General Forum

i’ve been saving reddit posts with interesting ways to showcase collections.

make sure you have a table for sorting and such, and desk area for completing trades.

i don’t have my setup yet, but one idea is to have one of those ikea wardrobes that when i open, can have my monster boxes on one side, but have one side be memorabilia on shelves as needed with lighting.   then those open drawers but with plexiglass/plastic on the top showcasing cards, tickets, etc.   personally i don’t mind having items on display all the time but there is the entire dust situation.   so have most stuff in cabinet.  i can open it up and enjoy it.  and i can also rotate items around to be “on display”.    

My room is 9x12 so only a little bigger then your 9x9 will be. If you do a island in the middle of the room I would 100% make sure your Island has much usable storage space under it. I would also but your Island on wheels that lock so it could be moved out of the way when not is use. This is a common practice in wood working shops for the same reason. Use the height to your advantage. The taller your bookcases are the better. 

 Also I love natural light but its really bad for autographs, cards and  memorabilia so I would make sure you cover any windows. I personally have my window covered and then hang memorabilia in front of the covered window. As a letter i have from Joanne Lindsay (Ted Lindsay HHOF wife) said they are looking for a new house not because they need more rooms or a bigger house they need more wall space for all of Ted's things. 

Have fun with it and take your time with it. 

I have the wall mounted tv, mini fridge, 2 desks…one for work, one for hobby.  Hat rack I don’t have in my office, but I do have a fair hat collection I hang them from the ceiling with command hooks.  The hats I wear are on a rack in my closet. I have pennants kinda all over the room and both sides of the door, I get sleeves for them on Amazon and use command poster strips to attach them to wall/door.  I currently have a HD plastic shelving unit for binders, but thinking of going with a bookshelf as you mentioned.  I forget the dimensions of the room off hand, but it’s crowded for sure.  I’m of the age where I can’t read the card numbers or copyright years easily so I got a desk mounted lighted magnifying glass which comes in very helpful. I also picked up a digital scale for weighing out my trades, which also is great, I keep a postage cheat sheet and a cheat sheet showing states/provinces/countries I’ve traded with and want to trade with nearby too.  Sorry this response has gotten long, I was interested to see the items/ideas we had in common.  Overall, I do wish the room was larger, but it works.  It’s in the basement, and I insulated it very well so I’m comfortable year-round.  Enjoy putting your room together! Mine is the one space in the house that isn’t shared with anyone.  Due to the nature of my work, it has a keyed entry door too.