Display Alternatives

I the cell phone camera snapshot I took of my collection last night, you can see I've got a random assortment of shelves on which I display my collection.  They were all free.  I kind of like the haphazard look of it, but I know that eventually I am going to need to set up a more protective display for my items as I intend on reproducing. Rather than section of a room of my house that will forever be inaccessible to my offspring, I am considering saving up to buy and install cases with glass doors that close so the collection can still be viewed but will remain protected from prying hands, with the added benefit of also being kept a little less dusty.  Right now, the collection is in kind of it's own room. It will eventually need to more to a more central location in the house as that room will inevitably become "the baby's room." It would be nice to both protect my collection and have it look a bit more presentable. 

I'm looking mainly at Ikea for ideas because the DIY assembly part makes them a bit more affordable. Some of the options I am considering would make a significant dent in my collection additions for a while as I expect husband-unit would require they be paid with Sailormoon money.

(For those who aren't intimately familiar with my finances, "Sailormoon money" is what I call my disposable income from commissions and art alleys - this is the only money I use to fund the collection which allows my other - "real money" - from my paycheck to go towards normal household living expenses.)

On the least expensive end we have the DETOLF Glass-door cabinet at $64.99.  A few of my friends have this cabinet.  It's handy because you can see in on all sides.  The draw backs (as far as I can tell) are the limited width (only 16 3/4" so this beast isn't fitting in there), and the fact that the shelves are not adjustable for height. That alone is enough for me to think this one is not going to work.

The KLINGSBO Glass-door cabinet is next at $129. It's an inch wider than the DETOLF and it has the added benefit of having a lock. I like the way it's raised up a bit off the floor, but because of the flared feet I wouldn't be able to set them directly side-by-side.  Also, that DX doll set STILL wouldn't fit. >_>

Leaving price aside for a while, another option I checked out is the BJURSTA Glass-door cabinet at $349. It has a sleek look and I kind of like the little drawer because it would be a neat place to store flat items.  The ultimate drawback for this shelf is the lack of knobs.  It opens and closes with a light pressing motion.  I am sure I could rig a way to lock it, but it wouldn't be as easy as ties on knobs would be.  It also doesn't come in white which is kind of the color I'm leaning towards.

That leaves me with the HEMNES Glass-door cabinet for $325 and the LIATORP Glass-door cabinet for $369.  Other than the fact that the HEMNES is about $40 cheaper, it also has 4 adjustable shelves instead of the 3 the LIATORP has. In the LIATORP's favor we have space with an additional 7" in height and an extra 2" for both depth and width.  Not a huge difference, but sometimes those extra inches in height can really help with some of the taller wands.

In general, I think I'm leaning towards the HEMNES. I kind of prefer the solid shelves to the glass ones and it's more modern design would allow me to place multiples side-by-side. The downside is that I estimate I would need at least 4 of these to hold the collection at it's current size.  That's a whopping $1300.  T__T  Though I could probably not get them all at once and slowly convert the collection into the new cabinets as I can afford to do so.

The question now is: how many toys do I want to give up in order to get my collection behind glass?

LE SIGH. ♥