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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do you put photos up of your family or yourself in your house?

204 replies

ecoanxiety · 19/01/2022 17:07

I do! I'm obsessed! I love walking round looking at all the good memories. I always scour the charity shops for more frames!
But I never used to, I think it was because I never had time to get photos printed but you can do it online now.
I have noticed my parents never had our photos up though. I have given framed photos to family before of us all having a nice day out, some put them up but some don't and I was wondering if I committed some kind of faux pas giving photos for other people? What would you think?
I wouldn't gift wall art because I think that's a bit off but a photo I didn't think think was the same category.
Aibu?

OP posts:
thegreenlight · 20/01/2022 06:43

Don’t have any wedding photos, though. All are of the children. I still think wedding photos are a bit naff and self-absorbed.

MrsSkylerWhite · 20/01/2022 06:44

Yes, some. Only in frames on shelves etc., really don’t like them on walls. No idea why.

Darbs76 · 20/01/2022 06:52

I have lots of photos of my children around the house - a couple of myself but with my kids

UseOfWeapons · 20/01/2022 06:56

I have 2 on the mantelpiece. One of my parents, one of my family together.
Otherwise nothing on the walls, and no clutter. I like the Lear walls, and the light.

UseOfWeapons · 20/01/2022 06:56

…or even clear walls!

Roselilly36 · 20/01/2022 07:02

We have lots of family photos on display, my DS’ baby portraits, wedding photos, loved ones who are no longer here etc.

For me it makes home.

Generic art is not something that means anything to me.

The only time I have ever taken down/put away family photos is when we are moving to de-personalised our house etc for viewers/Estate Agents photos.

I am proud of my family, I love having their photos around me.

neatlittlerows · 20/01/2022 07:15

@Diditopknot

No. But I’m weird when it comes to photos. None of my family and I do not have any pictures of me at all. I take the pictures but refuse to be in them. The thought of seeing my face on a wall makes me feel physically sick. I have some pictures of the kids up but that’s dh who put them up not me. Not a fan.

My mother has every wall covered in photos of mainly one of her grandkids. She has 4 grandkids but only has lots and lots of the one.

My mum was like that (hating and avoiding photos) and, sorry to take this in a morbid direction, when we were planning her funeral and sorting through her belongings it was really sad that we didn’t have as many photos of her as we’d like.
WorryMcGee · 20/01/2022 07:15

I have photos, art and hanging-type things going up the stairs, in different frames. Some are old photos like my grandparents on their wedding day. No bigger than standard photo size and all the frames are different. Other than that - no, besides the odd small one on a shelf maybe. None hanging on walls anywhere except the stairs!

SisterAgatha · 20/01/2022 07:19

Yep. All black and white. All non posed pictures taken by me on my dslr, kids having a quiet cuddle, my Nan and grandad holding hands, my daughter walking across a field holding a pumpkin in the sunset.

I don’t like the poses pics with bare feet, white t shirts and jeans style pics. I love the intimate moments. And yeah you can see them everyday with your own eyes, but kids grow, you stop seeing the love between them so clearly when they get bigger, and in the rush of day you don’t always notice these moments.

So I got them framed to enjoy them over and over Grin

adulthumanfemalemum · 20/01/2022 07:21

No, we used to have lots in frames on shelves, but then decluttered our house and now have almost none, but we do have a big frame with each child from 1 up to current age, which I absolutely love.

TheChild · 20/01/2022 07:37

Yep, I love having photos up! My parents rarely ever bought my school pictures and they never had them displayed, I have bought every single school picture of my girls (even the ones that were approx 3 months apart due to covid!) and when the decorating is done they will be going back up on display.

todaywasanokday · 20/01/2022 07:39

I have photos of my kids in my living room and a family photo wall as you walk up the stairs.

toomuchlaundry · 20/01/2022 07:40

I think family photos help make a house feel like a home.

I too would encourage people who don’t like having their photo taken to have at least some taken, especially if you have children. Don’t have to put them on display. When DF died I went back through old family photos and there were very few of him as he was always the one taking the photos. The few I have do bring me great comfort.

Lasttraintolondon · 20/01/2022 07:45

I have some. People and places that make me happy.

I respect either approach, having photos or not, but to those judgey people who think photos are naff or tacky - putting up photos of people you love is about the most human thing you can do.

Fudgein · 20/01/2022 07:49

I have a few photos of my mum who passed away last year and also some small photos of my kids in a frame on a shelf. But that's all. I love taking photos and looking back at them. As a pp said, once you're gone people will wish there were more photos of you, I only have one photo with my mum and I am a toddler in it, it made me really sad once she died so I have made a conscious effort to be in more photos with the DC.

MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers · 20/01/2022 07:54

The only photos we have on display are two pets -the spaniel my DH had as a child and one of my much missed fluffy tabby cat. It always amuses me in crime dramas when the absence of family photos on display is seen as an indication that something isn't quite right in the household!

reluctantbrit · 20/01/2022 07:55

School photos - I personally find these the worst to have on display. I never had a decent one for DD, we bought the class photos and the Y6 single photo but they are all stuck in a folder for DD to take with her when she moves out.

I prefer having a snapshot of a fun day or event I enjoyed on display.

Ponoka7 · 20/01/2022 07:57

I like the minimal look, so have clear walls/windowledges/ no mantelpiece etc. But we use digital storage and my DD uses FB, so we have the photos forever and my youngest GC love to look at them with me.

elelel · 20/01/2022 07:59

I don't have any. My house isn't any less of a home though. I think that's a really strange thing to say. The family I live with make this house a home, not the decor.

Jobseeker19 · 20/01/2022 08:02

No i don't, my mum is obsessed and it put me off.
I think it looks really tacky and even now I dont like to see all of my pics on her wall. It looks like she is mourning me.

Thecazelets · 20/01/2022 08:11

I do have some 'church door' wedding photos (ours, dh's parents' and my parents' weddings) plus a few of the dc at various stages. Plus one or two from the 1920s of now-dead relatives. All smallish, mostly black and white, in silver frames, and on the piano in the sitting room we don't use very much (we mostly live in the kitchen extension) or the side table in the hall. I like them and enjoy seeing them, but I'm not sure I'd want them in my face every day. (I don't mind if people think it's tacky - my house, my rules!)

violetbunny · 20/01/2022 08:12

No, but I have numerous pictures of my cats

TrickyD · 20/01/2022 08:21

This is one of those class signifiers much loved on MN.

Photos on walls = WC, photos in frames, preferably silver, standing around on furniture, = MC.

That’s what those saying. ‘Naff’ or ‘Tacky’ mean.

elelel · 20/01/2022 08:26

@TrickyD

This is one of those class signifiers much loved on MN.

Photos on walls = WC, photos in frames, preferably silver, standing around on furniture, = MC.

That’s what those saying. ‘Naff’ or ‘Tacky’ mean.

I don't know if it's so much about class as it is the desire to have a dig at someone for no apparent reason.

Photos - 'tacky'

No photos - 'your house is not a home'

It doesn't matter the subject, posters will always be looking to stick the boot in

mafted · 20/01/2022 08:35

We've got some of dead relatives, DC4 insisted after watching Coco!

Otherwise one of all 4 DC in the playroom and that's it. I'm not very good at taking them tbh, I al and think after the event that I should have taken one. I hate photos of myself too, I think I've liked about three since adulthood.

I didn't get any of my wedding pictures printed out, we weren't going to have a photographer but people insisted we'd regret it so we got one who agreed to just giving us a disc with the photographs on. It was a waste of money tbh. MIL tried to trick us into getting a photobook printed one Christmas but I guessed what she was up to and said I couldn't find the CD.