Framing The Family Share Your Loved Ones With Guests By Displaying Photos In Any Room Of Your Home

We chronicle our lives with photographs, but they don’t make it into frames often enough. Family photos make any room welcoming, personal and more interesting. So get those rolls of holiday film developed now, sort through old photos and put your favorites on display. Here are three ideas to inspire you.

Family album

Transform a wall into an unbound family album. A precise grid of photos is formal enough for the living room, while a less structured arrangement is perfect in the family room, hallway or on the wall along the stairs.

A group of photos accumulated over time will be diverse - black and white or color, big or small, snapshots or portraits, old or new - but you can unify the look by using similar frames. Purchase 20 to 30 (or more or less, depending on the space available) simple, inexpensive frames. Eight-by-10-inch frames are a good size; use mats in them for smaller photos.

Hang them on the wall in a grid or a looser, less formal arrangement. If you have only a few photos to start with, hang four in a small grid or a single horizontal row; stash the other frames in the closet, and fill and hang them gradually as you acquire more pictures.

For a look that’s more scrapbook than album, include children’s drawings, diplomas and other mementos. This very informal arrangement gets its charm from its eclecticism. So mix a variety of frames, colors and textures: Put Grandmother’s portrait in an old gilded frame and modern photography in sleek black ones; add a shadowbox with a few precious keepsakes; perch a beloved vase on a decorative wall bracket.

Before you swing the hammer to put up even one photo, it’s a good idea to start by placing all the pieces for a grouping on the floor, where you can move them around until you find the most pleasing arrangement.

Joining frames

Three or four frames attached to one another function as one piece, making an ideal display for a themed grouping of photos. This is the perfect presentation for: a sequence of pictures, such as three shots from a party or wedding; representing a family’s generations, such as grandmother, mother and daughter; or a child’s school photos in successive years. To make them, you’ll need unfinished pine frames, which are available at frame and crafts shops.

Create a three-dimensional triptych of photos by joining frames, side by side, with hinges. Start by painting the frames, using one color or a different shade for each one. If you’ll hang the triptych, choose colors that complement the wall.

When the paint is completely dry, connect the frames with hinges: Use small flat-head screws and mount the hinges with the pivot facing out (it will be visible from the front of the triptych).

Place the glass, photos and backing material into the frames. Cut neutral-colored card stock to fit into the back of the frames, and secure these new backing pieces with a glazier’s point on each edge. Screw two D-rings to the middle frame, and hang the triptych from two nails, or rest it on a table.

With four frames, paint them and connect into a quadrant using mounting brackets and screws on the back. Insert glass photos, and backing material (you don’t need the additional card-stock backing because the backs will be hidden from view). Screw two D-rings to the back of the top two corners, and hang the quadrant from nails or picture hangers.

Alternatively, string ribbon through the D-rings, tie the ends into a bow and suspend from a decorative nail head.

Flexible groupings

Create an at-home gallery with changing exhibitions. Using pictures in frames that are at least 5-by-7 inches, prop them on the mantel, a shelf or even on the floor against the wall. You don’t make a single hole in the wall, so you can rearrange the pictures often. Overlap them slightly or space them evenly; one day the look can be purposefully cluttered, the next day, clean and spare. Add and take away as you find new favorites.

Don’t forget

To help your photos age gracefully, don’t display them in a spot where they’ll receive direct sunlight, which fades photos. It’s best to make a copy of any picture you display - and this is crucial if you don’t have the negative. Store the extra copy with your other photos, in an acid-free photo box or albums made from acid-free paper or inert plastics, such as polypropylene, polyester and Mylar. Keep them in a cool, dark place.

MEMO: Questions should be addressed to Martha Stewart, care of The New York Times Syndication Sales Corp., 122 E. 42nd St., New York, N.Y. 10168. Questions may also be sent to Stewart by electronic mail. Her address is: mstewart@marthastewart.com.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Martha Stewart New York Times Syndicate