How to display your family photos - Inside our home

1.2 TRILLION.

That’s the number of digital photos that were taken in 2018.

My guess is that a very large majority of those photos will live out their days as JPEGS buried on our computers, external hard drives or the cloud.

I’m so passionate about capturing our everyday lives, ensuring mums are in the frame with their babies – but I also really want families to prioritise printing and displaying their photos. I know it can be hard to think of the best ways to do this, so I wanted to take you for a little tour through my own home, room by room, and show you how I display our family photos.

Almost every room in our home has photos on display – some people may think that walls are for structural, practical or privacy purposes… but personally, I think they primarily exist as a blank canvas for me to hang photos on!

So, come and take a look around, I hope it gives you some ideas to display more of your own family photos.

And if you’re looking to update your family photos, what better time than now!? I am taking bookings for family and newborn sessions in and around Geelong, and I would love to capture your special family memories.

LIVING ROOM

Almost all the prints that are on our walls are stuck up using command strips (which you can get from Coles/Woolies). I liked grouping together this selection of black and white photos but mixing it up a bit with different sized and shaped frames. I’m also a sucker for a good vintage map… We love travelling and our trips to South America & Africa were some of the most memorable adventures we ever went on, so it’s special to be able to have those maps on our walls. My husband is a kiwi so we have a map of NZ and photo of one of the most beautiful beaches in NZ (Piha) on display too. Finally, a really special custom family portrait illustration by Oh Baby Bird that I was gifted for Mothers Day (when I say “gifted”, I mean, I ordered it myself and gave it to my family to give to me 🤣).

I really like using indoor plants, artwork and landscape images so that it doesn’t feel like a massive overload of people photos! I think sometimes when there are TOO many photos, they lose their impact. But I also think that largely comes down to personal preference.

Disclaimer - I really feel this overwhelming need at this point to admit that I did a LOT of tidying up before I took these photos. The storage tubs on the right are normally upside down with the contents all over our floor. The entertainment cabinet is normally covered in toy cars. Cushions on the couch thrown all over the show. Honestly, our house looks like it’s been ransacked 90% of the time. But I really wanted you guys to focus on the photos, not the mess…so, I tidied and decluttered!!

The photo ledges pictured above are the newest additions to our walls. This little space is right next to our hallway and on top of our heater and has always felt like this bare / empty space to me. I was a little worried that adding more photos to this wall would make it look too cluttered or busy, but I think the fact that they are displayed differently on the photo ledges compared to the B&W gallery to the left, helps a lot! I have also restrained myself from adding TOO many photos, and just picked a few to avoid it feeling like too much.

IKEA - MOSSLANDA Photo ledge (1 x 115cm & 1 x 55cm)
Artwork - MYND Interiors

HALLWAYS

We live in single fronted period home, one of those homes with the long dark hallways - this part of the hallway is one of the darkest spots in the house with no natural light and so I wanted to put something a little bit different and eye catching in this space - enter the wonderful Arlo & Co who have the most beautiful wall photo decals. Plus a couple of framed prints in this weird little area between our laundry/bathroom and toilet!

IKEA - HOVSTA Photo Frames (30x40cm)

Arlo & Co - Photo Decals (1 x large, 2 x medium, 4 x small)

Long ago, BC (before children) the main reason I picked up my camera was to take travel photos. My husband and I spent the majority of our 20s travelling and these travel photos have been in our entryway pretty much since we moved into our home.

SPARE BEDROOM / STUDY

I also think photo displays look great when they are mixed in with other prints or artwork. I’ve used photo ledges here to display our wedding invitation along with one of our wedding photos, as well as the thank you cards we sent out to friends & family after the kids were born plus a photo of them to go next to it. The framed image top right is a page out of one of my Nana’s sheet music books from her years playing the piano that was gifted to me by my beautiful Auntie 💕

I think when I got this pinboard for above my desk, I had planned to use it for business related/planning purposes…. clearly that didn’t go to plan!

KIDS BEDROOM

A little corner of my kids room I have snuck some photos into. Can you tell I love using the IKEA photo ledges? Previously I was just using this ledge to display books - but we have a new storage system on the other side of the room for allllll the books, so I took that opportunity to replace with a couple of my favourite photos of the kids (but kept one of our favourite books front & centre!)

My Hidden Forest - Rainbow wall decals

MYND Interiors - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Poster (Mary Poppins was my favourite movie as a kid FYI!)

MASTER BEDROOM

No mantle in my home is safe. Period fireplaces are just glorified photo ledges in my humble opinion ;)

DINING ROOM

I do display other things in my home, other than photos…but I can never resist throwing some photos into the mix. A few treasures from our travels over the years, magazines, books and plants which i’m actually amazed are still alive! #HangingOnForDearLife #TheOneThatLooksHealthyIsFake

KITCHEN

And let’s not forget the trusty fridge …. what better place to display all your happiest snaps than here!? I decided to blu tack our photos onto the fridge, since it looks pretty busy already, adding extra magnets into the picture just made it a bit too much in my opinion!

OK well technically this doesn’t really belong here… but despite the lack of photos, it’s one of my favourite corners of my home…annnnd, there was some pretty light here when I was taking photos so I’ve awarded it a wild card entry.

I would love to hear if this is helpful for you and if it gives you some ideas to start displaying more of your own family photos - leave a comment below and let me know!!

And if you’re looking for a professional family or newborn photographer to help create some beautiful photos to put up on your walls - I would love to chat more with you! I’m now based in Torquay and offering family & newborn photography sessions in Geelong, The Bellarine, Surf Coast & beyond!