I’ve shared this on my blog, but I know a lot of you don’t check that, so I had the idea to share this blog post with all of you here, since THIS is a passion of mine.
I have this dream that I want to share with the world. Now stick with me and hear me out. My dream is but a simple one—to beautifully display family portraits around your home. I’m not just talking about professional images (though I do know someone who can help you with that) but the images of your family that tell a story, share an adventure, or just show off how cute you are as a family.
Though your children may not notice those images enough to mention every day, it is tucked in the back of their minds, and they feel the security that they are in a loving family. Parents, do you want to know the secret to raising loving, creative, honest, self-confident kids? By nurturing their self- esteem. How better to nurture that self-esteem than to decorate your home with THEM! In her book “The Magic of Encouragement,” therapist Stephanie Marston suggests placing portraits of your child being loved next to their bed, or on their walls. These images will be “the last thing before they sleep and the first thing they see when they awaken.” Images speak louder than words.
And moms—make sure YOU are in some of those images! Your children NEED to see you loving and squeezing and adoring them. They need to see that family portrait engrained in their memories as they pass through the revolving front door every day because they DO notice. We love to look at our children (and so do they) but they also need to look at you. Don’t worry about the fact that you still need to lose that last 15 pounds, your children love you for you, and you need to be remembered at this time in their lives.
In my opinion, each room should have at least one picture displayed. In rooms with larger walls, large prints can either be clustered together in varying sizes or standing alone. Have you ever seen what an 8×10 looks like hung on a big wall all by itself? It doesn’t look right—it looks too small! I do think that if a cluster of 8×10’s are huddled together on a wall, it works better. But ideally, an 11×14 is the smallest that should go up on a wall—16×20 is even better–20×30 every better! I try to educate my clients on the importance of large portraits. They are scared, worried how it will look, then when they see it, they LOVE it! Something about BIG just doubles the happiness, not to mention the visibility.
I used to worry that people would come to my home and see family pictures everywhere and think I’m vain for displaying so many prints of my family. Well guess what? I love my family more than anything and it’s true—I think we are AWESOME and I love to look at us! I much prefer my family to black ironwork wall hangings. When I go to friends or strangers home, my favorite thing is to walk all around their home and silently peer into their frames, have a glimpse into their lives. I still love to go to my moms home and look at all my childhood pictures. She has them going down her stairwell with portraits through the years. I LOVE it!
I want my children to feel that family togetherness, the unity. I want the pictures displayed around our home to remind them that they are a part of a family who loves them. This is my wish, for me and for you. I want to get those great family moments off of the computer and onto the walls. It doesn’t have to be expensive either. I am a big fan of professionally printed images and will only sell that to my clients, but if the quality is lower, it is better to have that than nothing. A 16×20 at Sams club is around $10 (don’t quote me on that). I say to print that, make sure you love it, then if you want better quality, seek a higher end lab.
Here are some snaps from around my home.
To the left of the window is a 16×20 canvas. I wish it were bigger.
This is in the kitchen right by the back door to the garage. I thought it needed a little something and I put an 8×10 print of my 4 kids in the bluebonnets next to a lightswitch and security system. Painted the frame green.
My boys old room, these are 20×30’s of them playing sports. 
They helped me pick out which sports shot to include.
Our kitchen. This goes along with my rule to not put 8×10’s on the wall unless clustered together. This is plate rack and the 8×10’s are mounted on a hard board so they stand alone without a frame. I change these throughout the year.
There you have it…now share with me! Don’t worry if they aren’t perfect. I try to do a regular feature on my blog of images readers have sent to me of how they decorate with portraits.
P.S. Did you hear that I am competing on crafting with the stars? Eeeks, so crazy! Amy (the creator of this blog) is a “star” working with another competator. Check Sew Dang cute on Sunday or Monday to vote.
P.S.S. Come to my blog to see my most recent exciting portrait decoration and to submit your images.
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Thanks for posting the ideas on decorating with family photos. We just had some great photos done by an amazing local photographer and this really helped! Thanks! Kerri
Wonderful advice! I had never thought about displaying pictures of kids being "loved on". I really appreciated this article. Thank you!
Erin at inbetweenlaundry.blogspot.com
What a wonderful way to show your family how much they mean to you! We recently painted – well a year or so ago now! lol I'm getting tired of looking at bare walls but I haven't known what to do until now. I've been inspired! Now I just have to get some pictures and frames!!! :)
Thank you for your inspiration and sharing how important seeing those family photos are. I will try to pull them out of the box and put them on the wall.
Angela
SimpleCreations
Thank you sooooo much for this post! We moved into a new home in January and I'm still trying to decide how to decorate. I love to decorate with photos but thought that might look kind of vain too ;) You've inspired me to just do it. Thank you for all the ideas on how to display. You rock!
I agree with the above comments…thank you for your post! We painted our living room walls, and I still hadn't decided how to decorate them. Thank you for the great ideas!
Thank you so much for posting this. I just took down a few photos because I was beginning to think that I needed more "art" and less family. Well, guess what?! They are going back up on the walls! I love my family, why not show them off? It's my best accomplishment to date.
That is wonderful advise! I just love how inspiring you are and not only "how-to" but a very thoughtful WHY!! I want everyone to know how "family" our family really is!
Great post.
What a great thing! Thank you so much for this post! My friend Erin, from Pink Daffodil Photography actually just did a post on sizes! She has examples of what certain sizes would like on a wall! And this post just goes along perfectly. Thank you, thank you!!!
Question: how often do you switch out the pictures on the collages? As the kids gets older? with the season? I struggle a lot with that. Thank you.
I love to print black and white photos for cheap at office depot – nice and big! But sticking them to the hallway with tack looks a little . . .college dorm-y.
Any thought on how to attach a photo straight to the wall (sans frame to save on bulk in narrow hallway)?
This is really helpful advice. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and talent, Kristin.
And, Amy, you get your groove on here. I love it! I made your cinnamon swirl pancakes this morning and we loved them. Thank you!
Love, Bree
James and Monica–I don't p lan to switch them out, just add to them. I like to keep the oldies up, too:)
Deanna–I would try to at least adhere the picture to some straight surface, either thin wood with mod podge or a thick poster board. THen you can mount it with industrial strength velcro!
I love the post but have one question: how do you mount the 8×10's on hard board? Looks awesome!
Preston, there are a few ways to mount prints. I use a pro lab, and when I have 8×10's or larger, I always mount the prints. It keeps the paper from warping from humidity and keeps it nicer longer. You can also mount on a foam board yourself and add some mod podge. I am pretty sure a lot of print companies have mounting options now, too.
Spray adhesive and form board work great if you are on a budget. Walmart and Costco both with mount pics on heavy board/canvases. Fabulous article! Thank you!
Love this! We have an enormous wall that we are slowly filling in with a collage of family pictures and portraits- the kids love finding themselves, their parents, etc. :)
SO helpful! Thank you!!!
Great post! I love photography & I love decorating with it! Here is my favourite display of family photos in my home right now: http://heathernow.blogspot.com/2010/04/now-forever.html
It's a collage of 6 12×12 prints that are framed in (I think) 14×14 frames, with a framed statement above.
Beautiful photos and wonderful ideas. My 2 yr twin boys often point out to me a photo I took at a beach last summer that is in our living room. But I still can decorate many more rooms in our home besides our living room and their bedr w/ photos of our family. Thank you.
This is such a great post for me to read. I LOVE to take pictures of my kids, but I really fear hanging things on my wall, just because I am not super great at figuring out what should go where. But recently I painted a wall in my living room and I want to get some prints made of some of my favorite shots of my kids (many of which are casual- my favorite I think) and get them on the wall! I am so glad I came across this post- I will have to save it to refer to. I love your blog by the way. Just been poking around the past few days here and there- so great!
You are a Saint for putting up all this detailed info. I laughed out loud at the little picture of the baby on the bed laid sideways. People at work think I’m going crazy. Awesome.
I really appreciate all of this outstanding information. Thanks!