From House To Home

Q: Dear Christopher: My wife is about to inherit a major doll collection from her grandmother’s estate. She’s overjoyed. I’m worried. There are over a hundred of them and we live in a small home. I’m afraid I’ll turn into the driveway one day and meet Barbie at the front door. I don’t want to be a downer but I gotta live here too. Nick in Conrad, MT

A: Got it loud and clear. With collections people make two major mistakes. First, understand that not every piece has to be open to the public—meaning on display. You don’t have to destroy any of the pieces, just edit them down to the best like every museum curator does and store the rest.
Next, don’t turn your collection pieces into room dandruff. Often we think we’ve minimized a collection by breaking it up and strewing the pieces around several rooms. This actually does the exact opposite by diminishing the power of the collection. In this case, if your collection is not kept together, people won’t know it is one. And separate little dollies all over the house could come off as real creepy!

Just remember, there is power to anything done in mass—so keep the best of the collection all in one place. I suggest a floor to ceiling and wall to wall custom cabinet in rubbed black ebony with a distressed antique finish—almost primitive and “country” in feel. This will balance out the potential “girl factor” of this subject matter. If you need more space, make two cabinets facing each other from opposite walls. Next, have the cabinets lit so they provide an ambience to the space much like lighted bookshelves in a great study. This will add importance to the collection giving it more visual value to those viewing it.

The bottom line? The more you think museum and the less she thinks dollhouse, the outcome will be something you both can live with. But if one of them looks like “Chucky,“ I’d put that in a drawer.

Q: Dear Christopher: Swear-to-God, my wife collects spools of thread. Really… thousands of them. They’re everywhere and in every color and size. What can I delicately suggest we do with them without hurting her feelings? Harvey in Lawton, OK

A: It could be worse. I know a guy whose wife collects potato peelers. But my advice is the same as above but with a different application. By arranging the spools together in an artful way, these utilitarian objects could actually tell a very artistic story and enhance whatever interior it graces, rather than distracting from it.

I suggest that you first build a giant 4’x6’ frame about 8” deep. Paint the inside black and the face and sides the same color as the woodwork of the room you decide to put it in. Once you have the frame done, install small 5” slats horizontally left to right like little shelves. Keep the spacing of the shelves only far enough apart to accommodate the height of the spools—the tighter the look, the better it will be.

Next, to hold the spools upright in position, make spikes or spindles out of finishing nails poking up through the wooden slats from the bottom. Place these every few inches to accommodate the spools but making sure that when in place, the spools are close together as possible when you’re finished. This installation method will also allow for the spools to be removed or repositioned.

After that, give order to the way each spool is presented by arranging them according to the artist’s color wheel (available at any art supply store). Like the wheel, arrange the spools by hues, starting from the warmest colored spools (reds, yellow, oranges) and moving down to the coolest (plum, violets and blues)—all lined up shelf to shelf, side by side. This deliberate placement by color will appear as modern wall art at first glance to all who see it. Then watch as people get closer to the installation, and realize what the composition really is made of. They’ll let out the “Ah-ha!“ and will be talking about it forever—but in a good way.

Q: Dear Christopher: My wife is about to inherit a major doll collection from her grandmother’s estate. She’s overjoyed. I’m worried. There are over a hundred of them and we live in a small home. I’m afraid I’ll turn into the driveway one day and meet Barbie at the front door. I don’t want to be a downer but I gotta live here too. Nick in Conrad, MT

A: Got it loud and clear. With collections people make two major mistakes. First, understand that not every piece has to be open to the public—meaning on display. You don’t have to destroy any of the pieces, just edit them down to the best like every museum curator does and store the rest.

Next, don’t turn your collection pieces into room dandruff. Often we think we’ve minimized a collection by breaking it up and strewing the pieces around several rooms. This actually does the exact opposite by diminishing the power of the collection. In this case, if your collection is not kept together, people won’t know it is one. And separate little dollies all over the house could come off as real creepy!

Just remember, there is power to anything done in mass—so keep the best of the collection all in one place. I suggest a floor to ceiling and wall to wall custom cabinet in rubbed black ebony with a distressed antique finish—almost primitive and “country” in feel. This will balance out the potential “girl factor” of this subject matter. If you need more space, make two cabinets facing each other from opposite walls. Next, have the cabinets lit so they provide an ambience to the space much like lighted bookshelves in a great study. This will add importance to the collection giving it more visual value to those viewing it.

The bottom line? The more you think museum and the less she thinks dollhouse, the outcome will be something you both can live with. But if one of them looks like “Chucky,“ I’d put that in a drawer.

Q: Dear Christopher: Swear-to-God, my wife collects spools of thread. Really… thousands of them. They’re everywhere and in every color and size. What can I delicately suggest we do with them without hurting her feelings? Harvey in Lawton, OK

A: It could be worse. I know a guy whose wife collects potato peelers. But my advice is the same as above but with a different application. By arranging the spools together in an artful way, these utilitarian objects could actually tell a very artistic story and enhance whatever interior it graces, rather than distracting from it.

I suggest that you first build a giant 4’x6’ frame about 8” deep. Paint the inside black and the face and sides the same color as the woodwork of the room you decide to put it in. Once you have the frame done, install small 5” slats horizontally left to right like little shelves. Keep the spacing of the shelves only far enough apart to accommodate the height of the spools—the tighter the look, the better it will be.

Next, to hold the spools upright in position, make spikes or spindles out of finishing nails poking up through the wooden slats from the bottom. Place these every few inches to accommodate the spools but making sure that when in place, the spools are close together as possible when you’re finished. This installation method will also allow for the spools to be removed or repositioned.

After that, give order to the way each spool is presented by arranging them according to the artist’s color wheel (available at any art supply store). Like the wheel, arrange the spools by hues, starting from the warmest colored spools (reds, yellow, oranges) and moving down to the coolest (plum, violets and blues)—all lined up shelf to shelf, side by side. This deliberate placement by color will appear as modern wall art at first glance to all who see it. Then watch as people get closer to the installation, and realize what the composition really is made of. They’ll let out the “Ah-ha!“ and will be talking about it forever—but in a good way.