Family Portrait Wall

Roy and I just completed the last step that signifies we are officially moved in…. we hung the family portraits.  To clarify, there is one thing I was consistent with while the kids were at home… we took a family photo every single year from the time we were married until they all left home.  (We still take one when we manage to get ’em all together).  At this point we have 21 photos.  When the kids were at home we used the industry standards for picture taking:  Sears, J.C. Penny’s, K-Mart… I think we upped our game once and had one done at Olan Mills.  Some of the photos are fading due to poor quality (Yes I’ve scanned them all as backup)  and there are a few that are less than professional looking due to where we had them taken, but I love every one of them, even the ones I look horrible in (Hey, I can be as vain as the next person.)

Anyone who has kids and has done the “family photo” thing knows what a chore/nightmare it can be to get everyone dressed similar, hair combed, faces washed and then keep them in decent condition till you get to the photographers/department store. Then in the case of really young ones, get them all looking at the camera and smiling at the same time.  The choreography of the whole event  is a beast.  (We even took our family dog Bree one time.)  To be honest I actually dreaded it every year. But I dang well did it. <Pats self on back.>

The photos are a mixture of landscape and portrait and the more I accumulated the more  wall placement became trickier. Amy did it for me at the last house and did a great job. She of course has a wonderfully creative eye that I don’t. She used sheets of paper to decide placement.  This year I asked Roy if he would help me. (And by “help” I mean pretty much do it.)  Well, the man out-did himself.  After measuring the wall and a similar area on the floor he laid them all out in order of year, and arranged them evenly. It was extremely tight placement for where they would hang and he  to navigate a light switch to boot. I have a beautiful wood plaque that says “Happily Ever After” I wanted incorporated into the mix.  He ended up with a small gap above it and suggested adding the foliage you see. Then he hung them all as I took photos and held pictures while he hammered. The wall turned out gorgeous.  See for yourself.