Comments on: Ask Unclutterer: Trophies, plaques, and medals

By: valletta

valletta — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:22:41 +0000

I saw a really neat idea in House Beautiful or House& Garden, can’t remember.
They took a bunch of old trophies that had “good” lines, painted them all one color (like white or some other accent color) and then displayed them as bookends or as visual interest in bookcases. Sounds weird but it looked great!

By: KGP

KGP — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:35:14 +0000

My husband & I have all of our road race medals on a sleek stainless steel hook we got at the Container store. We hung it in our tv room. Since we’re both in that room so often, it acts as inspiration.

By: Margene

Margene — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:00:18 +0000

WE HAVE LOTS AND LOTS OF PLAQUES GIVEN TO MY HUSBAND THROUGH THE YEARS FOR HIS SERVICE IN DIFFERENT WAYS. I MEAN BOXES FULL. TOO MANY TOO KEEP. IT SEEMS LIKE THE WOOD OR MATERIAL THEY ARE MADE FROM COULD BE USED FOR SOMETHING ELSE. ANYONE KNOW OF SOMEONE IN THE SACRAMENTO OR PLACER COUNTY, CA WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED.

By: oklagirl

oklagirl — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:08:10 +0000

I had a ton of old trophies, ribbons, medals, and crowns. I spread them all out on the floor, plopped a crown on my head, sat in the middle of it all, and had DH snap a picture. Then I promptly posted them on Freecycle. SEVERAL people wanted them. The lady who got them wanted to use them for prizes at a family reunion. I have never missed them–in fact, I had forgotten all about them until I read this post! It was much less traumatic than I thought, apparently…

By: Kate

Kate — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:09:07 +0000

Horse trophies and ribbons are very gratefully accepted by therapeutic riding centers. Our daughter with cerebral palsy rides weekly at such a center, and last year, she received a “recycled” trophy. She doesn’t care that you can see the spot where the former name was pried off.

By: Deniz

Deniz — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:55:49 +0000

I think it may have been a recent Real Simple article that suggested spray painting each trophy the same color, then putting them on display. You can still read the name plate outlining the award, but at the same time add a cohesive design element to a room.

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:18:16 +0000

Might want to send them to a local theatre group or high school theatre group for use as props.

By: disconnect

disconnect — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:31:12 +0000

Two simple words: trophy night.

http://cockeyed.com/trophy/trophy.html

By: melanie

melanie — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:41:12 +0000

During this past election I found myself with all types of knick knacks, posters, pins, flyers etc which, on the 1 hand, I wanted to keep and display, but on the other hand, had a difficult time figuring out how to display in a manner which as creative, but not “college dorm like”, my solution (which I think works for all collections of things as I plan do do it with my elementary school swim team ribbons) is find a large frame big enough to hold all of the things, and make a collage out of it. now everything I get related to the topic goes in the frame, super glued, posted with colorful tape etc. once it looks the way I want, I stop adding. if i find something new, i have to rearrange, but it keeps everything in 1 area and not scattered all over the house. The collage is now posted in my kitchen!

By: Deb

Deb — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:35:30 +0000

I recently uncluttered in the garage and found a handful of sports trophies from my son’s younger years. I cleaned them up and put them on a shelf in the playroom we’ve made in our home for his daughter. Now, though, I will combine photos of the trophies, with the actual plates from them, into a shadow box and donate the pieces to a trophy business. What a great solution for everyone!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:19:44 +0000

I had years of horse show ribbons, plaques, etc. languishing in boxes and finally, many years later, threw everything away. I sometimes think all the money spent by clubs and organizations on these types of prizes could be better spent on gift certificates or something useful related to the sport. I knew a rider who always handed back her ribbons at the end of shows. She said they were just clutter to her, and the show committe was happy to get them back to use again.

By: catmom

catmom — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 05:22:53 +0000

Love the ideas of what to do with trophies that are no longer wanted. I’m sure there are people who have some and they are just taking up space in their homes. Never thought to call up a trophy shop, it’s always worth a shot. I happen to have 2 small ones, they just sit in a box in my “catchall room”. To be honest, they really don’t mean much to me.

For those with unwanted trophies, I send this out to you in cyberspace and hope you catch it!

By: Another Deb

Another Deb — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 02:14:07 +0000

Funny, I am one of those people who has never been awarded a trophy for anything in my life. It was sort of nice to marry a guy with a couple of trophys on display.. on a shelf… over the washing machine…waaaaaay up high over the washing machine.

We also inherited his bronzed “baby” shoe when his mother decluttered. The sight of an orthopedic shoe in all of its bronzed glory made for many, many laughs over the past few years.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:51:48 +0000

I wish now that I had thought to take pictures of our trophies, but we did donate them to a worthy cause. The gym teacher at my son’s elementary school put out a request for trophies for the Special Olympics. They give a lot of pleasure to the kids.

By: Guen

Guen — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:49:46 +0000

I gave away all my trophies years ago at a yard sale; just tossed them in a box marked “free.” Sure enough, someone took them. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!