Whether you have professional photos done or just your own, what to do with your digital prints can be daunting. You want to have them in your home, but where to print them, what size? Then frames, location, placement! It can be overwhelming and can actually stop you from doing anything about it at all.

I'm here to help! You CAN have Pinterest worthy photo displays. You CAN showcase your beautiful family in your home. And here are the 4 basic steps:

ONE: Where to print

You can search for any printing company in your country or area. I use Blacks.ca here in Canada. If you have a photo-session with me, the store that comes with your gallery has very reasonable photo printing options and it's convenient. Remember that any place you print at will ask if you want optimize your images. Click NO. This can alter your photo badly and especially for professionally edited photos, can change how it was meant to look. Side note: print in matte. It looks better in a frame, as it doesn't reflect light and no fingerprints! Yes!

Size

If you already have a frame, check the dimensions within the matting (inside border), not the outside frame.

If not, decide on how big you want it to be. Now, I rarely print any photos in the small 4x6 format. Photos need to be seen and not squinted at. Don't be shy to go big. For statement photos, such as whole family, I go quite large 20x24 or so. I usually have a frame with the sizes already for these ones. - more on frames later!

They don't all have to be big, though. I have various sizes to make it interesting. Base your sizes on importance of the photo. Whole family: large. Kids single portraits: medium (8x10, 12x16), then other photos can be smaller. You can gauge your own style and choices.

Two: Frames

Frames don't need to be a huge expense. I buy all of my frames from IKEA. They are neutral, have matting and most importantly, are affordable. They can also be lightweight. This is huge for me for 'hanging' on the wall, but more on that later.

You can stylize your frames by:

Colour/Style: all the same OR mix and match. You can choose from metal or wood, painted or natural grain.

Think about your wall colour - Frames can stand out with contrasting colours or blend in with the same colours. I have an eclectic mix of metal and wood frames on my feature wall and throughout my home. How you want it is entirely up to you.

Size: As spoken about in the printing section, size matters. The size dictates the impact of the photo. Think about the area you have to work with:

If it's a large blank wall, you have more options. The problem sometimes can be having photos that are too small for that larger space and its less impactful.

If you have smaller areas of wall, think of a size that when you have the frame up, you have a few inches of wall on all sides. About 4-5 inches.

Three: Placement/Layout

There are a million and one ways of hanging pictures, hence the fear of putting anything up! But they can be put into two main groups: single frame or grouped frames.

Single frame: This is for statement photos. The whole family, a close up of the kids, Whole family in landscape. This is also the time to go big and bold, keeping in mind the size of the wall area.

This frame is large and contrasts with the white wall. It also has a good space between frame and door and frame and end of wall space. I've placed it at eye level so people can look at it comfortably.

This frame is also large but is dark like the wall so it blends in more, highlighting the image more and letting it pop. It's also well spaced and at eye level.

Grouped frames: This can be split into two groups: structured or organic.

Structured means organized in grids, or rows. If you do it this way, its best to have frames of the same size and colour. Frames should also be places at the same distance apart from each other.

Image from Crate and Barrel

Organic layout gives you more freedom in terms of size and colour of frames. Now, organic seems like you can put anything anywhere, but there is a little bit of thought that needs to go into it.

Organic layouts need to be in a shape. Depending on your all area, you need to step back and think of what overall shape the frames will make. The usual is a square or rectangle, but you can also arrange them in a circle or a parallelogram (going down stairs). Whichever over all shape you choose, your shapes should fit into that. Frames can be different sizes, shapes and colours. Spacing of the frames can be different too. It makes it more visually interesting to have the spaced a little differently.

Below are images of my dining wall. It's shape is a rectangle. As you can see, it's not a rigid shape, some are higher, some lower. This makes it more natural. The frames are squares, rectangles and circles. Some are metal, most wood but in different colours.

The spacing is also organic. This is on purpose. Different spacing makes it more fluid and a whole lot more pleasing to the eye. It's also easier to do! Haha!

Four: Hanging

I know you've been waiting for this moment. And to answer your question: no, I don't have a million holes in my walls.

Now, this method may not be for everyone, and it doesn't really allow for super heavy frames but it is liberating in terms of where you can put your frames and gives you the freedom to change your mind and move them.

All of my frames are held up by 3m strips. These babies will revolutionize how you hang frames.

So here is an example of a frame on my feature wall:

This frame is small and light. So this is what it looks like behind the frame.

Always put the strip on the sides of the frame, whichever way it's oriented (portrait or landscape). But for a bigger or heavier frame, I put an extra strip on the top part of the frame. With this frame, I actually cut the stip in half as it's so small. But for bigger frames, I use the whole strip.

These strips are so strong and last a long time. You will need to wipe down the area of wall that you're going to stick it to to get rid of any dust that might make the sticker ineffective. But they stickers come off easily to you can move or remove frames so easily. FREEDOM!

And that's it! 4 easy steps for beautiful results: print, frame, layout and hang! Let me know if you have any questions and send me pics of your photos framed so we can inspire others to make their walls gorgeous and meaningful.

Have a wonderful day!