Ideas for Your Photo Gallery

After you have carefully selected the style and colors of your picture frames, you are now ready to display these frames. With these, you can start hanging the frames in ways that will catch a viewer’s attention and make them appreciate the photos. Hanging these picture frames willy-nilly can make a wall installation or the room look cluttered.

Your photo display can actually be an enjoyable exhibition of your family’s precious moments and memories, as well as an important design element and focal point for the room. Here are some photo display ideas for a photo gallery:

• Photos on a ledge. This makes use of a shelf-like narrow wooden ledge where you can lean picture frames on the wall. This extends the available space so that it can also accommodate other decorative elements such as knickknacks and slim flower vases. Photo ledges are also versatile since you can easily move the picture frames around. You can utilize “dead” wall space such as the stairwell, the hallway or wall dividers to put multiple ledges for a flexible wall installation.
• Photo wall collage. Place individual photos on individual picture frames, rather than using a big picture frame with multiple windows or compartments. If you placed the pictures into identical frames, you can hang the frames in a grid. If you have a small space with a high ceiling, a vertical grid can help provide an illusion of space by drawing the eye upward. If you plan to use different frames, be sure to see that the frames complement each other in design and color. An antique picture frame with convex glass will generally look strange in a collection of contemporary picture frames.
• Picture frame collage. Another way to use the concept of a collage is to do a collage on the frame itself. The picture frame becomes a story in itself. You can use scrapbooking material to make a design that compliments a certain theme (i.e. our 25^th Anniversary Celebration or our day at the amusement park). You can use paper (or fabric), foam cut-outs, stickers, stamps and other scrapbooking implement to create a collage. If you plan to glue the pictures, be sure these are pictures that you have digital copies stored in your computer.
• Themed displays. You can create a wall gallery that makes use of a central theme. For instance, if you desire a beach-themed gallery, you can install framed photos of the family at the beach, a collection of sea shells in a shadow box, a starfish or piece of driftwood and display these elements on the wall.
• Using book shelves to display smaller pictures. Combine books with smaller picture frames to add more texture and visual interest to your bookshelves. You can also stack books one on top of the other and add a picture frame above the stack.
• Photo gallery on the stairwell. The stairwell provides a wide wall space that you can utilize for your pictures. You can trace the growth and development of your family by starting from the first step going up.