I have an 800 sq foot apartment, so my display options are awfully limited. I'm saving for a house at the moment, and part of my search will be for a room that I can use to adequately display my collection - including the Khetana.

 

Billy Bookcases FTW if you can

3:10 mark

 

I spent today working on a little reorganizing. I took my hanging 16 cubby shelf that I got at Goodwill for $8 and put it on my table, so now I have a nice place for hiding/displaying a bunch of extra fragile dinner glasses and mugs that I've had sitting around along w/ having tiny displays of some other odds and ends items.

 

Ok so my cubby shelf only has 6 cubbies on it. It looks great. I cleaned my table up and have my BB-8 playset on display also! I now need to hunt down more figures to put on it.

 

Yeah space seems to be the main problem for displaying my collection too but ikea isn't a possibillity for me.

 

Humm well if you need shelves searching places online like craigslist are good options. I see people ditching perfectly good shelves for not a lot of money so long as you can pick them up.

 

WHY didn't I think of that !!! your brilliant!!!! thanks !!!!!

 

I'm trying to figure out if there's a better way to rearrange my Star Wars room. I had it set up like it currently is because I'd had my computer in there, but my wireless internet is flaky so now I don't have a computer and a very large desk that takes up a lot of space, the back of it is covered now in stuff so if someone wants to sit in my chair in there, there's no conversation area. I've got too many boxes that are squirreled all over in there, plus the big desk is really heavy and would be difficult to move out so it's kind of stuck being in there. I need to go through all of the boxes again and be brutal on getting rid of stuff I don't need and then from there decide what I want to do. I do plan come Jan-March I'm going to get some more shelves for in there, I just need to figure out what else I could do to reorg the room.

 

I’m trying to decide if I should display stuff now or get glass cases for my stuff. The only issue is, I have very little room left for any sort of shelving.

Anyone have any suggestions.

 

Does anyone display here while also having cats? My fiancé and I just rescued two kittens, and since we haven't really built a display room yet, we were curious for suggestions.

 

I don't have cats now but I used to. If your home is large enough to devote a room just to display your collection, you could just keep the door closed to keep the cats out. They will get on top of bookcases or other high places if scared. (I have plenty of experience in this area - try hauling a cat from the top of 6 ft of bookshelves when it's time to go in the carrier for the vets or cattery.)
Alternatively, if you can afford it, get display cases with closing glass fronts for the breakables and see if they can be anchored to the wall so they won't tip over if a cat jumps up.

 

I had cats when I had 2 large bookcases w/ open shelves that displayed stuff. They didn't get on them. I kept the bottom shelves filled w/ books and my collectibles were higher. 3 different cats weren't interested in what was on the upper shelves- if they're kittens you should be able to train them to stay away from your good stuff. I would also recommend just keeping them in a room where you can close the door.

 

Cool! Thanks for the tips everyone.

 

IKEA has a new display case that SW collectors are really grooving on - it's the SAMMANHANG - a coffee table that's enclosed as a glass display case! I was just saying not long ago if I can get my giant desk out of my room I'd like to have 2 chairs w/ a coffee table between them - this would be perfect! I saw someone who was able to fit their vintage Millennium Falcon in it so it's perfect for ships.

 

I wonder how strong that is weight-wise with a glass top. Not so much for the display in it but in case a pet or child gets on top of it.

 

Yeah I don't know, I haven't seen one in person. The legs need to be mega strong if the glass they use is the same as what the Detolfs use, then the glass is going to be HEAVY. So long as the metal around it is strong it probably should be pretty sturdy. Looks like it's 48lbs.

 

Sounds a bit heavy to move for cleaning under, etc.

 

Yeah but it will take a lot of force for a dog or kid to knock it around.

 

I'm thinking more of something jumping onto the top of the table rather than knocking the legs around.

 

My ding dogs would crash into it.