Common Decorating Mistakes: Too Many Personal Photos

College dorm room syndrome

• Lots of mismatched frames such as:
• Frames with words like “friends” or “forever”.
• Different colored frames.
• Beaded frames.
• Frames with seashells or sports memorabilia. 
• Lots of small frames. (5 x 7 or smaller)
• Cheesy, goofy, ham-it-up type photos.
• Blurry “spring break” type vacation photos.
• You get the idea.

Now imagine all of those elements up on one wall at the same time. Where is the harmony and cohesion in that? Let’s face it: There’s nothing harmonious about it. It just doesn’t wok or coincide with a well designed space.

Grandma’s house syndrome

• Again, lots of mismatched frames that are often very dated
• Lots of posed family photos 
• Annual school pictures
• Traditional graduation pictures
• Clutter, clutter, clutter

Think about it. What’s particularly inspiring about these kinds of photos if everybody has them? Nothing! And how does that contribute in the process of making your space personal? It does the opposite! Eliminate all the clutter by keeping the multitudes of these standard, posed photos (that everyone has!) in albums. There’s nothing wrong with annual school pictures but they don’t really have a place in the décor of your home.

So here’s how to remedy both of these problems:

• Give the “Friends Forever” type frames to your teenage neighbor. They simply aren’t appropriate for anyplace BUT the dorm room or teenage bedroom because frankly, they’re juvenile. Neither is there a place for “theme” frames with palm trees or curly cues or rhinestones/beads. Give these a rest.
• Get rid of all the small frames and replace them with bigger frames that include matte space. 
• Repurpose any good sized colored frames by painting them one unifying, neutral color such as black, brown or white and if space allows, add a matte.
• Stay away from mixing different styles of frames such as a modern, country cabin, and ornate traditional. There IS a way to accomplish the eclectic look, but this is not for the faint of heart. 
• If you must have them out, keep the birthday parties, glamour shots, cheesy faces-smooshed-together-to-get-into-the-frame pictures and the like in bonus rooms like bathrooms or hallways and always have some element of your picture frames relate to one another. 
• Maybe all the photos are black and white or maybe the frames are all black or have bright white mattes or are all the same size. This way, even if you have completely random photos, they will still feel cohesive because they will all have a common denominator: the frame/matte/size/layout.
• You can include a few well-chosen personal photographs for your main living space but avoid overly “pose-y” shots and instead stick with more artsy or photojournalistic candids that are either similarly shot or have similar colors. 
• Display the photos in such a way that the attention is drawn equally to both the subject of the photo and the actual frame itself. This way the overall effect is seen as “art”, not an opportunity to show off your 07′ Halloween costume or Super Bowl game face. Again, keep these kinds of shots tastefully displayed in the bonus areas of your home like hallways and bathrooms. 
• One way to make a personal photo become a work of art is to blow the photo up, colorize it or play with the white balance to create a graphic “overexposed” effect. Just converting your photos to black and white makes a big difference.
• If at all possible, go for frames that will allow space for a generous matte. For example, one small 4 x 6 photo placed in an 11 x 14 frame with a matte is better than putting that same photo in a 4 x 6 frame. Why? Because the frame and matte enable your eye to focus on and appreciate the photo itself instead having your eye get lost because there is no point of focus.
• Remember, most people take more pictures than they could possibly display at any one time. Take care to ruthlessly edit the handful of photos that you want to include in your décor and put the rest in an album or an online picture sharing website.