The Art Of Displaying Your Travel Treasures At Home
Edited version of article originally written by Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason in 2024.
One of the most exciting parts of traveling is discovering new objects to bring home. Maybe a handmade hammock from the Yucatan; a beautifully loomed rug in Paris, or an oil painting in Santiago. Whatever it is, part of the fun of exploration happens while searching for art. To be able to curate this sort of intricate, meaningful collection of travel treasures, it is best to avoid tourist traps and random tchotchkes, and instead search for authentic reminders of a special place and time.
To ensure you don’t bring home a mess of unrelated objects, there are a few rules to consider. First, leaving just a certain amount of room in your bags for items to bring home. If it can’t fit, it can’t come home. Second, bring home pieces that you know can be displayed somewhere in your interior. If you don’t have space for it, it becomes junk, and no one wants that. Third, look for pieces that help to tell your story at home. Things that have meaning to you, your family, and your life, adding meaning to the interior design of your space.
With these simple rules in place, you can enjoy going off the beaten path to discover special pieces, exploring museums, vintage markets, shops, and boutiques that come highly recommended by locals. Once you're back home, it’s all about displaying your special finds. While at first it might seem complicated, we’ve found five easy ways to seamlessly integrate those vacation treasures into a home's decor.
1. Bring Your Treasures To Your Walls
Walls are a wonderful place to show off a collection that you have amassed while traveling. Maybe it’s a collection of baskets that you found in a souk; vintage plates from an antiques shop; paintings from a local gallery; or framed photographs. These options can all be beautifully displayed on a wall at home. The secret is to stick with a theme, choosing a single type of object to display so that things don’t get visually cluttered. For instance, if you’re a fan of baskets and have found some during your travels, display them as a unique gallery wall at home. You can mix colors and patterns for a striking display, and continuously add to the collection, picking up a new piece every time you travel.
2. Highlight Textiles You’ve Discovered
Around the world, every culture has their own unique textiles. In Mexico it's hand-embroidered Otomi blankets. India is home to Kantha quilts, where scraps of fabric are combined to create bold patterns. In China you can discover the traditional textile art of the Hmong people. And Ghana is home to the most delicately crafted Kente cloth. When traveling, sourcing textiles can be a wonderful way to bring a part of your trip home with you. When home, whether a small scrap, or a few feet, these handmade cultural artifacts can be beautifully displayed.
3. Set The Table With Travel Finds
There are some places you visit where it feels nearly impossible not to bring a whole suite of dishware home. Rather than purchasing a whole dishset for entertaining, consider slowly sourcing dishes and serverware pieces while traveling. Everything from artisan plates, bowls, platters, pitchers and glassware can be featured at home upon your return. A set of Tamegroute ceramics from Morocco can be the star of your next brunch. Handblown Murano glassware from Italy can make your tabletop shine. Beautifully stitched napkins from Portugal can be brought out annually for holiday entertaining. Setting the table with pieces that you discovered while traveling can turn the typical tabletop into something meaningful, where you get to share a part of your travel experience with friends and family in a truly unique way.
4. Curate A Travel-Inspired Shelfie
Do you have a bookshelf that you’re trying to add some life to? This is a great place to put your travel treasures on display. Mix sculptures and other artisan pieces that you found amongst books on your shelf. If you brought back books from your trip, put them on display too. Turn them, allowing the covers to show, and become works of art themselves. To keep the look clean and sophisticated, remember that a little goes a long way. Just one or two pieces per shelf from your travels can be enough to add visual interest. And if you have different pieces from different places and are not sure if they work together, relate your collected pieces by color for a seamless look.
5. Display Collected Pieces On Your Coffee Table
Some of the pieces you’ve discovered while traveling can be the perfect fit for your coffee table. Vases, boxes, coasters and even jewelry can enliven a coffee table display, adding color, texture, and an interesting story. You can style these pieces amongst your favorite coffee table books, and don’t be afraid to think outside of the box. A stunning piece of pottery you found along the way can be a perfect vase for your coffee table. A handmade oversized piece of jewelry from your trip to Spain can make a great paperweight. Those coasters you spotted at a market during your Caribbean vacation can be used to add a pop of color to your coffee table display. And jewelry boxes from a trip to Turkey can act as storage for cards, matches, and other items that need to be hidden away.