I love our family photos. I'm sure you can agree that they really bring personality to a home by displaying them all throughout your house. I think a Family Gallery Wall is a great way to showcase your family and today I want to share with you an EASY way to create a gallery wall of family photos and show you a few options that might help you change the way you hang a photo of your family on the wall.
Family Gallery Wall
For years, we have had a Family Gallery Wall or Family Wall of Photos hanging in our house. But they didn't always look as nice as the above photo. They were a collection of different types of frames...none of them matching.
A few years ago, I decided to tackle our family wall. I took all the frames down and spray painted them all black to match. Well, my husband spray painted them.
What a difference just a little spray paint created. Here is our family gallery wall that hangs at the top of our second floor.
How to Create a Family Wall of Photos
So how about YOU? Do you have a family gallery wall displayed in your house? Here are a few tips to help you create a beautiful display of family photos hanging in your house.
Choose what YOU like
It doesn't have to be all photos. Get creative! hang up photos with quotes. Frame special objects from trips.
(Source: Bless'er House)
Start with the Large Frames
Place your larger frames first and then fill in with smaller frames.
(Source: No Place Like Home)
Use Different Frames
I chose to use all the same color frames, but this mixture from Christy Martin Photography looks great. I love the combination of different sizes and colors of frames.
Proper Spacing is Everything
Try to space all of your pictures about the same distance apart from one another.
(Source: Rachel Myers)
Plan Everything Out
Plan out how you want to hang the photos before you reach for the hammer and nail.
Here's a great example from 320 Sycamore for laying our and hanging a gallery wall using paper templates. This way you can move them around and get them in the correct position without damaging your wall with tons of nail holes.
Another fun way to get some layout ideas is found HERE...
So why not spend some time this weekend gathering together all your favorite family photos and design your own family gallery wall!
Another great idea for preserving family memories is to frame Old Family Recipes.
Thanks for the tip that I should be mindful of the spacing between the things that I hang on my wall in order to make a better impression and make it not look too cluttered. I'm planning to buy a family wall art in order to fill up some empty space on my living room wall. Having a wall art alongside my children's pictures of their lives' milestones would be quite a display for a proud parent like me.
I read somewhere that they laid the paper (packing paper, newsprint, opened paper bags, whatever) on the BACK of each picture, and marked on the paper where the hanging mechanism was located.
Rub over the sawtooth back, or the hooks, whatever you need. (keep in mind to notice if this is exactly centered, as you will have it on the wall "backwards"
I would also make little marks to indicate the mat, if any, and draw a rough outline or write what/who that picture is.
Then when you are taping the pictures, you can see if there are 4 of dad all together, etc.
Once arranged, just put the hanger in the wall, right over the paper - it will be in the right place!
I would hang each picture as I took down the paper so I didn't get lost as to what goes where, but marking the hangers on the paper is the key!
That's a great idea. Thank you for sharing!
Hey there, thanks for the tips. I just have a question. How do you establish where to put your hooks, once you have your paper templates where you want to them??
I'd still be nervous I will put the hooks in the wrong place, and it will look messy or not as I had it with the paper templates.
Thanks for your help.
Once you have the paper templates placed on the wall, go ahead and make a little pencil mark at the top of the template where the nail will go. And if you do make a mistake, cover it with a picture! Our wall is not perfect behind the photos you see on the wall. Thank you for visiting.
This is something I've been wanting to tackle. Great tips! Thank you.
Tip: Once they are up take a photo of how they are arranged for safe-keeping. I have a HUGE family photo wall with 40 + frames from small to really big - We thought we were moving so I took it down. Then we didn't move and I struggled under the pressure of getting it back up having nothing to go by but my chemo soaked brain which doesn't work well anymore. So I laid them out on a clear section of floor to figure out another pattern and I put them up - too fast - they are not right and it bugs the heck outta me every time I walk by that wall. It's a mess. I want to thank you for this post. You have inspired me to take them all down again and start over, and to get it right this time 🙂 Blessings, from Carlyn 🙂 in Tampa
Awesome tips! Your galleries look great. Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty - we love partying with you! Hope to see you next Friday. 🙂
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
Great how-to ! I love these family wall photos, but we live in an earthquake prone area and I am afraid to put up too much stuff. Guess I'll have to admire all of yours!
I need to do this. We have a big family (7 people) and I love family pictures. We even have a big wall that I've been wondering what to do with since we moved in 5 years ago.
I like how the collage frames are used as part of the collage in the first picture, so you can get away with using a lot of small ones.
This is such a great idea! I also loved your tips, I have a nice space where i can put my family pictures and your tips helped a lot! Thank you.
We have so many photos we love, but they're all digital still. I would love to use this resource to get them on the walls where we can see them all the time. Thanks for sharing your ideas!
This is so helpful as I am doing this project now.
Love all the great ideas - thank you!!
Mimi
http://inmyprimetime.blogspot.com/
Great tips! I actually want to work on a gallery wall of family photos this week/weekend. Thanks for all the help! 😀