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I love to see pictures of people's families and friends on their walls. What is not so great is when they are displayed with little or no thought to presentation. I have a fair number of family shots on my own walls and I am always careful not to let the number or quality exceed good taste. When I say quality, I mean is the picture one you adore, is it artistic and/or does it reflect who you are as a family? Some of us have a lot of guilt when it comes to displaying family pics. We feel that every school, Christmas , or child-related photo must go on the wall ( or mantel) in order to honor the subject properly. I say no, with some guilt of course. We have all gone into someone's home where they have hung every school or family portrait ever taken on the living room wall. How distracting that can be!! Even worse if they are mixed in with a few circa 1970 shot of everyone in yellow or orange/brown polyester. Yikes! Add to that, mismatched picture frames hung too high, and no longer are the subjects honoured!!!I am not too matchy-matchy, but I do like co-ordination and flow. The frames do not all have to match, but they should complement in style and colour. The pictures we display should make us smile when we look at them, not shudder. One of my favorite photos is one of my boys at 16 months of age. It is black and white and it is a profile shot of him looking out the window at birds. It is a perfect reminder of the perfection of babies and it will never look out of place. These are the type of pictures to display as "art"- not the wedding photo of Aunt Marion and her husband, dressed in a blue tuxedo. You can display that more quietly in a smaller frame in the basement family room!
If you have a large number of photos you want to display, try creating a gallery wall (see pictures above). Use co-ordinating frames and before you hang them, lay them out on the floor to test the arrangement and/or trace the pictures onto paper, cut out, and then "test hang" them on the wall to see the effect. This will keep you from having too many unnecessary nail holes! Have fun with it: hang what you love, stand back and give it a good once over and invite your friends and family to come see your "gallery." Don't forget to take "Aunt Marion" past her wedding photo in the basement... She will probably be thrilled to not be on display for all to see in her polyester wedding dress beside a blue tuxedo!!!
