Decorating with Photos

Please welcome my special guest today, Emily from Chatting at the Sky! I met Emily when we, along with her sister Nester and Sandy from Reluctant Entertainer, all roomed together at Blissdom this year. What a treat to have been able to spend some time with her in real life! She is such a sweetie, I love her heart.

Emily has a beautiful home and yet more importantly, she has a beautiful life to go along with that home! I am so excited that she is here at The Inspired Room!

Welcome Emily!

One of my favorite ways to decorate is with photos. They are simple, unbiased storytellers that capture a moment in time to save forever. One important thing I’ve learned about taking pictures is that the photos don’t have to be perfect in order to communicate love, beauty and belonging.

The challenge for me is to actually take those photos that I love so much from the computer and get them into a frame. Sometimes I have to sift through 100 pictures on the screen to get 5 or 10 worthy of printing. But the end result of having a memory with a frame around it sitting on a shelf in my living room is far worth it.

Most of the photos I print right now are black and white simply because it is easier on the eye. I love a good color photo, but when I have to look at it all day every day, I would rather notice my daughters face than the pink and blue striped shirt she had on that day.

I have several walls like this in my house where I have clustered photos together. For less than $8 each, those frames were just the simple touch I needed to display some of my favorite people.

When I think about what inspires me the most in my house, these framed photos top the list.

Here are some tips to help get you started:
1. Tell yourself you will only choose 5 photos to print. Just 5.
2. Pick ones that are close-ish up on faces to eliminate the background distractions.
3. Upload those photos to your favorite online printing place. I like mpix.com
4. Convert the photos to black and white right there on the screen.
5. Get them all printed 5×7. Or you can mix it up with 4×6 and 8×10. To keep it simple, just stick with one size.
6. Your photos will arrive at your door in a few days. You don’t even have to leave the house.
7. Go to Hobby Lobby during their half off frames week, if you have a Hobby Lobby. Or even the dollar store sometimes has white frames.
8. Consider taking the glass out of your frames to reduce the glare.
9. Put your photos in the frames and display.

(these tips were shared by Emily in the comments, I just moved them up to the post so you wouldn’t miss them!):

all photos copyright Emily, Chatting at the Sky

THANK YOU EMILY!