A few years ago, we decided we wanted our home to better share our story. Our desire was to decorate in a way that clearly communicated what was most important to us as a family.
As a result, we removed outdated objects, knick-knacks collecting dust, and any decoration bought only because it matched the color of our couch.
What remained were the pieces most important to us: photos of our family and growing children, a scenic image of Vermont given to us by friends, a beautiful piece of art we received on our wedding day, and a few items that have always been important to my wife.
Each of our decorations tell a story. Our home and the pictures on our walls display what is most important to us.
Now, I realize that personal tastes in this matter vary widely. The art of making a home is always going to look different from person to person. And I know that we hang far less pictures on our walls than most.
But generally speaking, regardless of the number, it is interesting to me that most of us hang the same types of pictures on our walls:
We hang photos of our family. We display photos from places we have visited or would like to visit. We post inspirational words about love and laughter and living life to the fullest. We frame images of a life filled with quietness and rest.
Nobody hangs images on their walls of a hurried, busy, stress-filled life. Nobody displays photos of more money. And nobody decorates their homes with pictures of another day at the office.
Instead, on our walls, we celebrate family, friends, and faith in a better world.
But then, for some reason, we head out the door to live hurried lives of desperation. We rush from one appointment to another hoping to find a better life through anxious worldly gain. And each day, we pile anxiety upon anxiety.
Meanwhile, the pictures on our walls invite us to something better. They remind us of a life lived on purpose with meaning. And they call for us to focus on the very things that make us human.
Unfortunately, too many of us will never notice.
We are out striving for the next dollar that we can use to buy another framed picture of the life we wish we were living.
Hmm you’ve said it all here:
“We are out striving for the next dollar that we can use to buy another framed picture of the life we wish we were living.”
How does one go about organizing, displaying, or storing family pictures over time. We still have our adult children’s senior pics hanging on the wall downstairs. They were expensive, etc. I thought of filling the walls of pics going up and down the walls of the staircase from oldest up to most current, but I know I’ll run out of room l, and I also have grandchildren now, too. I just don’t know what to do with all the nice, framed ones!
Hello Mary,
We just moved across the country and have the same issue. My husband’s mother passed and we absorbed most of her things. Including boxes of framed photos of family.
I’m thinking of having them all digitized then lots them onto an SD card. I’ll put the card into a digital photo frame so they’re displayed but not taking up tons of wall space.
This way I can remove them from their frames and store the original pictures.
I just moved to a much smaller house, after the death of my husband of 56 years. I have had to downsize every thing I have. I have lots of pictures. Portraits but lack of space and knowledge on how to display them to get the best look needed to look good. I have some that need to be framed as the home I Lived in previously was formal and the pictures were not. Now I can display them and enjoy them. I need help, to know where to begin. I have given lots away. I am ready to get settled in my home
I like to have pictures of restful scenes, when I look up from my day enough to notice them, it reminds me to just breathe. While I really should take more time to get out into nature while it’s still summer – I don’t like reality. Bugs and sun burn and hot and sweaty and heaving the camping tent up and down and making sure we get a dog/cat/budgie sitter and cost of extra groceries cos I have to leave food behind for the 3 house mates. …. Serenity is hard to get!
I love art and I love to paint. A friend suggested me to paint our family portrait because it is a good display in our dining area, and she said that there should always be a family wall to show how much we love our family. I highly agree with your comment that displays must be something that is related to your kids’ achievement, family trips or inspirational words that can be acquired by the guests. Cheers!
Does anyone knows how to give life to pictures with colors fading away ? Much appreciated
I am an artist, painting in both acrylics and oils. I hang paintings on every wall except my studio, mostly paintings traded from other artists i know and love or admire, plus a few of my own. Mine remind me of how far I have come, while the work of others helps maintain a creator’s spark, like a pilot light, deep in my chest.
The studio walls are deliberately kept bare. I call them “hungry walls”. Their hunger helps me create new work. It is also an “absence of presence” that gives me permission to make my own unique marks. Sometimes I cannot find my true mark, in a heavily branded world.
A few years ago while camping in the lake country of northern Wisconsin I noticed that there were a lot of huge houses being built on the shores of the lakes, all with shelters attached to their docks to store their large motor boats. Yet the local art galleries which sell to these mansion owners were filled with lovely paintings of small cabins on a lake with a canoe pulled up on shore. Cognitive dissonance?
Ansel Adams and Georgia O’Keeffe make me happy so that’s what I have.
Put a 32″ or larger LED/LCD TV/display up on a wall or free-standing on furniture or shelf (TVs of this size are often found new for <$200), digitize photos, and with flash memory cards or USB stick that can plug into unit, create slideshow of important/meaningful photos. Some units have built in DVD players that could be used instead. Takes up less of wall (or other) space, and photos can be backed up and stored off-site, providing protection from catastrophic loss to due flood/fire or other damage/theft. I'm surprised there's not more of this use taking place. ;-)
That’s because electronics ruin the mood of a cozy, warm home. I honestly try to hide every single piece of electronics in my home, the only things that still get to be out in the open are my laptop and the tv, due to obvious reasons.
Thank you so much for this! When I first met my husband I saw a picture in the shop and couldn’t stop thinking about it, so he gave it to me on my birthday! It was his first “real” gift to me. For years now it has however spent the time in the storage room, as it didn’t “fit” anymore, but didn’t want to get rid of it either. After reading this post I brought it back in to our household and I found a perfect spot for it! Other than that we mostly have family photos and pictures painted by myself or personal orders from an artist I know.