Here's mine, I have old pieces of cut crystal, a few pieces of coral, a brass ship, odds and ends of things, I cherish, my curio is in my front entry..

Books are a great addition! I have two hutches, one in the DR and one in the MBR. Each contains books, small framed paintings and photos, pewter coffee sets, some *objets" (aka knickknacks), and candles. I don't have current pictures, as one hutch is empty and covered with a dropcloth, and its contents have been crammed into the other one until the MBR remodel is complete.

A suggestion if you go with books. Keep them neat and straight; and if possible, use hard covers; they're more "elegant" than most paperbacks. If the books have blaring or clashing loudly colored dustcovers, remove those and save them elsewhere. The book will look more "dignified", IYKWIM, and anyway be protected by the glass case.

Too much stuff...that should be my handle.

We made two BIG hanging curios for our LR, and I still
don't have enough room for all my stuff...

Not too many people have curios these days,
cause they think that
there "ol lady-ish" Hey, but wait, I am an ol lady! :)

We have a gorgeous vintage bow front curio with a clock inset. I need to get the clock fixed, but it's beautiful. Sadly, it's filled with pretty unusual curios. Including: an authentic old rotary dial, black bakelite telephone; some of my Grandmothers bar ware; a macaroni covered kleenex box made by one of my children; various clay items my children made; a plastic loving cup the kids gave their Dad; our cat's ashes (in the container from the crematorium); collectible State plates from my Great Grandparents; the china doll my GreatGrandmother made for me when I was a child; silver salt & pepper shakers; a rubber lobster; roses from my Father's coffin spray; a Brownie camera; and a bunch of other weird things, some valuable, much of it priceless (like the macaroni box). It's all a history of our family.

"Not too many people have curios these days,
cause they think that
there "ol lady-ish" Hey, but wait, I am an ol lady! :)"

LOL, me too!

What's in Your Curio Cabinet?
Stuff, just stuff!

{{!gwi}}

I would be cautious about using books on glass shelves due to weight and whether the clips that hold the shelves can support the weight.
If you want to fill it on the cheap. go to garage sales/thrift store and flea mkts.

Pretty much mine is filled w/things I want to protect from the cats.

Ok, here's my ol' lady stuff...left curio, right curio.
We actually made these curios because I got real tired of dusting all this stuff on the open shelves we had, now I only have to clean the inside of the curio only once a year.

We have two curio cabinets in our living room. One is ours and the other was my late mother's. I was telling my DH recently that I want to sell both of them, that I'm sick of the "stuff"....
Here's my late mom's, full of her Lladro and Lenox:
{{!gwi}}
Here's ours, full of blue/white:
{{!gwi}}

Here is mine inherited from my MIL. It contains her collectibles as well as some of mine. I know its not YH (young and hip)...(I read that book that was on Oprah "How not to Look Old" and I concluded that I am definitely OL (old lady). But I do wear pink lipstick now as a result of reading the book LOL! Anyway I enjoy looking at it and it keeps the breakables safe.
{{!gwi}}

Great Grandmother's cabinet and vase collection

Mine houses my limoges collection. I also have our wedding caketop, flute and photo on one of the shelves. The bridal bears were decor from my bridal shower. And of course the cedar boxes with our kitty and first pups ashes. Well, pups have recently been scattered so it holds the lock of hair we saved after he passed.

texanjana- what a fun collection.

{{!gwi}}

I have a secretary in my LR that has a curio-type top. Too un-decorated to photo.

Shelf 1: 100+ yo Ansonia clock (porcelain w/cherubs, flowers, gilt), alabaster bust of a woman, antique photos of the original owners of items on shelf (my great grandparents, grandmother and her sister)

Shelf 2: A mob of German toddlers AKA Hummels. Too many, too squished, too 80's. I made the mistake of mentioning that I thought they were cute. That opened the floodgates -every birthday, holiday I seemed to get one.

Shelf 3 Miscellaneous stuff representing my kid's heritage (Russia and China)

ours has pewter trains from an artist in it. very pretty, and we can only put "a few" because they are so heavy....that keeps the collection at a manageable size! ;P

I think you should put the legos in it! :)

I have dolls in mine. Dolls that my grandparents picked up for me when they traveled to various countries when I was a little girl.

This qualifies as an Eye Candy thread! To me, a curio cabinet adds that special "homey" feel to a room.

Here's mine. It has antiques, newtiques, Pretty Ladies, Henry VIII & his wives, a row of music boxes and the bottom row has stuffed animals in it for my grandson. :)

{{!gwi}}

At what point does "glass front cabinet you put crap in you don't want to dust" get elegant enough to be called a curio? :oP

(I have three of them....they're full of crap I don't want to dust) :o)

Actually one is full of the original owners things, museaum style. The other is a bar, and the third (two are actually antique library cabinets) is full of china and crystal as well as asorted crap I don't want to dust ;)

Igloo, I'd love to see pictures! I don't use mine as a storage for things I don't want to dust, everything in there has special meanings and I don't want them broken.

If I set them out throughout the house then it looks like clutter.

My love for curio cabinets goes back to when I was a little girl when my grandfather had one and I'd stand there staring so "curiously" at the objects in it. He'd always take out the winding monkey that played a tamborine for me. :)

Hi...

I have 5 curio cabinets all filled with dinosaur skeleton models and assorted invertebrate fossils like ammonites and trilobites. Each shelf has its own led lighting because the one or two lights that most cabinets already have only cut it for the top shelf. My place looks like a friggin' museum! Curio cabinets out of style? Not so much the cabinets but what is traditionally put in them. Few these days keep plates and dolls in them. Be creative folks! Display what you truly care for..whatever that may be! As long as it's in good taste, of course. :)