Finished Family Photo Wall

Making the Family Photo Wall

I suppose it is just one of those official writs of passage that comes with married life.

You see, at least as a bachelor, photo walls, picture walls…choose your vernacular…are not particularly common. Not that bachelors necessarily abhor photos, but a large collection condensed into a single collective display may be a bit much, off-putting even…especially if they form a whose-who of who-has-been. Much better to scatter them around a bit…the photos that is.

While Jill and I had been together for a while, even sharing a house (gasp) for a couple of years, it wasn’t until after our marriage in 2012 that the notion of a photo wall, or some collective photo ensemble, wall or otherwise, came up. I had some initial reservations, though mostly because I pictured an entire display focused around our wedding, which while lovely in other people’s homes, felt a bit much for my taste. The reservations were also as much about wall space being at a premium in our home…we have a considerable amount of paintings and not enough wall space as it is.

However, for one of Jill’s Christmas presents, I decided to give her a wall, since after all, I too thought it would be nice if done well and had faith that her amazing eye would find the right balance.

Oh, you see, what I was giving her was wall space in the family room where two paintings were already hanging, buying all of the frames (which she still insisted on sharing the cost), arranging them, and installing everything. The photo selection was still in her court…which also helped assure her that she’d love it.

I’m sure there are countless DIYs on the topic and I have no idea whether our approach was any different, but what follows in the additional blog posts as this outgrew a single post all too quickly are my tips for making a family photo wall and how we got to the finished product you see above from something as crazy looking as you see here.

Cheers