Like many collectors, I enjoy paintings, drawings and prints hanging in my home. Some are old, and others are very new. Each reflects an interest of mine at a given point in time. A few of the paintings have been with me for decades. All that being said, I prefer to hang my works salon style with layers of paintings on the walls. I am not fan of the silly contemporary look of a massive white wall with one picture framed in an oversize frame. As a committed maximalist, I do not want to see bare walls in any way shape or form! Okay, so this morning I got notice of an auction of frame prints. The sale is coming up in a few weeks, and there are probably two dozen lots that I would love to have. But here is the problem: I have two boxes of images that I cannot fit on the wall right now. Yes, I could rotate them, but size is always a challenge when rotating artworks. So, do I go and bid on the items realizing they may live in a closet or do I pass on them? Collectors always are making choices about the size and scope of what they collect. A budding collector of military medals may be able to keep the collection in a drawer in the house; however, an automobile collector needs vast amounts of garage space. No way around that one. This is part and parcel of being a collector, figuring out how to store and show off your collection. Sometimes its easy, but often it is a complex question unless one has unlimited indoor space. For those of us who like to hang a lot of artwork on the walls, I do think there are several options to consider in how we build a visual art collection. Beyond getting a second house, I would suggest the following: -Use the hallways, stairwells and bathrooms (without a shower) for your collection. -Keep the fragile items out of direct sunlight, which means watercolors need to be in the halls, stairwells and shower-less bathrooms. -Rotate things if you can. In particular, photographs do need to be moved in and out. -Finally, my biggest suggestion is to collect miniatures. Okay, that sounds ridiculous, but three small to medium size paintings can often fit where one large one hung on the wall. Those smaller paintings that take up less room, giving you more space for other items. When all of this fails, you have the predicament I am in right now. What am I going to do with the upcoming auction? Well, I am going to sit and sweat and swear and probably in the end not bid on anything. I know, I know, many would say to purchase one item and call it a day. When you have 20 items to pick that one from, it becomes darned near impossible. Better to let it all go than to go nuts trying to select just one. Born to collect should be the motto of Peter Seiberts family. Raised in Central Pennsylvania, Seibert has been collecting and writing about antiques for more than three decades. By day, he is a museum director and has worked in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Virginia and New Mexico. In addition, he advises and consults with auction houses throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly about American furniture and decorative arts. Seiberts writings include books on photography, American fraternal societies and paintings. He and his family are restoring a 1905 arts and crafts house filled with years worth of antique treasures found in shops, co-ops and at auctions.