How to Select Pictures for Your Home Gallery Display

Your family’s memories are not simply to be treasured. You also have plenty of opportunities to display these precious memories for all to enjoy. With the advent of digital photography, you can enjoy clicking your camera to get the best shots of a family event or of special moments (i.e. your child’s first steps, your summer at the beach or a wedding of a loved one).

Now, with the number of choices available to you, how do you select the pictures you will put up on your walls and shelves? Here are some things you can consider when making your choices:

• Go for black and white photos. Using black and white pictures can make the job of matching the colors of the photos with the room’s colors. Black and white photos also provide a timeless feel to a display. This enables you to combine pictures from 20 years ago to more recent shots. With black and whites, you can use portraits and tight shots. You can opt to use oval picture frames with convex lenses for a more timeless look. You can also opt to use simple black rectangular picture frames with beige or cream matting. You can add a pop of color with a single colorful photo or one colorful picture frame.
• Use a theme. Group the pictures in your gallery display and tie them up with a theme. These themes include travel, celebrations, food, holidays or seasons. You can frame or add other decorative elements to solidify the theme. For instance, if your gallery display is about travel, you can include an antique map in a vintage picture frame as one of the focal points of the display. For a display that features your holidays by the beach, you can showcase shells, pebbles and driftwood inside a display case or a shadow box frame.
• Display your kids’ artwork. Add color to an otherwise dreary nook (and free up refrigerator door space!) by framing your children’s colorful watercolors, drawings and other works of art. However, since your children will produce more masterpieces over time, you will want a more fluid display, where you can easily change the pictures displayed. You can consider using a frame ledge so that you can easily remove a picture frame, change the contents of the display and rearrange the frames as necessary.
• Sift through your photo collection. Since you have limited wall space, carefully go through your photos and pick up the best shots. In your computer, create a folder for your favorite picks. These have to be shot that you really like. You can further segregate the photos based on themes, colors or moods. Having these photos inside a folder makes them easier to find when it’s time for you to print the photos.
• Make your choices based on how they complement the colors used in the room. As you go through your photo collection, keep the colors of your room décor in mind, if you want color in your photos, rather than black and white. You can go for photos that predominantly use a color in the room (to provide a unified look) or the use complementary tones (to provide balance to the overall look of the room).