Interior Decorating With and Around Your Hobbies
by Kate McIntyrekate.mcIntyre@interiordesignschoolreview.com
Interior Design School Review Columnist
Hobbies and collecting enrich our lives, but they can often clutter our homes. Whether you are a knitting aficionado or a fishing enthusiast, your hobbies may have a tendency to spread into your home, from stray knitting needles peeking out from under couch cushions, to rolls of fishing line unfurling across the living room. You may need an interior decorating compromise: a way to display the attractive parts of your hobbies while hiding the less interior-design-friendly parts.
Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind: Interior Decorating Tips for Hobby Storage
- Scour thrift stores and flea markets for vintage suitcases. You can put your hobby gear in them then stack them up to use as a side table. Your hobby supplies are still easily accessible, and the suitcases will complement your interior decorating rather than clashing with it.
- Build shelves along one wall of a room. Use them to hold your collection of books, sewing supplies, or other small items. You can display the more attractive items and get storage bins for the less attractive ones. Books make a bigger, more cohesive statement if they are organized by color and size rather than by subject matter and author. Experiment to find an appealing configuration.
Interior Decorating Tips for Displaying Your Hobby
Smaller objects, such as a marble collection or a group of antique fishing lures, make a big interior design statement when they are massed together in a glass canister on your mantel or coffee table. As an added bonus, you will have more time to admire them in their new prominent location.If you find that you enjoy interior decorating, you might want to consider adding a new hobby to your line-up: interior design. You can find courses at interior design schools in your community. They will give you a solid grounding in interior design theory to pair with your own inspiration and talent.
About the Author
Kate McIntyre is a writer in Portland, Oregon. She holds a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.F.A. in fiction writing from Oregon State University.
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