Here's a creative idea to start off your week! It's always fun to find new and exciting ways to display things, right? Traditional methods can become quite boring after awhile, but with a dash of creativity, finding an alternative way to show off your things can transform your space into a visually stimulating and appealing place to hang out.By creating inspirational focal points in your home, guests will linger, conversation will fill the air, and friends will return home with a new eye for their own space. Most importantly, displaying your favorite things (vs. tucking them into drawers or displaying them somewhat incorrectly) makes you feel happier at home, more stimulated, too. Don't you want your home to sing your song? Your space should tell your story, your home = your life. All of the things you've collected and cherished throughout the years deserve a place, whether grouped together on a shelf or dresser top, displayed on a transparent wall mounted shelf or carefully congregated on the fireplace mantle, all deserve a place to shine and be seen.

If you haven't picked up the September issue of Living Etc (UK) magazine yet, grab it and turn to page 41. There's this great tip called "Off The Peg" which suggests using a clothes line in your kitchen to display your favorite dish towels. That idea didn't interest me much, but the thought of using a retractable clothes line did give me ideas for other spaces in the home - over the bed, over the sofa, down a long narrow hallway... I encourage use of this clothes line technique to any room in your home, going far beyond dish towels, to include posters, photography, fabric, even strips of gorgeous wallpaper. Install a clothes line over your sofa, for instance, and clip on 3 bold prints from the International Poster Gallery in Boston (or online). Viola! Art you can rotate without purchasing poster frames.

Living Etc. suggests using a clothes line with metal wall mounts, which I stand behind as well since the look is more contemporary than rope, wood pins, and eye hooks. I would like to see the clothes line extrended across an entire wall, rotating your favorites as the seasons change. How fun! This clothes line and these funky black birds clothes pins are hip and functional, as well as affordable. Gotta love that!

Have you experimented with this display technique in your own home? Do you like this idea?

(images from living etc, international poster gallery, where did you buy that, and vendio)