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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not put up photos?

57 replies

MistyGreenAndBlue · 17/05/2021 11:45

I've never put framed photos in my house. No family pictures or anything.

It's just never really occurred to me to do this even though my family all do it, especially my mum. And I see on TV shows that it's a common thing to do. People even comment on it when they enter a home without family photos up as if it's a moral failing of some kind.
I'm almost 50 and have NEVER done this. Maybe I should.
Am I weird? Am I the only one?

OP posts:
andtheweedonkey · 17/05/2021 12:12

You're not alone.
The only photos DH and I have up are of his cat. 😺

ComtesseDeSpair · 17/05/2021 12:17

Just preference, really. I don’t have photos displayed at home and nor, off the top of my head, does anyone I know. One or two people I know may have a one-off photo such as a wedding photo.

Original poster
MistyGreenAndBlue · 17/05/2021 12:17

Oh god. I swear, although none are up, I have more photos of the cat than I do of my entire family Grin

OP posts:
GintyMcGinty · 17/05/2021 12:19

You are not weird.

We have a few but they are in our bedroom so no one else would know.

Original poster
MistyGreenAndBlue · 17/05/2021 12:19

Glad it's not just me. I was beginning to wonder if I was a bit odd

OP posts:
1Morewineplease · 17/05/2021 12:19

We don't either.

NewMatress · 17/05/2021 12:22

I like a photo on a shelf or mantelpiece, but never on a wall and never of the adults who live in the house. Entirely my own made up rules.

Everyday21 · 17/05/2021 12:29

I'm really surprised by the replies. I think it's odd, although I cant comment on why. In my dining room I have 6 of our wedding photos and several of our dds and in the living room I've got 8 of the dds. Oh and I have some in the kitchen to

I love photos though, they make me smile every day

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 17/05/2021 12:32

Very much a personal choice.

You should put on your walls the things you want to look at!

giletrouge · 17/05/2021 12:36

I would so much rather have art than photos of family. Never really occurs to me to put photos up - I'll look at them on a screen or in an album but for me they are not house decoration.

LadyMacbethWasMisunderstood · 17/05/2021 12:36

I have several small photos of the children in frames dotted around on sideboards, shelves etc. None on the walls. None of them very big. I like having them on display. All taken by me or DH during a happy occasion. But you are not weird not to want that. I have never had my children take part in a professional photo shoot. Some people think that’s odd. Each to their own.

EBearhug · 17/05/2021 12:37

I don't have any.

If you are going to put any up, be fair. Don't put only one of your children's graduation photos up, if you have more than one child who has graduated.

HoppingPavlova · 17/05/2021 12:38

Nope. I look at my family on a daily basis. I don’t want their photos all over the place as well. Maybe as each leaves home I’ll pop a photo of them outGrin. If they visit frequently, I’ll put it awayBlush.

TillyTopper · 17/05/2021 12:53

I don't have any photos up apart from a photo collage (not people but scenes from a trip to Asia).

AintPageantMaterial · 17/05/2021 13:06

I have a few framed photos of my dds and my parents but they are small and on a table. I hate photographs on walls and I would never have a photo of myself on display, not even a wedding photo.
I recently showed an acquaintance round my house (because they were being complimented about it and asked for a tour) and I realised afterwards I they were trying to gauge whether I was divorced.

A little while later they just had to come out and ask me because my house has no photos of a husband, no wedding photos, and is very tidy so no telltale items lying around.

AintPageantMaterial · 17/05/2021 13:07

*complimentary not complimented

LaMadrilena · 17/05/2021 13:07

Me neither. Not out of any aversion to it, just never got round to it. My SiL (husband's sister) has given us some framed photos of our nephews though, which are now on display, so I'm going to have to frame some of my niece and nephew on my side before they come to visit (circumstances permitting) in July!

idontlikealdi · 17/05/2021 13:11

Oh god we've got loads all over the walls. They make me happy so I don't care.

I can't stand the massive canvasses of staged shoots though.

I do realise this makes me a massive hypocriteGrin

littlepattilou · 17/05/2021 13:19

@Everyday21

I'm really surprised by the replies. I think it's odd, although I cant comment on why. In my dining room I have 6 of our wedding photos and several of our dds and in the living room I've got 8 of the dds. Oh and I have some in the kitchen to

I love photos though, they make me smile every day

I am surprised too. AND at the poll result. Everyone I know (and have known) has photos of family (and sometimes friends) in their home. Seems very odd to me not to have them.

Then again, I don't think mumsnet is very representative of society in general tbh. Like everyone cooks from scratch and batch-cooks on here, and never has takeaways. In real life, I know very few people who cook from scratch/batch cook, and EVERYONE has takeaways. At least once or twice a month.

Also, many women on here claim they didn't have their first child til their early 40s, and every woman they know ALSO didn't have their first child til their early 40s. In real life, (for most people,) you'd be hard pushed to come into contact with more than 3 or 4 people in the space of a year, who had their first child in their early 40s....

Then you've got the threads where 3 out of 5 people claim they earn £100K a year or more. When just a tiny amount of people (less than 5% of the UK population I think) actually earn that much - in the whole country!

Like I say, mumsnet is a bit of a parallel universe with some issues.

readytosell · 17/05/2021 13:23

I have a couple of small ones, but not massively noticeable. My parents are the same, and so is my brother and his wife.

Don't find it weird at all, just personal preference.

GroovyClementine · 17/05/2021 13:31

I don't have anything on my walls.

Never had a framed photo of anyone or anything.

I have in the past had the odd painting or mirror but not now.

I went to a great deal of trouble to decorate my walls tastefully and neatly. I don't want them full of holes and sticky things.

I'm not into ornaments or knick knacks either. Used to be, too much crap to dust or wash these days. I suppose framed stuff now falls into the same category or unnecessary crap to dust.

Angel2702 · 17/05/2021 13:33

No I don’t put anything on walls. We have a tiny house so try to not clutter the walls. I have a digital photo frame instead so can display whatever photos I want and change the playlist regularly.

EBearhug · 17/05/2021 13:39

Everyone I know (and have known) has photos of family (and sometimes friends) in their home. Seems very odd to me not to have them.

I have photos of them in my home. Just not on display.

Killahangilion · 17/05/2021 13:44

I’m not particularly bothered about framed photo’s either. I have a few school photos of DS in the sitting room in cheap frames but that’s it. Definitely no wedding photo’s as I didn’t bother having any taken.

exexpat · 17/05/2021 13:47

No photos here, just prints and paintings. I don't mind a few small photos in frames on mantelpieces and so on (or on the grand piano if you are posh), but huge framed family or wedding pictures on the walls feel tacky to me.