Decorating Your Home with Sports Memorabilia

By Dee Dee Smith

Your collection is a treasure and you want to share it with family and friends.  The simplest way to do this is by incorporating your collection into your home décor.  Doing this is much easier than you think. 

First, you'll want to ensure that you have all of the accessories you need to help you in displaying your memorabilia.  Not only are these important in protecting your collectibles, but they can also make displaying them easy and attractive.  Many of these cases are very unique and appealing in themselves.  One such case is designed for a single, special baseball.  In this display the ball actually sits or rests in a golden glove.  Other unique cases include displays in the shape of a home plate, or one with your favorite team’s logo. 

Baseball bats, helmets, boxing gloves, hockey pucks, footballs and the like can all be displayed in cases.  Cases come standard with a removable glass top, mirrored back or bottom and wood base.  Some are designed for mounting, and others for desk or shelf display 

Working with multiple cases will require advanced planning on your part.  The most important issue will be what kind of base you will choose.  This decision is simple if you already have wood furniture in your home.  Thus, if you have mostly mahogany in your home, you‘ll want your display case to have a mahogany base.  Other choices include cherry, black, natural or walnut (this varies by product).  This theme should be continued with display frames and cabinets as well. 

Autographed photographs also make a great addition to any room.  Photos can be displayed in almost every room of the house but are especially attractive in recreation rooms, home offices, bedrooms, family rooms and informal living rooms.  As with any art piece, you must first find the perfect place to hang it.  You’ll want to make sure that this is someplace in which the photo (along with the autograph) can be fully viewed.  It should also be a space with adequate and appropriate lighting, and the wall colors and other décor should be complimentary to both the photo and frame.  Some places to consider hanging your photo are over the fireplace, in a wide hallway or foyer or over your bed or sofa.  Another attractive option is to hang your autographed photos in groups.  You can hang one large photo with two smaller photos, or photo mints on both sides.  Two or even three photos of equal size can also be placed side by side.  This same principle can be applied to framed jerseys. 

Decorate any room in celebration of your favorite team or player.  You can begin with one special collectible or valuable piece such as an autographed photo, tennis shoe or golf flag.  Then you would further build your décor with other accent or complimentary pieces.  A room that pays homage to a favorite player can be accented with player collages, posters, non-autographed photos, bobble heads, action figures and banners.  A room that cheers on a favorite team can be accented with team rugs, throws, clocks and wastebaskets 

Additionally, you can decorate a room based on a famous venue, an award or honor or special sporting event.  Take a recreation room and decorate it with memorabilia and collectibles from Wrigley Field.  One special piece could be a signed seat from the field displayed on a fire mantle, with a photo of the stadium hanging above.  A room can also be decorated with a sporting event theme such as the Super Bowl, March Madness or World Series, or an award or special designation such as the Baseball or Football Hall of Fame. 

Children’s rooms are another great place to highlight and share your memorabilia.  Make sure however that your collectibles are out of reach from the child, and stored away in a display case.  Today you can even get the perfect paint for your walls to match the colors of your favorite team.  Your child or young teen will be the envy of everyone in the neighborhood.  Accent your special collectibles with items such as soccer or basketball handles on your child’s dresser, team pillows and a display of non-autographed helmets strategically hung on the wall. 

The possibilities for decorating your home with your favorite sports memorabilia are endless.  With just a little creativity and thought, you can make your sports collection a part of your home décor and something you can look at, view and enjoy daily. 

Did you mean:  decorating your home with sports memoirabilia, decorating your home with sports memerobilia?