Too many old photo frames...

vor 9 Jahren

I have too many older photo frames. They are displayed on an old bookshelf I want to get rid of, but I could never throw out the photos inside of them. What should I do with them?

Hervorgehobene Antwort

namartn

vor 9 Jahren

Scan them all, buy one digital frame, set it on slideshow

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Kommentare (102)

ravensmom13
vor 9 Jahren
Photos are always precious as they capture a "moment in time" visually for us.....however "precious" you feel YOUR photos are, all I can see in your photo is "clutter"....the importance of the PEOPLE in those frames is totally lost since there is so much "visual noise" going on...........perhaps this idea will help.......We have a guest room and I wanted to highlight our guest's visits with us............I purchased the 3 Collage Frames at Target.....the "Welcome" and "Friends" wordings and leaf designs are available at Dollar Stores and Craft Shops-they are just "peel off" decals-super easy to work with and remove when needed or desired.............when someone stays with us, we take lots of pictures of our friends, of course, and then I add a pic or two to the collages........the arrangement is neat and clean looking, we have our visual memories captured of our friends, and our huge blank wall is now a decorative "feature" wall....problem solved for me....perhaps for you also? Hint....there are decals which say "Our" and "Family" available, also.....Good Luck!!
gailkenney
vor 9 Jahren
Get rid of the bookcase its old fashioned. Put thick floating shelves on the wall behind or build a new book case. As well get new photo frames, downsize the amount of photos displayed.
Your bookcase looked like it has to much behind the photos as well.
geekgoddess
vor 9 Jahren
CDs do NOT last forever. They degrade, but that's not even the issue. I have some files that were created in WordPerfect a few years ago. Guess what? I can no longer open those files because the software is gone. Do you have home movies on 8mm? Music on 8-tracks? How do you watch or listen? The only way you can maintain digital information is to open and save it in upgrade formats every few years.
geekgoddess
vor 9 Jahren
The problem, in my opinion, with your display is that it looks very cluttered. You have a mish-mash of frames and photo styles, in front of books that are also mish-mash in colors and heights. All that in front of a wood bookcase so that the colors all blend end. Suggestions also include painting the bookcase or at least painting the inside back a lighter color. Reorganize the books. Get similar frames or at least less variety. And reduce the number of pictures.
carolag3
vor 9 Jahren
I bought an old window from a barn sale with 8 panes, painted it a light gray. It fits 8x10's. Glass at the hardware store, custom fit black mats and white wood decorative scroll on top. Threw the old frames away and all for under $100. Can't get 8 new frames for that price. I love it. I just found another pair that will fit 5x7's and just starting that project to go on either side. Done!
hmr2
vor 9 Jahren
Well first if you must keep all those photos of the dusty past then get yourself some photo albums that will fit in a box on a shelf in a closet or attic. Give those tacky frames to the nearsest nursery school or day care they always need to paint over something. Of course you could send them along to the Goodwill with that book case. A standing rule of good design is NO PICTURES OF FAMILY OR PETS OR FRIENDS. Paintings yes, blow up Aunt Sassy into a mural maybe but it is really just a terrible look. Why burden yourself with all this stuff? Remember in Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" the spectacle of Marley's ghost dragging all those chains and weights and old picture frames along behind him? If the answer is "yes" then ...throw the load overboard. It will make you feel powerful honey.
organizedsarah
vor 9 Jahren
Wow hmr2...kind of harsh, aren't you? Who cares what the "standing rule of good design" says...my home is MY home! I decide what goes in it, not some stuffy decorator with their stuffy "rules"....and I get a lot of compliments on my choices...even the photos!
makaloco
vor 9 Jahren
Really, hmr2? How unfortunate, then, that my ancestors never found the time to sit for paintings in the rural wilds of the American frontier. They must have been tied up in farming, fighting wars, shoeing horses, making wagon wheels, mining coal, and operating saloons. Once in a while, though, they'd ride into town for a quick photo shoot. So photos are what I have. If that means dragging around chains and weights and Goodwill picture frames, it's preferable to the pretentious weight of "long standing rules of good design".
cljakl
vor 9 Jahren
Since I'm not trying to sell my house, I really don't care about "good design" but about what makes me happy. I enjoy having pictures of ancestors, they are part of who I am. In other places I have pictures of children and grand children; these pictures make me smile...
jacksplash
vor 9 Jahren
I'm not surprised your keeping quiet Anamarie Lol. @ Makaloco, well said!
studio10001
vor 9 Jahren
It's always the new kids...........
sombriel
vor 9 Jahren
I love the old pictures. I want to remember people and past times. I rotate one or two once in a while. I have one of my son's baby pictures on my bedroom dresser right now -- he's grown up now but I still love seeing it every day. When I see family pictures in someone's home it tells me that they are loving people with special people in their lives.
kkaccordion
vor 9 Jahren
Donate them to a classroom! I love giving good frames, for certain artwork by students, to their parents as holiday gifts. I can only do it after I've collected enough for the entire class. I'd love a donation like this so check with a local public school!
djaren
vor 9 Jahren
painting all of the frames with the same paint color and hanging them close together (1"-2") spaced equally apart from each other makes for a very interesting unified grouping of art, especially if the content in all of the frames is unified in some way: all black and white photos, all flowers, all things that are green...etc.
cherylbeatrice
vor 9 Jahren
Hello AnaMaria, There have been many good suggestions given for how to display your pictures in a way you might enjoy better. I like to think of this site as a place for positive discourse, so I have a problem with hm2's snooty response. I am a designer who graduated from a famous design school and I have some pictures of my children and one of my dear deceased mother. I don't over do it but this is my home and it is a reflection of who I am which I hope shows that I value and love my family above all else. I truly wish you well choosing a format to display your photos and commend you and the others who have posted good ideas for their good values. I feel sorry for hm2 that he is a Marley type. The point of Dickens Christmas Carol is to embrace the value of family, friends and charity. For therapy I suggest hm2 go to the dollar store find a frame and put his mother's picture in it on his perfect night stand!
Sheila Adkins
vor 9 Jahren
I hit mind with sand paper then spray painted them with oil rubbed bronze, turned out beautiful.
Sarah Thompson
vor 9 Jahren
I choose family and friends over design principles hands down.
Sheila
vor 9 Jahren
install shelves instead of a free standing unit. paint all the frame the same colour and display. make a gallery wall again similar frame would be best. paint is cheaper than new frame. really do you enjoy dusting this many. could you put them in a digital frame.
ljdemarco
vor 9 Jahren
Frequently, photos will stick to the glass of old frames and are virtually impossible to remove without damage to the photo. You may want to consider painting the frames and gluing them together to make a collage frame. Layering them is especially attractive. Numerous examples can be found online or anywhere frames are sold. These types of frames are great additions to stairways and family rooms.
Mareline Staub
vor 9 Jahren
The best course of action is to make a good copy of your stuck photo. Scan it glass-side-down on a flatbed scanner at a high resolution, then print it onto photographic paper using a photo printer. If you don't have a scanner, use a do-it-yourself kiosk at a large retailers such as Target or Walgreen's.
Or if you let a professional photo lab do the scanning for you, you can request photo editing to correct scratches, balance the color and fix other damage. You can edit photos yourself using free software such as Picasa. (Our Amateur Photo Restoration video class demonstrates how to digitally mend tears, scratches, spots and other damage.)

Technicians also can use the resulting image to create a new negative. Ask for a referral at a camera store or search the Internet for the name of your hometown plus Photo Copying or Photo Restoration.
hmr2
vor 9 Jahren
Too rich! W do have some frames from the dollar store but they do not hold pictures of my big haired aunts nor of my father and his 21 brothers and sisters in front of the family log cabin even though it has so much character and interest. I keep a few photos in two albums(one for each side of my breeding stock), I believe the last time I opened them was in1999 right after the Bush cabal killed JFK JR. In a moment of weakness I needed to feel more connected. The home is a REFLECTION OF OUR SPIRITUAL SELVES. We are spiritual beings having a human experience not the other way around. Fullness in the home proves emptiness in the heart. If you choose to hang those things all over the buggy and tree print paneling and use them to block all of the unread books on your shelves please also look within and find the emptiness. My mother deemed it neccassary to burden me with this 18"x24" photo portrait of her and my father before she left here and I have no brothers or sisters to pass it to . I understand what you are going through, I have to keep it out of duty...it is tucked away and I will have the strength and muster my own power and the thing will find its way to the dumpster where it belongs along with that pic of cousin kim and the god awful ashtray bobby made at camp. I will never forget the faces nor the touch of my mother and father but subjecting my inner self and inturn my home with something so out of place well I just don't need that to feel good about myself and the world. A home is installation art for me. I live in a 1920's row house, 1100 sq ft and it has three floors. I live in a small room in the basement and the rest is just for others to see, I only pass thorough it on the way out of the door, or in, all I really need in this world is a walking stick and a bowl.
hmr2
vor 9 Jahren
......one more thought CHERYLBEATRICE, I understand the meaning of "A Xmas Carol". The point made by Marley is that Scrooge needed to unburden himself from "things" and move on to what is really important in life....those things which are invisible. He was telling Scrooge that if it takes more than a 10' Uhaul to move well maybe your focus is on the physical rather than the spiritual. Your carefully chosen and carefully placed photos are certainly not what I am talking about. At age 8 I spent a week with grandma and managed to peel all those school pictures strung from one room to another off her walls. I had her put them in boxes and remember as well that when I was retrieved by my parents grandma was questioned about the lack of clutter and crap gma responded "our little man did that for me and I haven't felt so light and free in a long time."
karenmacy
vor 9 Jahren
Anamarie. I too share your love of photos. I hate people who shamelessly insert unrelated ads for their company, but you're exactly why I started my business!
justpicturethisgifts.com
If everyone objects, I will happily delete my comment, but I feel it really would solve your dilemma
Lisa M. Rogers
vor 9 Jahren
The easiest thing to do is get a large multi opening vertical frame that will house quite a number of favorite photos. You can clear out not only your bookshelf, but other tabletop frames around the house. Here are a couple of ideas.
elainea3
vor 9 Jahren
I am thinking if you like you could take them down, remove the glass and photographs and spray paint all the frames a uniform colour. Then if you are removing the shelf unit, you could replace all the photos and glass back into your frames and then arrange them on the wall in a larger display but within the space so the frames hang evenly on all sides off this wall 'rectangle' but present more like 1 large overall display.
PRO
Carter & Company
vor 9 Jahren
make a random grouping above your headboard, minimal spacing between frames, full width of bed. this will create an upward extension of the bed and you can enjoy glancing at loved ones regularly
Angela Phares
vor 9 Jahren
Ive seen this its great.... Take the pictures out and put into your computer by scanning. You can make a coffee table book out of them through "Tiny Prints" or Walmart. Then take the wooden frames attach just the frames together with an adhesives or Staple gun. affix them in a way where they fit like a a puzzle. you cab spray paint them all one color. and put Mirrors in the frame. It looks great with mirrors or not. Hang long ways in a narrow spot between windows or over bed. Use can always use a coordinating fabric for the room. line frames with cardboard and a thin foam rubber or quilting liner.
Joyce E
vor 9 Jahren
Lots of creative suggestions here for the pictures. I suggest starting by taking that step of replacing the bookcase. We can't tell much about the room from your picture, but you are here on Houzz, so you must have some larger redecorating ideas in mind. As your rearranged room starts to take shape, you will probably realize how you would like to redistribute the photos.
hart46
vor 9 Jahren
I totally don't understand the obsession with all these photos. Timeless ones like my Mom & grandmother's HS graduation photos. But all the photos of the nieces, nephews, grand nephews etc. I toss them after a few years. Or if they are emailed to me I store them in iPhoto. We chose to not have kids & I don't see why I should have to chronicle every nuance of growing up. I'm not their parent or grandparent. We are downsizing & this clutter has no place in our new home. I'm sure I will get a few or more ugly responses but hey, I spoke my truth. Why leave the mess for your estate to dispose of?
ravensmom13
vor 9 Jahren
hart46....this is not an ugly response, but I hear where you are coming from.....when a couple has a child, they are "over the top" with joy, and tend to take pictures many times a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year...chronicling that kids every breath....they "ease up" with each progressive kid, though...LOL....personally, I feel that having one or two or three "special" pictures of one's ancestors is enough to pass on to the next generation for preservation....and they do not all have to be displayed....that's a personal choice..................but then we are talking about OUR homes on this site....what makes US happy, or comfortable....and since we are all individuals, with differing ideas and tastes, then what one person would like another would detest...LOL....downsizing can make one feel "free" of the burdens of sentimentality...and sometimes taking a picture of an object allows one to pass that object along to someone else, while still having the reminder of it and the special memories that may be attached to it.....
cybersassy
vor 9 Jahren
Put the photos into a photo album and then hang a small shelf to display the photo album as a piece of art.
organizedsarah
vor 9 Jahren
hart46....I don't think you'll get any nasty comments about YOUR choice for YOUR home. You're right...no need for you to keep photos you don't want to keep. No need to display ANY photos if you don't want to. The difference between your comment and hmr2's comments is that you are speaking about YOUR home and YOUR preferences. hmr2 was simply being rude and ridiculing the choices ANOTHER person made about photos in HER home. The original poster didn't ask whether other people LIKED her displaying of photos in her home or not...she simply implied she WANTED to display them and asked for suggestions for making the bookcase appear less cluttered by displaying her photos differently than what she, too, obviously felt was not the most attractive way.

I agree with your not wanting to keep each and every photo you receive, and applaud you for discarding things you no longer want while holding onto things you DO want. A few years ago, I went through my mother's photo albums and re-did them because, while the photos were well documented, she had photos of my grandchildren on the same page as photos of her grandparents. I put them in new albums in chronological order which suits ME. (Mom and dad were both gone by then.) I discarded MANY photos of people I didn't know or hadn't heard of! The extra photos of prolifically-photographed relatives that I felt no need to keep were neatly placed in a box and mailed to my brother so HE could be the one who chose whether or not they should meet the incinerator...he has a real "thing" for anything that's old. I did it in a getting even for childhood taunts by big brother kind of way. ;) It was VERY freeing, and I smile even now thinking about it! (shame on me!)
organizedsarah
vor 9 Jahren
hmr2...You state "all I really need in this world is a walking stick and a bowl" which makes me wonder about your somewhat eclectic "spiritual" side since you've obviously made room for something so mundane as a computer...and you're burdening the world with 3 "spare" floors above your one-room basement home, adding unnecessary clutter to your carbon footprint admittedly just to impress others.

All that spiritual essence floating around you seems a bit confused. Or, is it that you're just like the rest of us and consider YOUR HOME to be YOURS and the choices of what to keep and what to never buy or discard are YOURS?
cljakl
vor 9 Jahren
Pictures are intensely personal and everyone has different ideas of how to keep and/or display. The choice should be what makes the person happy, not what everyone else thinks is appropriate. If you chose to throw away, fine (although if old family pictures you might want to see if there are other family members who want them). If things are making you unhappy, then get rid of them. If you enjoy them, why not have them?
hart46
vor 9 Jahren
ravensmom13 , organizedsarah
Thank you for your supportive comments. There is so much guilt associated with holding on to family "stuff" that it can just rob you of energy & weigh you down. I doubt that is what our relatives would have wanted for us. I keep a few small things of my grandparents, great aunt & parents thinking of them when I use them. But they are not those objects & my love for them is not tied up in their things. I had a lot of guilt disposing of things from the estates but I don't need a shrine to show I loved them. Of course photos are individual & that's OK with me if you want to keep every photo you ever took of your kids. Just please don't try to make me feel bad for tossing them years later when they are adults with families of their own. I will keep the idea of passing things along to my sister to decide what she wants to keep or dispose of. I like that. She's ruthless and she has kids. I am closet to them out of any other nieces & nephews but I routinely pare down my iPhoto file as they get older. I keep special occasions like every cake I ever decorated for them. They are fun. Putting photos in albums is a great idea. My husband's family does that. At Thanksgiving my BIL makes a slide show for everyone to watch on the big screen. I enjoy listening to their remembrances even though I hardly know any of the people. If my husband expressed any desire to display any of these photos, of course we would. Once a year is enough for him.

Sorry so long winded. I'm stuck in bed with Lyme's Disease & typing about all I can muster.

Peace.
organizedsarah
vor 9 Jahren
SO sorry to hear you're stuck in bed with Lyme's Disease, hart45...I hear it's pretty miserable! Hope you are back on your feet soon! And how delightful a person you must be to enjoy BIL's slide show. Slide shows have been the butt of so many ugly jokes through the decades, I think you're the ONLY person I've ever "known" who made a positive comment about one! Get well soon!!!
pam h
vor 9 Jahren
I cannot relate to the box them up folk at all. Like you, I keep my family pictures on display. I just wanted them to look nicer. When I tried to take them out of the old frames, it was clear that some of them would be ruined (stuck to the glass, too fragile, etc. So I brought new frames (with two matching black and brown large frames on either end to anchor my main display) kept the old glass and backing (to preserve the integrity of the photos) and moved them to the new matching frames and portfolios. I created a wall display on the family room wall around a mirror that was already there and needed beefing up anyway. The rest I have divided up into smaller displays about the house. I will never get rid of them. Though I might consider rotating some out as my kids get older. Maybe they are just being polite, but my guests always comment on that wall.
angiemichal
vor 9 Jahren
We have a wall of fame/shame :) at home. It's in the upstairs hallway and it's a work in progress so not all the frames have to match - we keep adding to our collection.
sattnin68
vor 9 Jahren
Me again, to the person who commented re: scanned photos and putting them on a CD - no, study up on technology and photography and then work in the industry for 25-30 years. and to the person who backed me up - thanx. Here is a somewhat blurry image of my photo wall, sure it's a bit dark - the paint is a very deep charcoal gray, but it works in my house. The images are either archival scans from professional polaroids (the kind shot with a land camera that you peel the back off - yes they still make film) or are archival scans of vintage photos or original vintage images, or gelatin silver prints (which will last 300 + years) and I think there is a screen print thrown in there, etc. I got all the frames very cheap - I put the copper finish on myself from a craft store with a rag and used automobile spray on some of the silver tones, and then would 2-tone some and sand paper them for a different effect, I also stained cheap frames, and just bought on sale, basically dome for nothing. NO , I do not expect that anybody would want a mirror this big in their house - it was a flea market find ($10) and I have had it for a looonngg time. I prefer oval beveled mirrors but this works for this big wall - so enjoy - another trick when hanging photos, I don't mark where I am putting a nail, I eyeball it or guess, and that creates a more random look - some like it, some don't - ce la vie. Again, Good luck. All this can be done very inexpensively.
partim
vor 9 Jahren
I'd love to hear from the original poster. Her very short post didn't say she wanted to display the photos, only asked what she should do with them. I didn't get the impression the was looking for alternative display ideas, but it seems that others read this differently.

My mother (age 81) has been feeling purging her house of possessions to lighten up her life. She returned all family photos to the people who gave them to her, assuring them of her love but asking them to understand that she is feeling the burden of too many possessions. No one was upset - we understand that these are just things, not people.
shoebunny
vor 9 Jahren
You can get a frame with two pieces of glass in it. Then you can collage the pictures without sticking them to anything. If there are any spaces the wall colour comes through.
I quickly scanned all the suggestions above and may have missed if someone said to have a nice box on a coffee table where the photos can go. You can write an anecdote on the back, if there isn't one there already. Label the people and the year, if possible. Then put them in the box where you can open it up sometimes and have a look.
My step-mother put her family photos under the glass on a coffee table and switched out for newer ones that came in letters once in a while.
The comment from partim above triggered me to mention what one of my mom's old buddies did when she downsized. She collected all of the photos of each of her friends and their families and sent them back to one of the kids. HER family wouldn't appreciate them but the subject's family would. Perhaps not pertinent to this discussion but something to think about.
stevedenver
vor 9 Jahren
Zuletzt geändert: vor 9 Jahren
I don't know what your budget is, but here's a cost-effective suggestion:
SIMPLIFY and MODERNIZE
Paint the bookcase the same white as the walls.
Paint the frames the same white as the bookcase, this will help unify all the different styles.
Remove one of the shelves and even out the others -- they're too tight.
To get the most out of your bookcase storage, stack the books horizontally, instead of vertically. Just one pile per shelf, center them with largest on the bottom, taller on top. Since there aren't enough books for a library, figure out which ones need to be out in the open and which ones do just as well in a box in the back of a closet. Arrange the others by COLOR. Don't worry, you'll be able to find the books you want.
Some piles of books can be short with picture frames on top.
cbhigdon
vor 9 Jahren
You can scan them into your computer and load them into a digital photo frame. You can still look at all your photos, but have only one photo frame and a lot less clutter.
Lynnie
vor 9 Jahren
Only keep the really important ones in frames and put in a few locations in your house so that they do not look too cluttered. You can always take pictures of your pictures with your cell phone or camera. Put them in an album to look back on. When you are sorting through before doing this, you will be surprised how much you can cut down on them, though right now, it may seem like an impossible task. Make it fun. ;)
Dariane Dawson
vor 9 Jahren
think of a word that describes a selection of people in these frames go look for a shop that specializes and ask them to make you a frame for how ever many you have,chuck them on your wall and declutter your shelf too books are for shelves photo have a way of expression.
makaloco
vor 9 Jahren
I agree with Lynnie that the photos don't all need to be in the same place. Small clusters in different parts of the house sounds like a great idea.
lmetzler
vor 9 Jahren
I'm an empty nester and have been working at making my home my own again. Old photos are treasures, but as I am aging I find it best to downsize what I have and re-evaluate what I should keep. I too have lots of pictures of relatives and my children when they were young. My nieces and nephews are now grown and starting families of their own. I have scanned the photos I have of them and have sent the old photo to them so they can share with their children. I am surprised to learn how some of these pictures they have never seen before and how much their children resemble them at that age. I also share the digital files. The same goes for photos of my long time friends when we were young, single and adventurous. These gifts are shared with their grown children and I get to hear, "I love that photo of mom on a Harley!"
Patricia Dowd
vor 9 Jahren
The best way to deal with this dilemma is to take the photos out of the frames, spray paint the frames all the same color - black is good for color photos and white or cream is good for black & white photos, but any color of your choice, perhaps one that goes with your décor. This is an opportunity to clean the glass so they'll sparkle when you put them back together.
Now put them back together and arrange them into a gallery display - if you need help with that, do a search on HOUZZ or on Pinterest. Gallery walls are impressive and are always a conversation starter. I did this in my spare room and it always brings great comments and I enjoy looking at all the photos whenever I'm in the room (where my computer resides.)
Good luck and enjoy.
hottina44
vor 7 Jahren
Old photo frames have character , it adds to the photo! Keep frames & photos!
Christi Higgins
vor 2 Jahren
If your photos are super sentimental including the frames. Or maybe they won’t come out because they stuck to the glass. How about a ladder shelf? Just for framed pictures. No books. Well maybe one or two to balance the space. Maybe use as risers. I like when the wall shows from behind. That’s why the ladder shelf might work for you. I’m working on getting mine better organized too. The ones already in frames I’m keeping that way but from now on for any new pictures I’m going to put them in my digital picture frame and let them cycle through for viewing. Please forgive the guitars in front. Still a work in progress. Lol!

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Too many old photo frames...

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