The Washington Post - 19.09.2019

the washington post

.

thursday, september

19

,

2019

DC

6

BY ELIZABETH MAYHEW

Without question, we are living

in a photo-saturated world. Most

of us have access to thousands of

images on devices we carry with

us everywhere. Mariam Naficy,

founder and chief executive of

Minted design marketplace, says

pictures have become a form of

social currency. “Posing for them,

taking them and sharing them

have become how we communi-

cate with friends a nd family.”

So, if we’re already inundated

with photos of our kids and dogs,

do we need to have images of them

hanging in our homes, too?

For many of us, the answer is

still yes, b ut we’re not using family

photos in the way we used to.

“My clients want their family

photos to have a visual impact and

not be scattered throughout the

house in random frames,” New

York interior designer Ashley

Whittaker says. She prefers to con-

solidate her clients’ photos in a

private space in their homes and

hang them in a gallery-like fash-

ion.

New York interior d esigner To dd

Klein agrees that family photos

should stay in a home’s private

spaces — the master bedroom, the

dressing room, the mudroom — for

three reasons. One: You probably

spend more time in the private

spaces of your home, so you inter-

act with the images more frequent-

ly. Two: Most family photographs

need to be viewed very closely be-

cause they are small and intimate.

“Hang small p hotos over a big sofa,”

Klein says, “and they will get lost.”

And three: By hanging photos in a

gallery configuration, you can cre-

ate an interesting arrangement

with a bigger presence, like an art

installation.

With thousands of images on

our p hones, it is hard to zero in on

the few images of family and

friends t hat are frame-worthy, n ot

to mention w all-worthy.

So how do you narrow them

down? Tessa Wolf, creative direc-

tor of the online framing company

Framebridge, says to start by do-

ing a quick scroll through your

camera roll. “Don’t spend more

than five minutes doing it,” she

says. “See what photos immedi-

ately pop out to you and mark

them as favorites as you go; that

way you can easily find them in an

album.” I f you use a photo editing

app, Wolf says to look first at the

photos you’ve already chosen to

edit; they were probably the best

ones when you took them. Choos-

ing from those preselected favor-

ites will prove much more man-

ageable.

Or you can hire a professional

to help. As part of her decorating

services, Whittaker helps her cli-

ents curate their family photos.

She and her team select, crop and

edit the i mages. She always makes

sure every family member is

equally represented in the mix.

Once you select your favorite

photos, you want to take into ac-

count the size and scale of the

images. If all your images are simi-

lar in style or tone (for example,

they’re all from the same photo

shoot or taken on the same day),

choose a mix of close-up and dis-

tant images to add visual interest.

Also, Wolf says to mix the size of

the photos; this gives the final

arrangement a more organic feel.

If you are going for a more

varied look, Wolf says to mix

black-and-white photos and color

photos together on a wall. “Just be

sure to have a nice mix of the two

throughout the gallery wall so it

looks balanced.” And she adds:

“You can easily convert a color

photo to black-and-white on your

phone, in Instagram, or using

pretty much any photo editor like

VSCO.”

When it comes to printing imag-

es, most online sites will automati-

cally check the image’s resolution

and then suggest the largest size at

which you can print i t without com-

promising the quality. Wolf says

many phone photos can be printed

larger t han you w ould think. A pho-

to from a newer iPhone can be

blown up to roughly 22 by 30, she

says, “which i s huge.”

For framing, Naficy, Whittaker,

Klein and Wolf agree that frames

don’t have to match, but choosing

frames with a similar hue will

create a more unified look. For

example, Wolf suggests mixing

white and silver or natural wood

frames — using different widths

and textures — but all in similar

colors and tones.

Both Whittaker and Klein also

like to incorporate family keep-

sakes into their clients’ gallery

walls. “Our goal is to create ar-

rangements for our clients that

feel special and, most of all, per-

sonal,” Whittaker says. Klein likes

to think of these arrangements as

scrapbooks of a family’s life; he

includes framed diplomas, invita-

tions, ticket s tubs — “all the differ-

ent things that people save be-

cause they mean something.”

Though incorporating other

items into your gallery wall dis-

play makes it more interesting,

they can also b e more challenging

to hang. Naficy says to look for

similar hues, shapes, t extures and

patterns and group them together

for a more cohesive display.

When creating a gallery wall,

Wolf says, you don’t want the out-

er edges of your arrangement t o be

square; you want them to be im-

perfect so you can add new pieces

as you get them. She advises keep-

ing two inches between each piece

so that the arrangement looks in-

tentional and maintains a degree

of consistency no matter how big

it gets. If you have less space be-

tween the pieces, Wolf says you

will have trouble controlling the

arrangement; more space and it

will look like you didn’t plan to

hang the pieces together.

And whatever you do, Klein

says, “hang each p icture u sing two

hooks, so the frames don’t move

around.”

[email protected]

Mayhew, a “Today” show style expert

and former magazine editor, is the

author of “Flip! for Decorating.”

 Chat Thursday at 1 1 a.m.

Te xtiles conservator Julia Brennan

joins staff writer Jura Koncius for our

weekly online Q&A on decorating and

household advice. Submit questions

at washingtonpost.com/home.

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DECORATING

We have so many family photos. Why are they so hard to hang?

ASHLEY WHITTAKER

A gallery wall by Ashley Whittaker, who prefers hanging family photos in private spaces.

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