A picture might be worth one thousand words, but very few can tell a story like a family photo. Those precious Kodak moments can easily transport us back to that epic beach vacation, a memorable Christmas morning, or your wedding day. But do they deserve a central spot on your home’s walls? Lately, designers are not so sure.
Chicago-based designer Suzan Hadaway calls family photos “polarizing” and warns they can quickly become “a hokey installation.” Lindsay Thornton of Cornerstone Design & Build in Ontario agrees and says the pros often struggle with what to do about family photos.
“While it's easy for a designer to exclude family photos out of a client's home, the pros often struggle with their own homes,” she explains. “The struggle becomes a reality.” Unlike art, which is often available in a larger scale, Thornton says a bunch of four-inch-by-six-inch photos can “create a house with visual clutter, competing colors and a lack of overall style.”
But just because decorating with family photos can be challenging doesn’t mean you should pull them off your walls immediately. As Pomme House’s Sarah Fontanez says, it’s important to have a space that feels lived-in rather than “a museum-style house.” “Seeing the faces of people who love us, and images of ourselves within the history of a family, can be a kind of emotional mooring,” adds Austin designer Blair Burton. “They quietly remind us where we belong and that we are part of something larger than ourselves.”
How to (Stylish) Add Family Photos in Your Home
If you want to find the balance between polished and personable, location is key. “I don’t think they belong at the center of the more formal spaces,” says Ashley Macuga of Studio Collected in the Bay Area. “A living room or dining room has its own kind of composure, and that’s where I’d let art, architecture, and objects take more center stage.”
Instead of hanging your family moments front and center in your living room, consider tucking them away in more private areas like a hallway or bathroom. Hadaway says a stairwell is a great spot to display mementos, while Macuga calls a wedding portrait in a bedroom a “sweet and loving” detail.
Once you figure out a location, incorporate pictures sparingly. “Tucking a family photo frame on a shelf and incorporating a family photo wall can be chic if done tastefully,” Fontanez muses.
While gallery walls are a common way to show off your most cherished memories, Alicia Griffiths like to juxtapose photos with artwork. “It gives a space a more collected vibe, and feels less overt or forced,” the San Diego-based designer explains.
If you want to hang family photos in your home—stylishly, of course—it’s safe to say you have a lot of options to choose from. But since a random assortment of pictures can read hodgepodge, designers beg you to bring some decorum to your collection. Fontanez likes matted black-and-white photos, while Thornton flanked her hallway in supersized snapshots of her kids.
“Enlarging my iPhone photos into engineered prints was a bold move,” she admits. “However, converting them to black and white created an artistic gallery-style collection that makes me smile everyday.”
But perhaps the most crucial decision is subject matter. “The images you choose are just as important as the location,” Hadaway says. “Frame the candids, images that capture moments of joy, not just a staged family photo.” Ultimately, consider the story you want your home to tell: The one of a forced family photo or the laughter and little moments that make a life?
Kelsey Mulvey is a freelance journalist who has over a decade of experience in print and digital media. She covers interior design and lifestyle content for a breadth of publications, including Good Housekeeping, Country Living, House Beautiful, Veranda, and more. Her hobbies include themed spinning classes, Netflix, and nachos.
