Creative ways to display your family photos

Create a grouping of assorted family photos using wall shelves or frame rails, available at home furnishing stores

Pictures are best hung at or slightly below eye level.

Where you display your photos matters. For example, hanging one small photo in a large space may look out of proportion. Fill large areas with a few different frames or one big one. On the other hand, don't overload small spaces with too much artwork.

Hang photos in common areas where people can enjoy them, such as dining rooms or along staircases. Collections of photos also look great on mantles, low tables, and other furniture.

When hanging pictures over a sofa, don't leave too much space between the top of the couch and the frame. Three to six inches should work well.

Create a traditional look using a mix of squares and ovals, or a modern style with rectangular frames

Include different sized photos—grouping several smaller pictures around a larger photo.

Whether you're hanging three frames or 23, you'll want to create a balanced arrangement.

• Create visual interest by placing frames high, low, and off-center.
• Include different sized photos—grouping several smaller 4" x 6" and 5" x 7" images around a larger 8" x 10". You can use a printer like the HP Photosmart 6520 e-All-in-One to print photos in any size.
• Vary the heights and shapes of the frames within an arrangement.
• Also consider mixing in other types of art in your grouping, such as fine art or artwork by your children.

To test your grouping before hammering any nails, lay out the frames on the floor. Or cut paper in the size of your frames and play with different arrangements by taping them to the wall.

You can create your own arrangements, or reproduce ours by taking these downloadable photo display templates along with you when buying frames and supplies.

When grouping frames together, stay consistent in style. Try similar frames in a variety of sizes, or an assortment of frames in the same color scheme.

Remember, you want your photos to stand out more than their frames, so simple combinations such as metal, black, or plain wood frames with neutral-colored mats are often the best choice.

If you want a splash of color, match colored frames to a non-dominant hue in the photos you're framing. Colored frames work especially well in neutral rooms. But avoid matching frames to walls or décor too closely.

Be careful not to overwhelm your photos by pairing light-colored frames with dark mats, or by dwarfing small photos with huge frames.

The wall area along a stairway is a great space for hanging a timeline of family photos.

To make a stairway photo arrangement most pleasing to the eye, choose matching frames and hang them in a diagonal line using these steps:

• Hang your bottom photo at an average eye level near a lower step.
• Hang your next frame so the bottom edge is about one-third of the way up the side of the first frame.
• Follow this pattern with subsequent frames.
• Space all frames equally from each other.

Rather than just slapping snapshots up here and there on your refrigerator, take some time to consider the composition and theme

You don't have to frame a photo to enjoy it. You can create a rotating photo display on your refrigerator or a bulletin board.

Just because it’s a casual display doesn’t mean it can’t be artistic. Fancy yourself the curator of your own family photo museum and pick monthly themes—from family celebrations to vacations to backyard photo scavenger hunts.

Let your children get in on the action—they can take turns picking themes and photos.

Make an inexpensive photo wall with photos and some removable, re-stickable tape.

Here's the easiest photo display idea yet: Use photos and some removable, re-stickable tape to make instant photo wall art.

You can arrange photos on a wall in a grid pattern. Or get creative and create a word or shape out of photos. You'll need to print anywhere from twenty-five 4" x 6" pictures for a small display, and up to 100 for a large shape.

You can use colored painting tape as a guide. Or just tape the photos and move them around until they are just right.

Use inexpensive binder clips to hang photos on a wall—they will give the art display a retro yet modern look.

An HP Digital Picture Frame is the perfect platform for displaying your favorite snapshots, slideshows, and more.

Here are three more do-it-yourself techniques for creating unique art displays in your home.

• Framed collage. Position a cork or foam board inside a large frame. Then arrange an overlapping collage of family photos using pushpins or adhesive.
• Refrigerator magnets. Spruce up your kitchen by making family photo magnets. Simply print your chosen images on printable magnet sheets and cut to size.
• Binder clip frames. Press clear pushpins in your wall in a pleasing line or pattern—or try stringing a line of strong wire. Then clip the photos with metal binder clips, and hook the handles onto the pushpins or the line.
• Present family photos in an ever-changing digital photo show in your home with an HP Digital Picture Frame.