Caselli ResidenceModern Home Office, San Francisco

Style Tip: Put It Under GlassOld-world collectors put their collections into apothecary jars, under bell jars or in framed shadow boxes to highlight their beauty and individuality. On their own a handful of seedpods would disappear in the decor. Under glass they become important. Mix large and small glass containers, with and without lids, as well as cloches and shadow boxes, to create generous groupings. The space shown here exemplifies a modern take on curiosity-cabinet chic — contemporary furnishings paired with antique pharmacy jars of all shapes and sizes. The effect is both unexpected and intriguing.

8. Hoarding. Know your limits. Collecting can easily cross over into hoarding. Don’t let that happen to you.How to break this habit? Set aside a space where your collection can be properly displayed and enjoyed, like the one shown here. Collect until the space is comfortably filled. Then stop or maintain a zero-growth collection policy: one item in, one item out.

Layered MeaningI’ll close with this project, which speaks eloquently to the possibility of translucent materials and is proof that translucency can transcend merely the utilitarian. The architect here devised a storage solution for the owner’s collection of preserved marine specimens; it not only highlights the collection in a wonderfully simple, lab-like manner, but turns the entire composition into an objet d’art. At first glance it’s a translucent wall separating the family room from the study, interspersed with clear rectangles of varying sizes. Upon deeper inspection, we can see a striped, etched pattern, which correlates with the image of the DNA sequence of a harbor seal. The more one gazes at this wall, the more one sees.

Open shelving on a backlit glass wall creates a modern version of the curio cabinet here. These fossils and other oddities in specimen jars have the very qualities that make curios so appealing: they're bizarre, rare or striking.

This wall of specimens floating in jars has a menacing beauty to it. If you are not quite ready to go full-on Dr. Jekyll, you could achieve a similar but less shiver-inducing effect by filling the jars with leaves, acorns, stones and other nonanimal items.

Biology. Remember that kid in biology so in command of the subject that the teacher asked him to teach part of the class? I think we found him. This specimen collection is brilliantly displayed with custom shelves and apothecary jars. The frosted glass pattern is a genetic code.

Principal architect Neil Schwartz custom built this shelving unit for the aquatic pieces of his client, a curator for the Steinhart Aquarium at San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences. Schwartz turned what used to be a room filled with breakable curios and jars into the heart of the house. He built the glass wall and shelving unit to display his client's collection in style. "Now my client's kids could go into the room without breaking anything. And the office allows my client to see what's going on in the adjacent media room so that the family always feels connected to each other somehow," says Schwartz.

Framing collected items doesn't necessarily mean putting them into a picture frame. By placing these items in clear glass bottles, the designer highlights each individual item and emphasizes the items' theme.

Grouping a variety of items in similar containers is another way to keep things looking orderly...

Now here's a unique collection that's bound to be a conversation topic when friends and family come to visit. The description states it's "the owner’s modern-day cabinet of curiosities, brimming with jars filled with preserved aquatic body parts and specimens." Fascinating! As you can see, virtually any collection can be used as an interesting display in your home. What captures your heart? What do you collect and display in your home?

3. Clear jars, doesn't matter what's in them. In this case, the display format is more important than the collection itself. I love the sheer number of the jars and the way they're backlit.

love that the clear glass and acrylic containers "allow" these items to be more of a display than a collection of junk. Beautiful!

I'd love something like this to showcase collectibles!

Shelving like this would be great for displaying all of our Disney/TIA stuff and get it up and out of the way. Some sort of lighting on the shelves should be considered

botanical samples suspended in glass jars

I love animals so I love love love the idea of a big shelf full of animal specimens

8. Hoarding. Know your limits. Collecting can easily cross over into hoarding. Don’t let that happen to you.How to break this habit? Set aside a space where your collection can be properly displayed and enjoyed, like the one shown here. Collect until the space is comfortably filled. Then stop or maintain a zero-growth collection policy: one item in, one item out.