This Hoosier cabinet is a kitchen workhorse. It’s been a pantry, storage for extra dishes and large pots but most often it has been a display area for seasonal decorations and collectibles.

Several of the items in here have sentimental value; a memory tied to an experience, found or given to us by family, starting with the Hoosier itself. A gift from my sister.

This bird nest was part of the decor at my Indiana grandma’s 90th birthday party. The china belonged to my grandma in California and was lovingly shipped here by my aunt and uncle. Other items were collected over time from the flea market, thrift stores and yard sales. Some pieces are new, purchased at a discount.

The bunnies are new pieces, the leaf plates are a gift from my mom. The vintage table linens below were collected over time, mostly gifts from my sister-in-law.

“Chocolate” bunny found at TJ Maxx.

This apron was sewn by another sister. She chose cherry fabric for me because at the time we had nine cherry trees on our property.

The Fiestaware is a reminder of my Indiana Grandma and her colorful kitchen. She used Fiesta as her everyday dishes and had a glass front cabinet in her kitchen chock full of it.

These chick vases were found on a shopping trip to Dixie Pottery in Abingdon, VA with my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. They are new pieces with a vintage look.

This cookbook holder with illustrations cracks me up! If you need an infographic for how to hold a cookbook open; perhaps the cooking is best left to someone else?

My husband bought this little teacup for me. It’s hard to read the message, but it says “Be always happy”. I imagine the original owner drank her tea from it and her thumb resting on the cup wore off the word “always”.

The lemonade pitcher and glasses were a birthday gift from my sister-in-law.

Here are some tips for displaying your collectibles:

• Decide on a color scheme/theme. In this case, I’ve used all pastel and Spring/Easter items. You could go with brights, all white, monochromatic, etc.

• Group like items together. Odd numbered groupings look best.

• Vary the height of the pieces on each shelf. Try to arrange vignettes of triangles and inverted triangles. This creates movement and helps to guide the eye through your display.

• When decorating shelves or bookcases, group colors and stagger them from right to left in a vertical zig-zag pattern.

• Most importantly, use what you love! From the outside looking in, this may seem like a strange group of unrelated pieces, but nearly every item reminds me of an experience or someone I love. And that is the real story of my home and yours.

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