You truly claim your living space and make it your own when you display the things you love. Artwork, souvenirs from your travels, simple mementos of significant days—all these bits and pieces from your past declare, as nothing else in your home can, “This is who I am.”

Each one of your valued objects tells two stories. The smooth gray stone on your end table tells your guests that you love to walk on the beach and that you have an eye for natural beauty. But the stone tells another story, for you alone: The memory of the winter sun, glinting on the white-capped water, the cries of the gulls; the cold sand between your bare toes; and the weight of your friend’s arm on your shoulder.

Collections begin when you take the things you love and arrange them in a way that is beautiful. Once I worked with someone who was the grandson of a craftsman. He had his grandfather’s tools—24 handmade wooden planes—stored in the garage. They didn’t belong in the garage! Once they were spruced up, mounted, and displayed, they covered an entire wall. That fellow now has a significant collection of beautiful forms to grace his home. He also has a durable shrine that not only honors his grandfather but also recalls him. It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with what you have that’s important.

You should handle your displays the way you handle your friends. If you find a new friend, you don’t tell your old friend, “Sorry, I have a new friend, so I have no time for you.” You make room for the new friend while continuing to treasure the old one, finding the right spot in your life for each.

Some things can stand alone, and others need a lot of friends. Often, you might have one thing that is really great and two other items that aren’t so wonderful—but for one reason or another you love them all. Group the three together, which takes a little bit of importance away from each of the individual items but creates an arrangement in which no object fails to please the eye.