A Family Portrait For The Home

“Family is the most important thing in the world.”  -Princess Diana

Styled Family Portrait Sessions to decorate your home.

Do you ever find yourself pouring over the latest issue of your Pottery Barn catalog wishing your space could look like that? If we only had their designers working round the clock on our home right? Well, I’ve come to realize that not only can we achieve these beautiful room designs with a quick trip to Home Goods (a.k.a. my happy place), but one thing that we may not think about is incorporating precious moments of your family through wall galleries and other accents, ultimately putting your true signature on your home decor. When many of us are preparing for the yearly holiday portrait, we may put too much emphasis on if the backdrop and wardrobe is “holiday appropriate”. Sure, we want it to be pretty and match the design of your holiday card, but if we were to take it a step further and plan to have these images hang in your home, you may find yourself making different decisions. That’s why I’m writing this blog post giving my tips and thoughts when it comes time to plan your next portrait session.

First thing’s First.

The first thing that you should consider before anything is Where do you want to display your Family photos in your home? That’s the most important thing I ask my clients even before suggesting what to wear as that will dictate EVERYTHING. Start with describing what the style of your home is. Mid-Century Modern, classic and elegant, boho-chic, etc. What wall colors, textures, and accents make continuous debuts throughout your home? Where is a wall space(s) you’d like to display meaningful photos of your Family? All of these questions should be asked first in order to determine, what time of year you should shoot, what location would work best, what your wardrobe will be, and so on. For instance, a sunrise or sunset beach shoot would look beautiful in your Coastal-inspired home. Below are a few mood boards I whipped up for some visual inspiration. See it can be fun! 

Quick Tip: Be sure to measure your wall space before you assume that an 8×10 is the largest you should go!

Mood Boards

I love to make mood boards before I begin printing and choosing frames for my space. A great tool that I use is from framebridge.com. You can upload your images and place them in virtual frames of your choice to see what style will fit best with all of your other decor. Their platform is a great way to upload, select, and order everything online for a great price! You’re welcome in advance 😉

boho-chic

COASTAL COMFORT

MID-CENTURY MOD

wall gallery and frame inspiration from my home to yours!

One of my favorite places in my home is our kids’ hallway. Narrow yes, but filled with moments of “Us” that I get to walk by EVERYDAY and remember how small they were, what blessings we have, and it fills my heart to no extent. To think, if I just stopped at Facebook and Minted, I would have forgotten about all of those precious memories. Here’s a shot of my hallway wall galleries to give you an idea. I have two wall galleries that fit nicely on these walls. The vertical gallery is from my Son’s newborn shoot which display four 11×14 prints in 16×20 champagne frames. My other wall gallery is more eclectic as I had to marry older family photos with new ones. Which makes another good point. Not every frame has to be exact. It can be eclectic yet cohesive at the same time! 

A special thank you to my lovely and talented photographer friends Jessica Friend, Silvana DiFranco, and Katie Crawford for capturing some of my most treasured moments!

Decorating your home with small FRAMED ACCENTS

Aside from hanging wall galleries, a great way to warm up your home with family photos is to have them creatively placed throughout each space. Here are a few vignettes from my home. I have frames placed in our family room, nightstands, dresser, and even in our china cabinet. I like to mix up linen textures with metal accents and simple white frames which adds to the decor of my home. If I were to give two words to describe our home decor I’d say it’s “comfort-chic” (not sure if that’s an official style, but it sums us up well!) Everyday I get to look at these and it warms my heart to no end!

Frames featured above are from: Pottery Barn, Let Us Frame It, Ikea, and Hobby Lobby

I hope these tips and ideas inspire you the next time when it comes to planning your family portrait. A styled family photo session is the perfect way to really bring warmth to your home that all will enjoy. Until next time!