Most collectors eventually encounter the same strange problem. You discover a piece that immediately speaks to you. You can already picture it in your home. Then a familiar thought arrives:
"I don't have any wall space left."
My wife Tiff and I have had that thought more times than we can count. After years of collecting art prints, books, playmats, figures, and other keepsakes and collectibles, I've come to believe that wall and shelf space usually isn't the real problem.
More often, it's a sign that we've entered a different phase of collecting. A phase where collecting becomes less about finding space for things and more about deciding what deserves a place in our lives.
When Collectors Become Curators
For a long time, I thought running out of space meant I was running out of room to collect. Now I think it means something else. It’s a sign that a collector is becoming a curator.
A beginner collector asks:
"Where can I put this?"
A curator asks:
"How does this fit into the collection I'm building?"
The difference may seem subtle, but it changes everything about how we collect.
When we're first collecting, every new piece feels easy to accommodate. Empty walls and shelves are opportunities, waiting to be filled. Every discovery feels like an addition. Over time, though, our homes begin telling a story. The books on our shelves, the artwork on our walls, the keepsakes on our desks, and the objects we choose to display all begin forming a collection that reflects who we are. At some point, the challenge stops being finding more space. It becomes deciding what belongs.
Running out of wall space doesn't mean you're done collecting.
It means you've entered a new phase: curating.
A New Home Changes Everything
One of the most interesting things I've noticed is that people rarely think about curation until they're forced to.
A move. A renovation. A new office. A new home. Suddenly every object becomes a decision. The artwork comes off the walls. The books and figures leave the shelves. The keepsakes get packed into boxes. And for a brief moment, before everything gets unpacked again, you have a chance to see your entire collection with fresh eyes. That's why moving can be such a powerful exercise in curation.
You’ve gone from asking:
"Where was this hanging?"
To asking:
"Where does this belong now?"
When Tiff and I moved into our current home, I remember unpacking boxes of books, prints, and collectibles that had followed us through multiple apartments. Some pieces immediately earned their place on a wall or shelf. Others stayed in boxes for months because, for the first time, we weren't sure they belonged in the life we were building. That experience taught me that not every object deserves a permanent place simply because we've owned it for a long time.
Some items reveal that they belonged to a previous chapter of your life. A new home doesn't just give you new walls. It gives you an opportunity to decide who you want to be inside those walls and what story you want your space to tell.
A collector's new beginning
Photo from Nicole L
Collector Nicole sent me some photos after finally moving in, painting the room, and hanging their tapestry of my artwork Death's Gate. What struck me first wasn't where they placed the tapestry itself (although that was really cool). It was the feeling behind her message. After all the hard work of moving boxes, painting, and unpacking, this was one of the pieces that earned a place in their new chapter.
In many ways, the best time to develop a curation practice is when you're starting fresh. But you don't actually need to move to do it. You can choose to look at your collection through that same lens at any time.
It Isn't About More Space
When we say we don't have room, what we often mean is that we're feeling the weight of a choice. Sometimes the issue isn't square footage. Sometimes it's change.
The artwork that felt deeply meaningful five years ago might not resonate in the same way today. The interests that once defined us may have evolved. The stories we want our homes to tell can change too.
I've looked around my own space before and thought: "This no longer feels like me." Not because there was anything wrong with the things I owned. But because I had changed.
A well-curated collection isn't frozen in time. It evolves alongside the person collecting it. Sometimes the answer isn't finding another empty wall. Maybe it's about retiring a piece that has already served its purpose and replacing it with one that better reflects who you are today.
Art Doesn't Have to Live on a Wall
One of the biggest shifts for me as a collector was realizing that meaningful objects don't have to be confined to framed displays on a wall. Art can live in far more places than we often give it credit for.
Rotate Pieces Seasonally
Tiff and I have several frames in our hallway that we swap the prints out. As of the writing of this article, we just swapped in some prints from Unique not Freak to celebrate the spooky season. When late-November/December rolls around, I expect we will rotate these out and put in something else, to freshen up our view in the hallway.
Not every piece needs to be displayed year-round. Families rotate holiday decorations.
Gardeners rotate seasonal plants. Readers rotate the books sitting on their nightstands.
Art can work the same way.
A bright, adventurous piece may feel perfect in summer. A darker, moodier piece may feel right at home during autumn and winter. Sometimes simply changing what's on display can make an entire room or hallway feel refreshed.
The best part is that rotating artwork allows you to enjoy more of your collection without needing more walls.
Keep a Portfolio Book
Tiff and I discovered the joys of owning portfolio books. For collectors who own a large number of prints, portfolio books are one of the most overlooked solutions. There are even portfolio-style books designed for enamel pin collections.
Not every piece needs to be hanging all the time. A portfolio allows you to preserve and enjoy a larger collection while protecting the artwork. Think of it as a personal gallery you can revisit whenever you want.
Some pieces stay on the wall. Others wait patiently for their season. There are even some pieces that I never intend to hang, but I’ll admire them in my portfolio book.
Curate Shelves and Display Spaces
Walls aren't the only surfaces worth decorating.
Bookshelves, mantels, desks, and display cabinets can become homes for artwork too. A framed print leaning against the back of a bookshelf often feels more intimate than a traditionally hung piece. Pins, statues, candles, books, and artwork can all work together to create displays that feel personal and layered.
These spaces often reveal more about a collector than a gallery wall ever could.
Create an Altar or Personal Shrine
A shrine to our dog Howler, featuring a wool portrait among other keepsakes and drawings.
You don't have to keep a shrine in a religious sense, but more in the sense of creating a dedicated space for the things that matter to you.
Think:
- A favorite print.
- A treasured book.
- A meaningful keepsake of a loved one.
- A pin collected from an artist you admire.
- A candle.
- A skull.
- A stone.
Objects that remind you of your values, interests, memories, and aspirations. These small spaces often become some of the most meaningful areas in a home because they're built intentionally rather than accidentally.
Build a Reading Nook
Readers understand this instinctively.
A comfortable chair, a stack of beloved books, a tapestry, a print, and a few meaningful objects can transform an ordinary corner into a place that feels entirely different.
A reading nook doesn't have to be just functional. It can, and I believe it should be, atmospheric.
It's a place designed for a particular experience. a place to immerse yourself in fantastical worlds and adventures.
Art has an incredible ability to help create that feeling.
Let Art Live on Your Desk
For many of us, our desks are where we spend a huge portion of our lives (working or gaming or both!). So why should they be purely utilitarian?
Desk mats and playmats allow artwork to become part of your daily environment. Instead of only passing by a piece when you walk through a room, you interact with it every day.
Sometimes the most meaningful display isn't the one hanging on the wall. It's the one sitting directly beneath your hands.
Wrap Yourself in the Collection
Not every piece of art needs to be framed, hung, or displayed. Sometimes art can simply be lived with.
One of my favorite things about woven tapestry blankets is that they exist in a space somewhere between artwork and functional items. Woven tapestries were traditionally hung on walls of monasteries and cathedrals in the middle ages. You can do the same today, but you can also drape them across the back of a couch, pull them over your lap during a movie night, or wrap yourself in one during a rainy afternoon with a book and a cup of tea.
There's something special about artwork that isn't confined to being viewed from across the room. You can wrap yourself in it. Live with it. Create memories around it. Some of my favorite pieces aren't the ones I look at every day. They're the ones that became part of moments I'll remember years later.
How Other Collectors Make Space
One of my favorite parts of being both an artist and a collector is seeing where my artwork ends up after it leaves the studio. Over the years, people have shared photos of gaming setups, bookshelves, offices, gallery walls, and cozy corners that I never would have imagined myself.
Every photo reminds me that there are many ways to decorate a room. Look below to see what other objects other than wall art adorn their spaces.
Jenna sent me this photo of her dining room featuring the Ophelia Canvas Print, among her favorite books, bones, and masks. Imagine having meals and being able to gaze upon your objects.
Rin sent me this photo of her vanity, featuring the Lotus Eater playmat among many of her favorite mushroom and frog cottagecore keepsakes and collectibles. Very cute.
The longer I collect, the more I realize that some of the most inspiring spaces aren't the largest ones.
They're the most intentional.
Buy More Intentionally, Not Less Passionately
When people talk about running out of wall space, the conversation often turns toward buying less. But I believe there's another approach. Buy more intentionally.
The more intentional we become about what enters our lives, the more meaningful each piece becomes because we're collecting with greater clarity. We become more selective about what truly resonates. We stop buying things simply because they're available and start collecting things because they feel significant.
The goal isn't to own the most art. The goal is to surround yourself with pieces that continue speaking to you years after you've brought them home.
Not Every Piece Needs to Stay Forever
This can be a difficult idea for some collectors to embrace. We often treat every acquisition as permanent. But collections are living things. Some pieces remain with us for decades. Others belong to a particular chapter of our lives.
Letting go of something doesn't diminish the role it played. It simply acknowledges that you’ve changed. Curating isn't just deciding what comes in. It's also deciding what remains and what doesn’t. And the pieces that remain aren't necessarily the most expensive or the most impressive. They're the ones that continue earning their place in your life.
A collection that evolves with you will always feel more alive than one that's frozen in place.
The Beginning of Curating
Eventually, every collector reaches the point where there isn't another obvious empty wall waiting.
But that's not the end of collecting. It's the beginning of curating. The question stops being: "Do I have room for this?" and becomes: "Does this deserve a place in the life I'm building?"
The answer to that question has very little to do with wall space and everything to do with who you're becoming.