Family Portraits: Displaying Your Photos

Family portraits will not only serve as design elements for the home. It can also be a gorgeous and graphic presentation of the family – capturing the family at various times in their lives. As the family grows in number and in age, the living room or dining room wall can trace be a gallery of one’s family history.

Here are some ideas for displaying family portraits in the home. The effort is well worth it – they’re your favorite people, after all.

Have a plan. Use butcher or wrapping paper to trace the various picture frames and plot how the frames will be placed on the wall. You can use painter’s tape for this purpose. By having a plan, you can avoid the mistake of boring more holes into the wall than necessary.

Go with a theme. Before you start putting up the photos, you should be clear as to what kind of look you want. If you want to go for a classic look, you can go with vintage picture frames. You can go for a clean-cut, contemporary look with metal frames such as gold or silver picture frames.  Another strategy is to have a color motif, where frames have different molding, shapes and design, for as long as you use the same color. Be sure, though, that the frames complement each other. You could also unify the overall look of the photos by using black and white photos.

Combine various design elements. This can be the shape and color of the picture frame, as well as the color of the matting. With this, you can vary the design of the frames, as long as there is one unifying element. You can also mix and match different shapes – oval photo frames can be mixed into a set of square and circular picture frames. You can also add wall letters or framed quotations.

Incorporate some color into a black and white gallery. To make a black and white gallery come alive, add a single bold color like orange or red to make the display more vibrant. These pops of color can be incorporated through the color of some frames.

Display photos creatively. In some instances, photos don’t have to be framed. Take a large frame with no backing. Tie a piece of wire from one end to the other. Now that you have your “clothesline”, “hang” your photos using clothes pins. It’s important, though, that you do this only with pictures that you have already digitally stored in your computer. Old photographs are best preserved using picture frames that keep off dust and dirt and provide added protection against harmful UV rays.

Creating a stairway photo wall. You can line up pictures according to chronological order. This makes it a delightful walk along memory lane. Be sure to hang photos at eye level.

Displaying on shelves or ledges. You can lean the picture frames on the wall or perhaps have an overlap with some of the frames to create more depth to the display.