The Happy Hallway

I have long been tortured by our long, plain, windowless, featureless upstairs hallway.  After "finishing" the space once with unhappy results, I have had MANY ideas for the space, most of which were either prohibitivly expensive, relied on DIY work beyond my ability, or fought desperately with the rooms attached at either end.  I was also trying to avoid the obvious.  It almost did me in.

But then, I had a great conversation with a client who said she is trying to put her resources primarily to things that will make her family happy or improve their relationships and general well being.  A pretty solid plan, but one that too many of us forget to follow.

Lately things have felt a bit heavy.  Like we all are just a little crabby most of the time.  I decided that we all need some lightness, to be reminded of the silly side we all have, so I went through some old photos and printed out the ones that made me smile.  People making crazy faces, being silly, or doing something we don't normally associate with them--like my husband surfing.  I want us all to remember that we have many sides, that we have wonderful people in our lives, and that we are loved.

$12 in photo prints at Walgreens and one hour later, I had this.

All four of my kids' grandparents were here this weekend, and my, oh my, did my girls LOVE to look at these pictures with them!  I do a big photo book each year that tells a chronological and somewhat event-based story of our lives, but this one?  This one is purely emotional, and we all just love it.

To make it easy on myself, I printed the photos in black and white so I didn't have to worry about a color story.  To put them up, I grouped the loose prints by people--each of the girls, the girls together, the girls with parents, with grandparents, great grandparents, etc--then just sort of distributed them on the wall.  It was fun to make some connections between pictures, too, like having someone look out of the frame in one photo at something silly happening in another.

Now, of course, I want it to all feel a little more "finished."  I'll be back with ideas for that!

Tell me: are you a family-photos-in-the-house type?  Or do you just keep them in your phone, like I used to?