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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Family photos in the home.....

117 replies

deliakate · 05/09/2013 18:21

Are they tacky? I think my parents thought they were and consequently, we had none on display of anyone.

What do you do? Do you have lots of nuclear family/you and dh only, or are there lots of extended family too?

Maybe it's a class issue - I always see loads in upper class homes and in more working class households too.....

OP posts:
BadRoly · 05/09/2013 19:50

can you tell I'm reading this thread on a phone and scrolling back and forth Confused

I love the idea where someone up thread does an annual collage. If only I could stop procrastinating long enough to do it Grin

RakeABedOfTyneFilth · 05/09/2013 19:51

We have family photos mainly reserved for upstairs, but lots of scrappy printed-off-the-computer pictures on the fridge and magnetic boards in the kitchen/dining room but it's obviously a 'family space'. Our living room is a bit more formal, so when it's ever bloody finished it will have something more like 'art' on the walls, not family photos.

I think the basis of the U/non-U principle is not to push over-familiarity on formal guests, and whatever class I am/we are I think we have slipped into having a 'grown-up formal' room which I suppose obeys that rule. I was tempted to have our wedding pictures in a collage/multi-frame in the downstairs loo - that's a 'U' thing, I am sure - vanity wall of newspaper cuttings of your famousness must be in a cloakroom/closet to show how casual you are about it.

In our bedroom we have a three-slot frame with DS's two scan pics and 1-hr-old pic of him looking like a grumpy old Chinese man. We'll do another one of DC2 soon. DS's room has some pics of himself with family that he picked from a selection that happened to fit frames. Not yet sure about what to do in our spare bedroom.

On our hall walls, which you would only see if you were going downstairs from above (i.e. you probably wouldn't be up there if you weren't close enough family/friends to have stayed the night), facing each other we have a pair of utterly ridiculous more-than-life-size canvas prints of DH at about 9 yo and me at 4y which my parents got done to put up at our wedding reception. Between them, we have a large ikea 20-slot frame which has a range of pictures of DS from 0-2yo which are without exception cute and lovely, and make me smile. This bit totally outs me to anyone who knows me, I realise...!

BeaWheesht · 05/09/2013 19:53

I have 8 on the walls in the living room, about 8 on shelves / mantelpiece then one of kids in hall, one of our wedding day in hall and 10 of kids together at very stages in their playroom. I have photos of my nieces and nephews which needs to go up probably in dining room but there keep being another one to add to the pile!! None of put parents or anything which makes me sad, but my mum won't let us take her photo :( before we had kids we had loads of us and friends up....priorities change I guess!

BadRoly · 05/09/2013 19:54

ToriaPumkin - I have now remembered the photos of the dc blue tacked to the kitchen cupboards...

Clearly I am not as anti photos as I though Wink

WandaDoff · 05/09/2013 19:54

Upper class & non upper class, I think CoolStoryBro

LondonJax · 05/09/2013 19:56

Loads of framed photos in our house. A couple wedding photos, photos of us on holiday, DH and DS in the garden, DS and his best mate rolling with laughter at DS third birthday party, nieces and nephews, our parents wedding photos and one of my grandad and gran in 1915 plus one of DS's school photos over the past four years.

Oh and we have one of those slide show things - like a photo frame but you put a memory stick in it.

If they are tacky, that's fine, I'm a tacky person. I even admit to taking sugar in my tea (another thread) so there is absolutely no hope for me!

Oh and we're planning to get a family photo taken soon so join the one we had done when we got engaged and the one we had with DS when he was four months old...

Oh well, call me Waynetta.

DesperatelySeekingSedatives · 05/09/2013 19:58

I have loads. Mostly of my 2 kids, some are professional shots but many are my own pictures I've taken. There also pictures of my niece and nephew, me and DP, my grandad...

No idea photos on display of your family were considered tacky Confused having said that I dont actually care if it is. This is my home and I like having my stuff round me. I love photos.

UnexpectedStepmum · 05/09/2013 20:01

We have lots of pictures up - tend to be unposed candid ones. I hate hate hate those massive black and white studio ones. Why is it compulsory to be no socks and shoes on in them? DH says we should get one of us and DCs, wearing nothing but socks and shoes.

ArbitraryUsername · 05/09/2013 20:04

We don't have a formal guests in our house. If we've invited you, the you know us well enough to be informal.

I'm not sure I'd even aspire to being U. Why would I?

OhDearNigel · 05/09/2013 20:05

We have plenty. It's our home, not an ideal home magazine spread

CHJR · 05/09/2013 20:09

p.s. you want tacky? when we bought our current house the main room had a huge photo of the wife -- naked, with just a strategic hand in one place. Of course DH immediately wanted me to pose for similar, as if result would have been a matter of pride! At least our predecessor was self-confident about her looks Grin

DeathByTray · 05/09/2013 20:09

I'm not keen on displaying photos but that probably stems from a grudge I hold against my mum for displaying my old school photo, complete with permed hair. Grin

I have one picture I love of DH & the DSs white water rafting. Other than that, it's one wedding picture.

I do have lots and lots of pictures & videos of the family though and look through them often.

MurderOfGoths · 05/09/2013 20:10

I love them, we have loads up. My dad does too. Remember loving spending time at my nan's house where she had a whole sideboard covered in them. :) Very fond memories of her talking me through them all.

MurderOfGoths · 05/09/2013 20:11

Unexpected Hahah! Grin

grumpyoldbat · 05/09/2013 20:11

We have a few photos, including out wedding one. It's not a posed professional shot though as we couldn't afford a photographer.

OhDearNigel · 05/09/2013 20:13

oh this is one of those U/non-U indicators isn't it?

Worrying about stuff like this is the surest sign that you are not U. Only the bourgeouis middle classes give a toss what other people think of their interiors

PiddlingWeather · 05/09/2013 20:17

I have to admit, I am not a fan of huge staged family photos, but we have plenty of photos both on surfaces and on walls :D We also have a bodhran hanging on the wall, a bronze Green Man, a really old cameo which was an heirloom, a painting of a big orange tree done by a man who lives near my aunt in Zambia, a cuckoo clock, a bunch of pheasant feathers courtesy of my neighbour and his dogs.... the interior designer chap would probably run away screaming Grin

Of all the people whose houses I have been in, and that ranges from the screamingly posh landed gentry to the sort of people the Daily Mail would have a field day with, the only family who didn't have any family photos up at all, were really weird, aspirational, rather nasty types. They had 22 yr old PFB's 'artwork' on the walls instead. PFB was going to be the next big thing but discovered drugs and dropped out of art college instead

starfishmummy · 05/09/2013 20:17

Don't know - we have a few - usually nice school one of ds and maybe another but they are on shelves and tend to get moved to put birthday or xmas cards up. Don't remember having photos up when I was growing up but I know my Dad started to put some up after Mum passed away (so presumably it was her who didn't like them). The in laws have loads.

The people we bought this house from had hundreds (or so it seemed) all over the walls as their son was a keen photographer and had his own darkroom. They're just the standard "snap" size and nothing special. When we moved in we found they had left all the nails in the walls. We still come across the occasional one!

starfishmummy · 05/09/2013 20:18

They were

MyBaby1day · 06/09/2013 02:52

YES!!, I LOVE them with a passion!! Smile. We have a good few professional ones and I love seeing their different backgrounds, props and effects etc. Also love seeing other peoples too!. Think they make a home a home.

Lweji · 06/09/2013 02:54

I don't care if it's tacky or not. As you walk around, you see the faces and it reminds me of the people.
Particularly DS.

ZingWantsCake · 06/09/2013 03:01

Class Wars - Episode 5678, There's no Hope

Newlywed2013 · 06/09/2013 04:25

I have photos everywhere!! I cannot wait until i buy my own house as hubby has agreed that our stairs can be our gallery!! I love my photos!! i dont know how im going to just select a few of our wedding photos when we get them back!

peanutMD · 06/09/2013 04:31

We don't have any photos on display.

MIL has a house rediculously full of photos (every flat surface is covered) so DP hates the idea of tgem and my mum never had photos on display so I don't see the point tbh

I wad however thinking of putting up one of those big collage type frames as we are growing accustomed to the idea but in a less cluttered kind of way.

GaryBuseysTeeth · 06/09/2013 04:41

I don't like them. Then again neither mum or nan ever had photos anywhere other than albums.
Dh wants to put photos everywhere, so he's put a few of the dc on the sideboard.

Intresting to read people view them as homely, our luving room is uncosy, might try more pics up!