Practicing What I Preach: Hang the Dang Photos

“Mama, I miss our old house.”

We were on our way home from new school, with the daily detour to new daycare to pick up his sister. We talked about what we missed about the old house, and what’s better about the new house for a few minutes, dawdling in the car for the conversation. Then I asked, “Is there anything we could do to make the new house feel better?” And he replied in true small-person style, “Why are you still in the car?”

Conversation over.

But I think I knew the answer to my question of how to make the house feel better. I hadn’t hung anything on the walls. We’d just celebrated 4 whole weeks in the new house, and the Aloof Gray walls were all just as gray, aloof, and (mostly) unmarked as the day we moved in. Nothing hung up. It’s intimidating to make that first hole.

But leaving the walls bare means the kids don’t feel like we’re home yet. And honestly, neither do I. Our old house had photos and art everywhere, hung with a conglomeration of nails, tacks, Command Strips, and even painter’s tape by the end (on the back of the kids’ coloring pages).

I had to get moving on that so we could all relax and feel at home. But it’s seriously daunting.

I actually started right after we moved in, pulling pieces out of boxes and thinking about what I wanted to hang where. That took a few weeks, each room slowly collecting pieces leaning up against the wall on the floor.

Then last week, even before our “I miss the house” conversation, my five year old demanded to know WHEN I would start hanging photos. He started moving things around and arranging them where he wanted them, to make it easier for me to just DO THE DANG THING.

It occurred to me that it was bothering him as much as it was bothering me, to not have evidence of us up on the walls. I already know that it boosts confidence and self-esteem when kids see themselves in photos, especially when they see themselves in the permanence of printed photos. (By the way - that boost of confidence evidence is also why I include a print credit with my digital image collections.)

I want my kids to feel like important members of our family, too.

Patel family photos by Kate Thompson

I went to work last week, doing my first round with a bag of tacks, hanging light-weight things in the kids’ rooms, canvases in their bathrooms, and leaving framed photos on the nightstands next to their beds. I even managed to hang two pieces in my office.

I also did a deeper dive into my boxes and decided what galleries would go where, so when I break out the hammer and nails, I can hang that quickly.

Round two, which hasn’t happened yet, is to hang those galleries with nails, and Command strips along the bottom to keep them straight (pro tip).

I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I’ve gotten good feedback from the small people for my efforts. They can’t wait for me to hang the big pieces.