Westport Glass cuts glass table tops and other custom glass , 625 Southwest Blvd., Kansas City, Kan., 913-671-8847, www.westportglass.com KansasCity.com/home

Make a shadow box from an existing picture frame. Step-by-step instructions and photos are from Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts (Potter Craft, $35)

STEP BY STEP: MAKE A LAMP

Designers say you can convert most any collectible into a mirror or lamp. Interior designer Jaclyn Banash, owner of Urban Dwellings Design, did just that.

Banash loves vintage wooden camera tripods, so she turned one into a floor lamp base. She found the tripod on eBay and the whimsical shade from Anthropologie. Now she has a proud DIY statement displayed in her dressing room.

SUPPLY CHECKLIST

Cordless drill with ?-inch bit

Collectible for a lamp base

Lamp shade

Light bulb

Make-a-lamp kit (This comes with the switch, cord, harp and finial. You may choose to upgrade the last two; supplies available at lighting stores.)

About $8 in the electrical section of hardware stores

Tip from Jaclyn: The kit also should come with a standard 1-to-2-inch "allthread" and nut, which connects the lamp fixture to the base. Depending on what your lamp base is, you may need to separately purchase a longer allthread to accommodate a thicker base.

1. Drill a hole in the top of the collectible where you want the light bulb to sit.

2. Feed the electric cord through the allthread. Connect common wire to the silver screw and hot wire to the gold screw (instructions for this also come with the lamp kit).

3. Screw in the light bulb, and secure the lamp shade with finial. Stand back and admire your creation.

PLEASING SHELF ARRANGEMENTS

This modular display gallery can unite the disparate collections of one person or stylishly merge the collections of two. How? Each box acts as its own unit. Similar modular units can easily be built from scratch.

CLUSTER ITEMS ON A TRAY

When you have different shapes and sizes of an item, a tray acts as a container to organize the pieces into one statement. These ceramics made in Kansas City and elsewhere share a similar color palette. The corralled collection creates a clean look and packs in more visual impact than if the individual pieces were "marched" down a mantel or shelf.

GLASS CAN BE GOOD

You can make a shadowbox table by finding a garden urn you like and having a piece of glass cut to go on top of it. Glass display accents are great for holding vacation mementos (such as seashells, matchbooks or vintage postcards), toys and found objects from the backyard.

Wooden shadowbox table, $235, Joanna Votilla

Atrium glass table lamp, $139, Pottery Barn (catalog only)

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