Everyone has something they collect: baseball cards, purses, fancy dolls from when they were little. A while back I started collecting key chains from places I had been and places other people had been. The way I looked at it they were small, cheap, and you never saw the same one twice. They were pretty interesting and I avoided getting really ugly t-shirts from well meaning relatives.
So fast forward 15 years later and I had not one but two shoe boxes jam packed full of key chains. I heard Nate Berkus (hot-tee) say on his show that if you had a collection of something, anything, that it should be displayed so you could actually enjoy it.
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| You can see California, Colorado, Delaware, and Florida. |
Ok. Sounds like a plan. I told my husband, J, that and said I wish there was a way we could hang them on the wall without leaving lots and lots of little holes from push pins ( which I had done in my childhood bedroom..yikes) We went to Micheals and found these huge shadow boxes 24x 18. I think you are supposed to put clothes or something else big in there but they looked great for this project. J also had the genius idea of taking wire and looping that through the back to hang the key chains without having some huge gaudy hook that took away from their looks. He's definitely the construction behind most of my designs.
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| Georgia (1996 Olympics) through Kentucky |
So I set them all out and went through them. I had ,all along, had the goal of getting a key chain from all 50 states. I thought that would be pretty cool. Of course some times I would get 2 or 3, or in the case of Las Vegas 20, from the same city. We haven't done that one yet. I'll post those picture when we do.
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| Mississippi through Wyoming |
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| All the Saint Louis/Missouri key chains |
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| Grant's Farm...one of my favorite places! |
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| International and unique key chains |
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| Singapore...maybe the one from farthest away |
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| Hola! Mexico! |
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| Little man from Germany |
I ended up having 3 huge shadow boxes and one little square one, just for Las Vegas. I couldn't help it. They had some really awesome key chains there. Now I can look at them all the time when we are in our basement and every time we have a party I always see someone standing in front of them looking at them and then asking me about certain ones which makes me very happy. I have left space to complete the 50 states goal and I know one day I will.
let me know what states you still need....
ReplyDeleteSure thing. I'll have to go look with a pen and piece of paper.
Deletei'm driving to and from reno in june - coming back via south dakota and mount rushmore. say, do you have one from kansas city???
ReplyDeleteCute! I love keychains but definitely don't have as many as you... we started buying magnets but they can get overwhelming too. For some reason this post made me think of my grandfather's collection of fishing luers. He had hundreds, all of one kind, and definitely fit the Nate Berkus' line of if you have a collection, show it off!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Megan. Does your grandfather still have them or does someone else have them now? It would be a really cool collection to look at in something like this.
DeleteI also collect keychains... I would love to have them from all 50 states, and as many countries as possible!! Love this idea, I was looking for a way to showcase mine, right now they are lying on a bookshelf.
ReplyDeleteMy son's girlfriend collects keychains as well. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought 2 decorative hooks and a wooded dowel rod that I painted to match her office and displayed hers that way. The rod just lays in the hooks and can be easily removed to add more to the dowel at any time. She didn't have a lot of space in the small office but this way she can display a lot with minimal space.
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