What’s the coolest piece of car decor in your home? – Jalopnik

Decorating your space can be a daunting task for many people, but us car enthusiasts always have car-themed decor to fall back on. However, it can be tricky to find the right balance between showing your car enthusiasm without turning your house into a garage or a creepy man cave. Fortunately, there are generations of car enthusiasts and artists who have come before us who have recognized the artistic value of the automobile and have sketched, painted, photographed and sculpted many tasteful automotive-themed decors. The car had such a profound influence on the design world that it even launched the infamous American roadside business architecture style called Googie architecture in car-crazy Los Angeles.

We want to hear from you, the adoring Jalopnik audience, the undisputed tastemakers of the interior design world. What’s the coolest car-themed decor in your home? Share your story with the class in the comments below.

Cool is an extremely subjective measure, but I think the coolest piece of car decor in my house is my set of license plates. I enjoy asking my family and friends, many of whom have moved from state to state, to give me their old, unnecessary license plates. Once I had amassed a decent collection of license plates, consisting of vintage license plates I found at a thrift store, license plates from my own old cars, and license plates from friends, I decided to string them up and hang them in my living room. Plus, I just moved into this apartment, and I haven’t finished decorating yet, so don’t come for me and my otherwise bare white walls.

I have a number of other car decorations in my house that I’m also very fond of, including a series of vintage framed photos of Volkswagen Beetles and buses being unloaded at a port, but my favorite thing about my license plate collection is its sentimental value. I like to look at the South Carolina license plate and think of my best friends who lived there, the Nevada license plate and the memory of my grandmother, and the license plate of my Honda CR-V that I threw away after the catalytic converter was stolen. That’s why I think my license plate collection is the coolest car decor in my house. What’s yours?