So... I really love knick knacks. Antique medicine bottles, ceramic cats, tiny vases, little brass animals, avon bottles, anyhing elephant-shaped... you name it, I probably have one. I still live with my parents, so I have only my bedroom to decorate, and every horizontal surface is just loaded with all my tchotchkes. I have even more in the attic that I sometimes swap out when I need a change of scenery. It's gotten to the point where I have to stop myself from buying more because I just don't have room for them. I keep telling myself once I have an apartment or some such to decorate, all these tchotchkes will disperse and I'll have a good balance... but I shouldn't kid myself; if I have more space, I'm just gonna buy more knick knacks. >>

So what I wanna know is if any of you have a tchotchke addiction too. Have you arranged them so it looks nice and decorative rather than cluttery? Do you have some that you're struggling to make look nice? Do you have no tchotchkes at all and feel your house is too bare? Share pictures and ask for or give advice! If you're nice, I'll even show you all my little collections.

I've got the geekiest tchotchkes. I count anything I have a collection of from currency (that's pretty common, no? Travel somewhere, keep some of the monies), to faeries, to plastic figurines from shows/movies I like.

I end up clumping. I've got one cute little curio cabinet with most of my rock collection, and that same space has most of the faery figures I started collecting in middle/high school. Then on another bookshelf, the top has little areas devoted to Doctor Who or Harry Potter.. Then I have this neat little feather tree (originally meant just for Christmas stuff) that's completely filled with masks I've made.

If I had more space, I could certainly have more of a collection. Like, I LOVE glass cloches. If I could have 2 dozen or so antique ones, I'd be happy. Cause I could put more goodies underneath them.

I found a cute little glass cloche with a wooden handle and base at a thrift store, and I keep my little rock collection under that. Cloches are so pretty, I want a bunch too. Feel free to share pictures of your collections, I'd love to see them!

I don't like ornaments (china things really), but I do like "stuff" and a controlled amount of clutter. I have an elephant that I've had for years, I like him because he's cute and fat and a pretty colour and a nice weight in your hand. Here he is, warming his bum with my salt lamp

I got some gorgeous brass candlesticks on Ebay, Indian ones. I got the little glass ones on Ebay too. The little green glass dragon/serpent/Nessie was in a fishtank that I adopted years ago, I was happy to give him a new home =3 The tiny angel was a gift and I can't for the life of me remember what the stone it >.> I think it's labradorite of a very pale variety, but I can't remember.



I like:

Candles and mismatched candlesticks
Mirrors
clocks
tins
boxes - everything vintage for preference
windchimes
pretty glass things
semi-precious stones
hanging crystals
houseplants
good fake flowers - I don't like cut flowers. Flowers should be growing outside, not dying indoors

Oh yeah, this is a fairly up-to-date image of my general clutter level. Note fake flowers in pretty tin on mantlepiece >< The panettone tin at the bottom of the pic is full of tea lights, and there's fatty nellyphant, on the shelves on the edge of the shot xD My little used replacement laptop is on an ugly side table that's hidden by a vintage tray cloth with a lovely posy of hand-embroideried violas, forget-me-not and daisies on it.

Looking at that, I have to admit to liking soft toys too >< But only if I particularly like the character, usually. The moose was a gift from a friend in Norway, Snoopy was a gift too. But I bought the Pikachu, and can you spot Totoro? The card on my bookshelf is the New Year one from Iro last year, it's too pretty for me to want to put it away =3

I so need to take all the books off there, dust everything, and put it back in an orderly fashion, it's so disorganised now ><

*squint* is that Totoro over on your chair? Cute stuff! I especially like the elephant, of course.

You found him :D Yeah, Nelly is a cutie =3 I wish I had some shelves on the wall where I could properly display stuff, insread of it ending up shoved/dumped in places. but there we have another joy of rented accomodation...

Haha, it's probably for the best, shelves are so easy to get carried away with. I have a wall that's about 50% cube shelves...

I have a lot of tchotchke things around my room. I too live at home so am quite confined with my stuff. A lot of my knick nacky things are gifts from people, though. I've mentioned in a past thread that I have had to tell people numerous times to quit buying me things just because they see a lot of them sitting in my room. I tell them nicely of course, but I can't tell you how many angel figurines, wind chimes, dolls, and candle holders that I've got in my room because of people seeing my "collection" and lovingly wanting to add to it.

It'd be fine if I didn't just have the one room, but since I do just have one room to my name it's quite cluttery in here. XD

It's a bit much for me tbh, and it makes me look like I have a bigger love of dust collectors than I do. I make a concerted effort not to buy anymore on my own accord, too. It's been years since I actually added to this tchotchke collection of mine--it's all gifts at this point. XP

I don't have a single surface in my room that doesn't have at least one, and usually multiple, dust collectors on it.

I'd take a few pictures but it's an utter mess right now.

Oh goodness, well intentioned "for your collection" gifts are quite the problem to have. I never tell people looking to buy me gifts that I like cats and elephants, because that statement has the unspoken clause "that are particularly pretty to me and that I absolutely love," and most people would just hear "ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING WITH CATS OR ELEPHANTS, NO MATTER HOW UGLY AND KITSCHY!" I want this, not this. I can walk through an antique store and see 15 different elephants that are nice but not buy a single one because I don't want anything that I don't absolutely adore. Only someone very close to me to could get something to my standards, and someone that close wouldn't need to be told I like elephants anyway.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the amount of things you have, I recommend packing a few away for storage. Once you subtract, it's much easier to appreciate what's left. And you can swap out your current display with what's in storage whenever you need a change of scenery.

Urgh. My mother, she buys me horrible pink things. Telling me as I unwrap it, "I saw this and it just shouted "Jackie" at me!". Yes mum, I like pink, but just because something is pink, does not mean I'm automatically going to like it!

This seems to be a normal human trait though, as you have discovered. Combine this with the other very human trait of buying people cheap crap for gifts, and you're gonna get tat featuring something you mentioned liking, once, when you were 10, for the rest of your life

Luckily for me, my family has the sense to recognize that they don't know me well enough to choose gifts for me that will be truly loved, so they just throw cash at me. Even my grandmother, who does know me well enough to pick out stuff I'd like, just writes me a check so I can decide what I'd like most.

I'm remembering correctly that you work at a resale shop, right? At least you don't have to go far to unload your junk.

People have typically done a good job of not buying me hideous things for my "collections" but it's definitely to the point of: give me one more thing for any of my "collections" and I'll be hella overwhelmed. I have gotten some questionable additions, though.

I could definitely do with either packing away or selling some of the stuff I've got sitting around my room. I'm sorta sentimental, though, and I keep stuff around in one way or another forever. Not everything, just things I have linked with people who have been or are important in my life. Unfortunately that ends up being a lot of the tchotchkes. >.> Like, my biggest collection is a collection of angels. I don't know if I would have ever collected this many for myself, but about from the time I was 10 and throughout my teens my mom would buy me a few every year and she likes to call them my "guardian angels." So they'll be taking up shelf space for awhile.

Yeah, those would be hard to get rid of, I agree! Maybe over time you'd be able to part with some of the ones you don't like as much, while still keeping a few of them, to sort of compromise?

Originally Posted by jellysundae

Urgh. My mother, she buys me horrible pink things. Telling me as I unwrap it, "I saw this and it just shouted "Jackie" at me!". Yes mum, I like pink, but just because something is pink, does not mean I'm automatically going to like it!

This seems to be a normal human trait though, as you have discovered. Combine this with the other very human trait of buying people cheap crap for gifts, and you're gonna get tat featuring something you mentioned liking, once, when you were 10, for the rest of your life

See now...I have a pink obsession and I do love and want everything pink that I see xD So, your Mom would be awesome to me! My parents and relatives do it too, but its cool cause as I said I do love everything pink! So their merely indulging my obsession!


On another note:
whether this counts as Tchotchke's or what ever I don't know but I collect: Barbie dolls, anime things of all sorts, angel figurines, stuffed animals, and what ever else catches my attention....lol

@Cherry: Probably as time goes by I'll be able to get rid of stuff, yeah. The angels will probably stick around in their entirety forever, but if a few of these friendships really fade as time goes on I'll probably be able to get rid of that stuff. I've done it with other people-related things in the past.

I recently picked up 4 of these lovely white and gold porcelain animal figurines from an antiques booth at my towns summer celebrations days in the park. There's two deer, and two birds. I've been trying to figure out who made them, its a bit of a challenge though, there's no makers marks or anything on them. I've decided I'm going to collect more of them if I can ever find more.

Other wise, the only other things I "collect" are books. I love to read. I need another book shelf. The one I have is full and I have two shelves on my desk crammed two rows deep with more books.

I want a library Preferably tucked away somewhere. A funny-shaped room through a secret door, up in the loft maybe. Yes, that's what I want, and full of lovely old books. Particularly old hardbacks with faded covers, and that wonderful old book smell.

I have a collection of old, pretty books in addition to my personal library. They're mostly bought for having pretty spines and covers or interesting titles. I found one nature encyclopedia at a thrift shop for a few cents once, just bought it for the nature-y title and the book's stunning teal cover. Once I got it home, I opened it up and found it had some really charming illustrations, in a very dated style. That was a neat surprise as I adore illustrations.

Kay - Those figurines sound so cute! I'd love it if you shared a picture of them. My grandma got some white porcelain deer with gold details for christmas decorations, so that sounds like a similar style. Hers are very big though, meant to be centerpieces. I love them, though, and I keep hoping that one year she'll get tired of them and give them to me.

I'd share a picture of them but my camera quit working. If I can I'll see if I can get a decent picture of them somehow. The deer figurines are probably about 6 to 8 inches tall if not taller. The two birds are about as small as the palm of my hand. I wish I could figure out who the company or person who made them was.

Those sound so cute! I can't wait to see the pictures.

I was looking at my bookshelves and they're full of four different things.

• Dungeons and Dragons monster figures.
• Lord of the Rings goblets.
• Star Wars characters and lightsabers.
• Rubber ducks and duck figurines.

XD My collections are so nerdy.

DUCKS! I have a bit of a rubber duck collection, though it's in the attic at the moment.

I really like the thrift shop here in town. Was in there today looking at the books, while in there I also found a few lovely items to add to my apartment. I found a lovely small wood box. It needs two of the legs reattached, but otherwise its in really good shape, got it for two bucks. I also got what looked to be a hand carved and painted wooden owl, got that for a buck. Saw some other items in there I might go back for later if they're still there. Stuff moves quick in that store

Nice to have a thrift shop nearby with things that you like! It's a shame that a lot of them in this country don't make any kind of effort to present the items nicely, or clean them up a bit before they try to sell them... I love a bargain, but I don't want a 30 year accumilation of someone else's dust as a free gift with it. ><