Displaying things that you are proud of can be a major part of building a room’s atmosphere and can allow you to show off things that you would normally never get a chance to present to visitors properly. Of course, to do this well, you usually want to rely on a display cabinet.
While display cabinets are easy to buy and set up in your home, there can be a lot of nuances that go into using them correctly. Whether you are doing a full home improvement project or just want to boost your own interior design choices, using cabinets well is an important part of building the aesthetic that you are looking for.
Why Are Display Cabinets Important?
Proper display cabinets can have some major advantages that other items of furniture do not really provide. For example, while they offer the same kind of storage as a normal shelf, they are able to present the contents as a full display piece that people are meant to be looking at.
This detail alone can make display cabinets invaluable for building a very specific atmosphere in a room. They allow you to present something you own (from prized possessions to personal hobby projects) in a new light and can often influence the tone of the entire room by showing guests a variety of possessions that really matter to you.
Whether it is a hand-made doll or a sports trophy, putting something in a display cabinet or case makes it a central part of the room and draws attention to that space. If done well, you can use this to your advantage and make drastic changes to a room’s overall aesthetic, even if you are not changing that much at all.
Consider a living room space. While you could line various trophies or decorative pieces up on shelves or on your coffee table, having them in a dedicated display case means that they have a greater hold over the room’s aesthetic. It can take a while to understand what this means, but once you get an idea of how cabinets can help, there is a lot you can do with even the most basic display cabinet design.
Placement and Lighting
Home improvement and interior design are based heavily on room layouts, and display cabinets are no different. When you are showing something off in your home, you want to make sure that it is well-lit without being obnoxiously bright, especially if you are displaying things related to your own successes. Too much focus on one particular thing can suck the atmosphere out of the room.
Consider the kind of cabinet you are using, where it is placed, and how that translates into the natural and artificial lighting that it will get. Some cabinets are designed with only a single glass window, while others are all-glass to allow lighting from all angles. Some even have their own built-in light strips, meaning that you can compensate for rooms that do not get a lot of natural light.
Placement also impacts the way the cabinet fits into a space. Ideally, you want a display piece to be somewhere noticeable without being in harm’s way or taking up too much of the room’s central space and getting in the way of people using that area. In most cases, you want to make it look like you are not trying to catch people’s attention.
Choosing Cabinet Materials
One of the most important aspects of display cabinets is the materials they are made out of. These materials include both the surface material that the cabinet will be made out of as well as the interior components, like individual shelves. While the things in the cabinet are obviously very important, the furniture itself also needs to be something that suits the room.
For example, if you are showing off a lot of tech products in a professional-looking home office, then an ultra-modern metal, plastic, or all-glass cabinet will have more of an impact than a wooden one. However, if you are wanting to show off kitchenware and collectible plates in a home that is relatively rustic, wood may be the most fitting option.
Cabinets ideally need to match the room itself and the things that you are putting into it, and this is not an easy balance to get right. Like all furniture pieces, it takes some common sense to find something that suits your needs best, so think about the kind of style that you are aiming for with your interior design ideas.
Using Display Cabinets as Decoration
Most display cabinets are a two-in-one way of decorating a room. Not only can they emphasize the things you put inside them, but they are often more appealing or ornate than a normal cabinet or shelf would be. Even a simple cabinet might have something like glass shelves or a mirrored back, things that can make it stand out from the other furniture pieces in the same room.
By putting them in the right places and finding the right items to display inside them, you can turn even the most basic display cabinet into a core part of the room. Certain kinds of cabinets, such as pure glass display cabinets, can even be used in some very creative ways If the room gets enough natural light and you have the floor space to make full use of it.
There are a lot of unique display cabinets out there to choose from, many of which are perfect for completely different kinds of interior design. Some are going to focus more on materials or shape while others will be more focused on maximizing storage space, but looking through all of your available options can be a great way to find a new furniture piece that suits a specific room.
Just remember that display cabinets are only one of many pieces of furniture that you might end up adding. In any interior design and home improvement project, it is important to think about the whole rather than just one or two elements. Do not let your hunt for a good cabinet distract you from other important interior design work.
