Ways to Display Family Photos on a Wall or in a Room

All in a Row

Make good use of a smaller space in your home to hang family photos in a vertical line. Use smaller frames for your photos and hang the most important or cherished photo at eye level, then add two or three more above and below it. This type of arrangement is ideal for the narrow strip of wall between two windows, the front of a cabinet or armoire or a narrow section of the wall near a corner.

Use a large wall space to hang several photos all together. Hang your photos in a grid arrangement or arrange them in more of a cluster, with less definition between the positions. One way to unify a display like this and make it look cleaner is to use the same color for all of the photo frames. Choose a bright, bold color like royal blue or keep it subtle with chocolate brown or gold. One easy way to accomplish this is to purchase thrift store frames in several shapes and sizes and then spray paint them all the same color. Using one color for the frames helps the photos coordinate even if they're from different generations or times in your family's history.

Combine photos with other important mementos to create a story on your wall. Frame photographs of your children and hang them alongside framed award certificates and ribbons or drawings they have created. Take photos from your family vacations and hang them near framed postcards or travel and event tickets. Hang wedding photos near a framed copy of the program and the invitation. This process creates a kind of three-dimensional scrapbook page on your wall to add visual interest to a photo display.

Walls aren't the only places to display your family photos. Make use of other surfaces in your home, such as bookshelves and mantels, to share your photos as well. Use small framed photos to fill in the gap at the end of a row of books on a bookshelf. Lean a large photo on a mantel, propped up against a wall, and then position two smaller frames to either side of it, leaning against it at the corners. Use magnetic frames to display current snapshots on your refrigerator and rotate them out easily as you take new photos.