Living/Dining Room Framed Family Photos

One of my favourite pieces in our living/dining room is our large china cabinet (it is a piece by Martha Stewart purchased about 5 years ago at Macy's in New York City, when I was living there). Until recently, we hadn't really done much to decorate around it. With a quick trip to Ikea, we inexpensively added some framed photos of family and friends and helped make that part of our space feel much closer to finished. 

This is how it looks now. Rather than stage the space, I left our stroller and everything where we park it and as is -- keeping it real. (Oh, and the white chair is an extra for our expandable kitchen table that now sits here to make room for a high chair, etc. soon). 

If you are looking to do something similar, choose your photos so that there is some balance. On the left, we chose two photos that featured groups of people, and one of Benjamin (at less than a day old!) in the centre. The two group shots balance each other visually. On the other side, we have a large group shot from our wedding in the centre, and smaller groups balancing each other on top and bottom. 

Here is how it looked before.

And not too long ago, we experimented with inexpensive modern art from HomeSense. We loved the art itself, but hated how it looked in our place. Returned it all and went back to square one. And then, as we looked at photos one day and realized we wished we had more on display in our place, we opted to just grab some simple Ikea Ribba frames and call it a day. We're happy with the decision. 

This is much better.

One last thing.... Here is a wider shot of the space. If you've been reading for a while or have poked around and seen pics of our living room taken about a year ago (you can see it here), you'll notice a lot of updates. I'll be posting about them soon, but for now here's a hint at some of the things we've added or changed. The room is a bit askew here, and there is someone napping on the couch, but you get the idea. More to come soon.

Jenny

xo

P.S. If you want more china cabinet type ideas, here is how we decorated ours for Christmas last year, and here is a Billy bookcase from Ikea that we use as a china cabinet in our kitchen. 


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