The Family Photo Wall
CRINGE ALERT! This contains Harkin Family Photos. I'm trying not to think about it.
But organising the Photo Wall has always been one of my favourite things and began as a rebellion to the trend that everyone has, of wanting to display pictures of loved ones, holidays, granny windsurfing and the photo of little Johnny blowing out the candles on his 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc Birthday cake, in dust-laden and mismatching picture frames all over the house. Or worse still stuck with drawing pins on cork boards, hanging off fridges with holiday souvenir magnets that say We Were In Blackpool. No, No and No. I love my offspring like the next person but dog eared photos get damaged, and I hate clutter, even if it is a lovely shot.
Mixtiles
Two ideas, one in the picture above is a beautiful way of displaying the best of images on these little block tile canvases. The smaller the better actually as you can make a mosaic-like collection. Mine started with about a dozen but each year I take a few poignant moments showing my little cherubs a year older and captured doing something crazy. I’ve quite a collection now, and whilst I won’t lie, lining up those nails in the wall made me want to cry and posting those photos of my kids as babies will go down a storm with them(!) I change the tiles around every so often and it looks great. They are ever so inexpensive, you can usually get them from your local photo printing shop or online Try http://www.mixtiles.com.
Photobooks - The Bigger The Better
Another way is Coffee Table Photo Books. Gather them all up in one online folder after each holiday or occasion. It has made me a lot more careful about deleting bad photos on my phone, and good ones I know I will want in the photobook at some stage I put in a folder on my phone so I know where they are, otherwise I have thousands of images to scroll through. I find that whenever I want to proudly show a recent photo of the kids, its there without spending an hour scrolling through your phone saying, I know it’s here somewhere :) There are lots of online options. but go for the thickest hardback you can afford so it lasts forever and can be handed down to the kidshttp://www.myphotobook.com
Traditional Framing
Ikea does a great range of photo frames, especially the ones that come with the built-in border, which always looks much more professional. Gofor black and white for a very contemporary look. Or change the white border background for a colour that matches your decor.
I still have a few dust cllecting photo frames around the house though!!!