Is the Dining Room the Right Room for Family Photos?

Someone recently asked me, “Is the dining room the right room to display family photos?”  Well, you know that old saying – “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” – there is such truth to that.  Every person is different so it goes without saying that every person’s decorating style will be different as well.  So, to answer the question, MY dining room is the right room for MY family photos, but only you can answer that question in your dining room.

My dining room family art wall is my way of telling our love story through framed photographs and special keepsakes.  It isn’t just a random group of photographs, but rather each photo was handpicked to be displayed here.

That being said, here is how I told our love story.  I have actually added on to this wall since the last time I showed it here.  I recently added a few more frames.  I had been trying to find a good place to display the black and white silhouettes of the kids we had done at Disneyland a few years ago.  For those that don’t know me personally, I grew up about 20 minutes away from the Happiest Place on Earth, so to say that I LOVE that place is an understatement.  The craziest thing about the silhouettes of my kids is that the same exact lady did mine when I was a kid!!!!  My mom is the one who remembered this of course.  She even asked the lady if she wouldn’t mind signing the one of my daughter.  Obviously these needed be displayed somewhere, and I decided the dining room art wall would be the perfect place.  What with the whole Be Our Guest theme a la Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

I also wanted to frame and display our moving announcement.  I found these personalized moving announcements that totally told our story on Etsy – Greencard Designs by Katherine Kelly.  This being the forever house and all, I wanted to frame it!  The art wall seemed like the perfect place as this is such a big part of our history.

I also framed those special words, I still do, from our anniversary party table setting.  I think it looks really sweet up there in the same display that I have my proposal, from a fortune cookie, framed.

I also added an architectural letter that I have had for years.  I used one of my dollar store frames and added a photo mat (that I already had) to it.  Then I used this

to stick the metal P to the front of the glass.  Then just hung the frame on the wall.

When I first put this art wall together, I just grabbed a bunch of frames from around the house and picked up a few from the dollar store.  Then I spent a little time sifting through photographs to find the “right” ones to display here.  I chose a wedding photo of us, and a wedding photo of my mom and step dad.  I chose a photo of my M&FIL (mother and father in law) taken at our wedding.  I chose a few family  photos of us taken in Kiawah Island, SC, which is where we honeymooned and have gone back almost every year since we got married.  My favorite photo displayed here is the “generations photo” we had taken of me, my mom, my grandmother, and my kids before my grandmother passed.  Having a professional photograph taken of all four generations together is so priceless.  I just wish we would have done this before my grandfather passed so he would have been in it too.

After I had gathered the frames and photos, I laid them all out on the floor to come up with the pattern I wanted to create on the wall.

This was the first layout.  I made a few changes before hanging them on the wall.

Then I took off the easels on the frames that had them so they would hang very flush to the wall.

Then I just started nailing and hanging.  I made a few changes to the arrangement when I added the other frames.

Here’s what it looked like before.

Everything on this wall from our moving announcement to the picture of my daughter at Kiawah Island (which was taken on her first trip there)  has a special meaning to us.  I feel that the dining room is a place to share special family time, eating and celebrating, and so I feel it is the perfect place to display these special photos and keepsakes.  It’s not the expected place for them, but this is why I personally love them here.  I also love that all the frames are different and that some pictures are in color and some are in black and white.  It gives this art wall a collected look.  Of course, there is still some space left to add more, and I can’t wait to see how this wall transforms over time here in our fifth house!

So where do you like to display your special photos and keepsakes?  If they’re in a box somewhere I think you should bust them out of storage.  In my opinion, there’s nothing better than personal art to tell your story.  You know because home is where your story begins 🙂

Linking up here- check out all of these great projects!