In general, our first floor is void of photos of me and the boyfriend. There are some exceptions. But for the most part, I don’t like people coming into our house and seeing us sporting last year’s Halloween costumes or half nakey on vacation. Side note – call me a nudie-aphobe but I don’t like naked pictures of anyone…like girls boobs or crazy naked man statues…sorry Michaelangelo…sure, you shmancy portrait people can call it a cherub but I still spy an exposed peepee and a stray tahtah. Eww. Moving on.

So when I was confronted with the issue of decorating a small hall leading from the dining room past the bathroom and into the kitchen, I knew that it would be prime real estate for a photo gallery. I love photo galleries. Hence a compromise.

I decided that if I was gonna post personal photos for all to see on our first floor that they needed to have a sense of uniformity. Also, since this was a large space and could hold three large frames – the photos all needed a central theme and I needed a lot of choices. So I decided upon our wedding photos.

I found three large frames at Target with inner foam boards covered in a neutral yummy linen. They cost about $9 a piece. I love the black frames because I have black elements in the adjoining kitchen and the bathroom across the way.

First I took all my photos into Microsoft Office Picture Manager – I didn’t download photoshop at that point, don’t judge me – and minimized the amount of saturation and played around until each photo was linen-toned. Just changing the colors really uniformed the photos. Armed with some scrapbooking adhesives and the pins that came with the frames, I got to work arranging and adhering the various photos to the foamboard.

And because I know you guys love before & after pictures – here is the view from the kitchen looking at the new art/wedding photo gallery.

The view from the bathroom is now prettier than Ashley Simpson’s new shnoz.

And looking from the dining room into the kitchen is now an intriguing little spot instead of a big blank wall.

Oh and because you voyeurs love looking at the closeups (yeah – my name is peeping Tom too!) here are the three groupings from left to right…note that the center frame is jammin out with a different layout. Yay for breaking free from complete uniformity 🙂 And even though the theme for all three frames is our wedding, each one has a different feel.

This first frame boasts photos that have a bit more masculine feel. The groom – my boyfriend, the ring bearer – my little cutie mushroomie, and all the boys from the hood…err…from the wedding are big pimpin this collection.

The second frame is more about the details, the feel from the day, and the overall celebration that screams “I JUST GOT MARRIED!”. Its like Jeremy & I got sandwiched together & out popped this fun wedding day collection.

And lastly we have the girly frame. And yes – this one contains a little lip action (gasp!) but for the most part it is more romantic, more sentimental, and a little sweeter than the others. It might be just me but for some reason, taking the kissing photo and turning it the same color as all the rest makes it a little more like art. It’s like the sepia tone took the ‘ick’ out of the pic!

So there you have it…a small hall sportin the memoirs of the biggest day of my life. So how bout you – do you display your personal photos loud and proud? Or do you save em for the bedrooms? Are you a random picturer or a gallery type gal? Are you like me and think that the color of a smooching photo really matters? And lastly, do you like nudie pics? That came out wrong….