Family Photo Display Ideas

As a family photographer I have no shortage of photos to display on the walls of our home.  When we moved to our home three and a half years ago I was amazed at how much wall space I had to fill and yet I’m now struggling to find space to display my favourite photos of our family. I learned the hard way that framed photos aren’t necessarily the best choice for every room after a few ninja and lightsaber battles resulted in broken glass. I absolutely love printing photos on canvas but because I add so many photos to our “favourites” collection every year I need display options that allow me to switch out photos on a regular basis. I’ve also filled the available wall space which means I’m always on the lookout for creative ways to add photos to every room.

Home office

Behind my computer I have a large white magnet board and a plethora of pretty magnets: I hang photos, cards I’ve received, favourite quotes, and special drawings from the kids.  I like being able to change photos with the seasons without having to go through the hassle of finding or hanging frames.

Bathroom

In 3 out of our 4 bathrooms we have photos printed on canvas.  It’s a great spot for beach or vacation photos and I appreciate how durable the canvas is in the damp environment.  If a canvas gets splashed it’s easy to wipe it down and I’m not worried about them falling off the walls and shattering on the file floors.  

Bedrooms

I quickly learned that kid’s interests change as quickly as Canadian weather and so rather than themed bedrooms, I’ve decorated the boys rooms with their favourite photos of themselves.  I chose colourful frames and canvas to hang on their walls and display on their shelves.

Photo ledges

A photo ledge is a great display option when you want to show off a collection of images without having to frame and hang them.  My husband recently installed a photo ledge above our front hall closet, where I have space for 4-5 images at a time.  I plan to use the space to display my seasonal photos and since I placed the photos in white mats it’s easy for me to switch out the images whenever I want.

Kitchen

When we moved into our house I considered storing beautiful bowls and vases above our kitchen cabinets but quickly realized I had no interest in washing and cleaning them on a regular basis to keep them dust free.  I’ve turned the empty space above our cabinets into display for photos and have done the same with high cabinets and dressers in other rooms.  

Sara McConnell is the mom to three boys and an award winning professional photographer specializing in maternity, newborn and family photography. When she's not behind her camera, drinking too much tea, in the pool or at the beach you can find her on Facebook, Instagram and on her website.

DIY Home Design: Wall Art

Confession: we moved into our home 5 years ago, and we just got around to painting this month! 

The original 1980s wallpaper stuck around for so long because we've been raising two young kids - wet paint and young kids do NOT go together.

So now, my darling husband has almost completed the transformation. We have a beautiful grey colour, with a slightly darker shade on our biggest wall. Grey is amazing, because you can add a lot of colour accents to your rooms.

We recently found this antique table on the Orleans Buy and Sell Facebook Group

With the walls painted in such a neutral tone, we see the need for some huge splashes of colour. I've always dreamed of commissioning several pieces of art, but sadly that is not in the budget.

So I'm relying on my somewhat limited artist skills, and I've decided to paint my own canvas. I was somewhat of an "artiste" in my younger days - let's see what I can do now ;)

My husband and I created a Pinterest board with all of our ideas: check it out here! 

Have you ever created your own wall art?

Felt garland

by Sara Our play room is full of toys, its bright, and I've been itching to add some 'flair' since we moved in.  We have fantastic wall decals and a few of the kids works of art on display but I've been waiting to find something colourful to add to the walls.  At a maternity photography session at the end of December I noticed a beautiful felt circle garland hanging on my client's walls and decided to replicate it.

I bought felt on sale at Michael's for less than $10.  I used craft foam to make circle templates for the felt: I traced three different size glasses from the cupboard and then used the templates to cut out the circles of felt.

My 2.5 year old monkey had no interest in the activity so its been a special project for the 4.5 year old firefighter and I to work on.  He chose the colours of felt to use and would then collect them and stack them as I cut them out.   On Sunday morning we were up with the birds and set to work finishing our project.

After cutting out all the circles we sorted them by colour and then the firefighter made patterns of circles on the floor.  He learned all about size and colour patterns in kindergarten this fall and had fun choosing what patterns he was going to make with the circles.   We made rainbow patterns, big-medium-small patterns, patterns with our favourite colours, and when we were about 3/4 of the way through the circles the firefighter decided to make one huge pattern that looked like the wheels on a big rig truck.

I used white thread and did one simple running stitch at the top of each felt circle and then slid them down the thread.  Because of the weight I ended up making two separate garlands for the playroom walls.  I used white push pins to attach them to the playroom walls and we managed to wrap the garland halfway around our play room!

Depending on your children's ages they could be more or less involved in the project.  Older children could cut out the felt shapes themselves and they certainly don't need to be circles: you could use any shape or even combine different shapes.  There are endless colours of felt available that you could use to colour coordinate with the room you want to decorate.  You could even layer the felt (smaller shape on top of a larger shape) for a two dimensional pattern.  Dark thread would look great on light walls (and vice versa) and its a great opportunity to introduce sewing to your kids (a simple running stitch is all that's needed to link all the circles together).

How have you decorated your play room?

Sara is a photographer and mom to a 4.5-year-old ” firefighter” and 2.5-year-old “monkey”.  You can also find her at her blog, My Points of View.