Five Great Places to Display Your Family Photo Montage

What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Bringing Up BeBe, Nurture Shock, Bringing Up Cain, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Cinderella Ate My Daughter. This list barely skims the surface of books that can found on couples bookshelves who just found out they are pregnant or perhaps those who are already homing three little ones themselves. Reading from the opinion of others and what to expect, how to cope and the ultimate preparedness guide to raising and living with children expands on maternal and paternal instincts and can open the doors to an unexpected approach to nurturing and teaching your young offspring.

classy living room with pictures on the wall — Classy living room with pictures on the wall

As the years pass both you and the children learn, fight and forgive then quickly pose for picture perfect moments even if mere seconds ago a temper tantrum that would breach the Richter scale was released. It’s these photographs that we must learn to hold on, rather than the minor failed parenting, teacher parent conferences regarding malevolent behavior from a five year old or World War III at the supper table with attempts to get your young to eat their nutritious veggies.

And it’s these photographs that deserve a well-respected space in our home: A monument, a shrine, or just some place where we openly cherish and celebrate family.

Here are five fun ways your parenting books didn’t tell you that you could mend the family circle with some rectangular frames and reestablish the love!

1: Corner Frames

basement-remodeling-with-pictures-in-the-corner — Basement remodeling with pictures in the corner

For a visible outward corner in your home, be it down the hall, from room to room, in your grand entrance, when your walls meet they create a corner that juts out like a posing elbow. Rarely does this elbow receive any ornamentation until now. With corner framing that hugs tight the corner of the wall, you can create a hinge look with pictures and captured moments of happy memories in an unanticipated way.

2: Mantle Piece

pictures-over-the-mantle — Arrange your pictures in style above the mantle

Come winter time when everyone is gathered around the blazing fireplace it’s nice to know that you can glance further up and find a montage of frames in different shapes, shades and sizes that unite your photographs in one stationary place. Hung above the mantel place, you could have a large family portrait that’s always recent to keep the chapters of life updated to the montage of baby, graduation and wedding pictures below.

3: Stairway

showcasing-family-pictures-in-your-staircase-hallway — Showcasing family pictures in your staircase hallway

Still the moving scene from Modern Family as they walk up and down the steps of the Phil Dunphy home and you see them passing by a collection of pictures from years gone by. It’s a way you can physically show the age progression. Going up or down, follow the steps of your precious children by creating a picture story as they grow up by keeping the pictures in sequence.

4. Shaped

Take a whole wall and plan out a shape, like a heart for example, and arrange your frames horizontally and vertically until they represent your desired shape. Not only will they memorialize your life, they will offer a secondary division of art from the photographs to the wall art shape.

5. Headboard Happiness

showing-pictures-over-the-bedroom-headboard — Showing pictures over the bedroom headboard

Wake up and go to bed every night with your loved ones right above your heart…and head. With an even amount squared above your mattress with room for your pillows to be fluffed to appropriate sizes you can sleep well at night knowing that you are wearing your heart on the wall and that all is well in the world when your headboard consists of family mugshots.

With these great ideas in the back of your mind, you can be carefree and throw your camera shyness out the window. You see, being photogenic doesn’t capture your expressions of anger, your crooked eyebrows, the pinch you snuck your toddler right before the photographer advised you to say “Cheese!”

Live joyously with your family; love the crazy moments they inspire and always keep a camera on hand for every wacky position they take. Magnetized to your fridge, imprinted on a mug, your wallpaper or screensaver, your avatar, your family photomontage has many avenues to display its purpose. So let yourself be shot and it wouldn’t hurt you to smile during the process so that afterwards you can be hung up proudly as a member of the family that thought they knew what to expect when they were expecting.