Misty Dawn Photography » The Blog

You’ve heard me say it before, photography is important.  With photos, we can immortalize a fleeting moment before it is gone forever.  But what should we do with these images after they’re safely stored on the computer?  In this age of technology, most often our first inclination is to post them on facebook.  Photography is meant to be shared so that’s a great first step, but what else can we do with our most precious memories?

Well, decorate your home, of course!  Personalizing your living space with family or wedding photos can add warmth and feeling to your home, making photography a great tool in home decor.    I invite you to tour my home with me as I share with you the ways that I use photography to decorate and personalize my living (and work!) space.

As a small business owner, I work from home, and it worked out that my home office is the first room you enter in our townhome. So I started displaying sample images of my work in the foyer as soon as you walk in.  Grouping images within a geometric shape, like this rectangle, is an easy way to do a wall gallery.  This Stand-Out Mount (or also called Box Mount) grouping consists of 2 11×14′s sandwiched by 16×24″ images.  I love box mounts for a modern, ready-t0-hang gallery wall.  No framing needed!

Above my desk (Ikea Expedit desk/bookcase) I hung picture ledges, with 16×24″ canvases. The picture ledges make it easy for me to rotate and update the look of the display without putting more holes in the wall.  The rest of my home office is a work in progress.  We just recently painted above the chair rail in here, so all new large canvases will be coming soon for my clients to see!

We have two stairways in our townhome and I just love this framed wall gallery of us going upstairs to the bedrooms.  Right now it’s just photos of me and hubby, with our 3 little dogs.  There is still plenty of space to add more frames as our family grows.  The 5 frames on the left are filled with images taken by Erin Farrell of us and the pups, the last two are self portraits. The smallest prints in this display are 5×7″ and the largest is 11×14″, all are matted in larger frames.

As you turn the corner continuing up the stairs, a huge 30″ square frame is prominent on the wall.  We had this matte on display at our wedding and asked guests to sign it, then added a wedding photo before hanging it.  We love including our closest friends and family in our home this way.

We’ve just redecorated our bedroom in the last year with a grey, white and yellow theme, so I thought these photos I took of yellow flowers would be the perfect pop of color above our bed.  I love square photos so these 20″ square frames from Ikea were just what I needed.

You can see how I also displayed a single B&W wedding photo on my bureau, in a lovely vintage inspired pearl frame that I found at TJMaxx.  The butterfly paper artwork in the other frame on the dresser is also from Ikea.

One of our upstairs bedrooms is being used as a sitting area and office, where I designed the theme and colors of the room around this beach sunrise photo I took in Lewes, where we visit every summer.

The single 20×30″ canvas is beautifully framed with two wrought iron candle holders.  A large canvas like this is often all that is needed on a small bedroom wall, making it a statement piece for the room.

In the stairway leading downstairs to the basement man cave are two groupings of photos.  On the right side of the stairs is a panoramic 10×20″ box mount wedding photo, with a painting to the right (we found it at Target and it looks soooo much like our Shih-Tzu, we HAD to buy it!), and framed honeymoon photos on the left.  I hung these all from the same top line, so they stair-step downward at the bottom, mimicking the direction of the stairs.  As you turn the corner, just two images are displayed – one of our favorite B&W wedding photos and a photo of the mountains in Whitney Point, NY, a stop we’ve made a number of times in our travels to the Syracuse area to visit family.  Both are 11×14″ prints matted and framed to 16×20″.

I feel like our home decorating is always a work in progress and as a professional photographer, I’m embarrassed to say we still have some very bare walls!  It’s hard choosing just the right images to display.  It’s much easier for me to help others choose photos for their walls than pick them for my own house!

Want to see how other photographers decorate their own homes?  We’re participating in a blog circle so head on over to Lunaria and see how Hilary displays her photos and then follow her link to see someone else’s creative display!  I warn you, you can get lost in the bloggity goodness for at least an hour.  Fun stuff!  Don’t forget to follow my Photo Wall Layout Ideas board on Pinterest too, for more ideas on how to decorate your walls with photos.  :)