You all will be proud of me. I finally got my act together and placed a big order of family pictures that have been sitting on discs patiently waiting for me to do something with them. Although I’ve loved looking at the images on the computer, there’s something so exciting about seeing them as big, beautiful prints:
I ordered mine from MPix, the site that my photographer recommended. I ordered another large print from them last year and was really happy with the quality. My mom and I have also used the site MyPhotoPipe.com in the past, as well, with good luck. (Any others you want to share?)
I know there’s some debate on whether personal photos should be displayed in the main living spaces of a home. I personally don’t get it. Why wouldn’t you want to hang your favorite memories and best moments on the walls that surround you? I think they can make a house feel so happy. So lived in. And, I always love them in big groupings:
Elle Décor
I have plans to use family photos in a few different areas of our house. (That was even one of my “home goals” at the beginning of the year.) I would love to fill the small hallway to our bedroom with frames full of sweet faces and fun times. . .I’m thinking of a building a collection like this, only using color photographs:
Vogue Living (source)
And, tomorrow, I’ll show you what I did with those black and white ones I just ordered.
How have you used family pictures in your home?
(Or, do you keep them unprinted on disks forever and ever—like I usually do?)
that’s going to be beautiful Emily :) Can’t wait to see it on the wall. xo Kristin
I’ve got a huge gallery wall of family photos and I love it. Its my favorite spot in the house.
I just had 4 mats cut for existing frames and suddenly realized I don’t have a single photo to fill them. Bad mom!
Love, love, love to have family photos just about everywhere! I’m obsessed with those floor to ceiling collections of framed photos but can’t get my hubby on board. Somehow that’s clutter to him, but the pile of mail collected over three weeks on the steps isn’t clutter… ;)
Oh yes, my family’s photos are everywhere, but one that I’m particularly proud of are the ones that I displayed in our entry… http://buhayatbahay.blogspot.com/2012/03/wall-of-happiness.html. Printed my faux canvas over at walmart, cheap and easy and pretty good quality I should say. Can’t wait to see yours Emily!
With regard to people thinking it’s weird to display family photos in your home — the only time I’ve ever found it weird was when it was a couple with no kids, with zillions of pics of the two of them. That felt… oddly self-obsessed to me. But pictures of kids and the whole family and maybe friends, plus the occasional you-and-husband pic are totally fine by me. :)
Awesome! Can’t wait to see what you do with yours. There was an HP ad a while back that said “mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be jpegs.” I love the though behind it, but I too am guilty of it!
That’s going to look so good! I love having family photos in all the areas of my home.
I have hundreds of photos on SD cards. I need to follow your footsteps and have some printed..lol
I cannot wait to see what you do with yours.
I am terrible about never printing photos! But when I do- I love MPix. They are great for printing Instagram photos as well.
Your post couldn’t have been more timely. I was just hammering out a gallery wall in our small hallway yesterday afternoon. Without any idea as to what I was going to actually put in all those frames, I decided to pull out old photos of my kids to add with some newer ones. Shutterfly is my go to source for pics. I can use their ap to automatically save pics from my phone, place an order or add to my share page so that my friends and family can see my pics and order what they want.
I agree, I love seeing family pics in living spaces of homes! Can’t wait to see what you did with yours!
Emily, I saw a post recently on Jenny’s blog LGN about family photos in color and was inspired by your dining room re-do in your old house. I combined the two ideas and had some old family photos printed out with a camera application that gave them a very vintage/retro look and hung them in my dining room! I loved them so much and had so many compliments on them. I also recently found a huge frame at Good will and had a favorite picture blown up (I used instagram this time) and framed it. It now hangs in our dining room (we have since moved and I do miss my old gallery wall). Can’t wait to see what you do!! https://plus.google.com/u/0/102444296747664372819/posts
Looks great! Is that big print one of your kids walking to school? Would love to see more–do you have a blog?
Really pretty, Elizabeth!
Great ideas. I have the obligatory gallery wall but I also place photos under a piece of glass on top of a plain brown end table in the family room to make it more fun to look at when I set my glass down and the kids love to come over and see what new photos have been added. It give it a collage like effect that is easily changeable.
Mine end up on the disc in a drawer! I have 4 big oil paintings of my kids and I feel like in a house my size that is about all I can handle! I love black & whites though!
I just printed out 12 pictures and put them in my gallery…although a good look, I thought it was time to remove the Ikea paper from the frames!
I used Mpix to order pictures from my brother’s wedding and my own recently. They are great quality pictures!
I am doing a photo wall with family pictures and places I have been when traveling. I think it adds a personal touch to your home.
My pictures are loaded on disk after disk, about 13 years worth of pictures. I need to do something with them. Maybe some coffee table books since I don’t have much wall space. I can’t wait to see you gallery wall!
Coffee table books are a great solution!
I’ve filled up my laundry room, our office, the hall to our bedroom, and am considering a big gallery wall when I redo our bedroom. Can there be too much? :) Glad to know about MPix. I usually just print mine at Sam’s, but even my photos from a great photographer sometimes come out sketchy. Oh, and just so you know, all I have to type is “e” into my address bar and your blog automatically comes up!
Thanks Emily!! No, I don’t have a blog, but here is a better pic of the pic I had blown up (It is my daughter and husband and made it sort of out of focus (my inspiration was the Thom Filicia Warm Memories picture that Caitlin Creer used in a model home – loved that so much). Anyway, I used Ritzpic camera to blow it up to a 30×30 (the frame actually was 36×36) but with a mat, it looks fine. http://instagram.com/p/bkon-Xhnx4/
I love it! And, I love hat Thom Filicia print, as well. In fact, I worked on editing some of our beach pictures in PicMonkey to give them a similar effect. (I need to blog about that…)
Have to admit I am guilty of not getting pictures printed and framed as I should. But I agree with you, people should decorate their houses with the photos of those they love!
I love to decorate with family pictures. I also love to display favorite photos of places I’ve been, things I’ve seen. Can’t wait to see what you did with yours.
Kristi
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It’s something I struggle with too! And I really like taking pictures of my kids. I think you should always have family photos displayed in a home, but I think it’s a fine line between lovely memories and a shrine to your family. :) I can’t wait to see what you’ve done with some of yours!
I have a wall of family photos in our living room that I love. I actually wrote a post about it a couple months ago. However, I too usually end up with a million pictures on my laptop but now that I am having my second little one I am trying to getting better about printing and framing those special moments!
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I’m horrible about getting pics printed and hung but just had people stay with us so I made a big push to decorate and got 6 new ones up. I think the home should reflect the family that lives there and pictures are a big part of that.