enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

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So my deadline for a "complete house" has come and gone. And we are…done! I am excited to share some before (move-in day) and afters (two years and so many nail holes later!) in the next week or so. In the meantime, one more project post…

I've had eight Ikea Ribba frames in my garage since last fall, but it wasn't until I saw Elsie's post a few weeks ago that I finally started printing photos.

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I debated a million ideas for these frames but picking some of my favorite iPhone photos was the first idea that actually got me motivated to get to work. It was inspiring to see the casual photos Elsie had chosen. The everyday Elise, Paul and Ellerie photos are always the winners. Why not blow them up on the wall? Highlights include some timercam shots, Paul's return from deployment when Ellerie was four weeks old and so much color and sunshine.

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It's no secret that framed photos are sort of my go-to. This house will be remembered for four things – the killer light (that's not in this hallway), the wood ceilings, the black kitchen counter tops I can't keep clean and the fact that I slapped family photos up on every wall. It's not fancy. It's not high-style. But it's me. It's us. It's our house and we might as well live with our memories.

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I printed the 12×12 photos at home on my Canon PIXMA iP8720. (Long time readers know I have a partnership with Canon – they sent me printers and I am writing six sponsored posts over six months using them. This is not one of those posts.) My non-sponsored opinion is that I love my Canon printers and the fact that I can print 12×12 photos in minutes at 7pm on a Thursday without leaving my house is insane.

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Long-term readers also know that activities like "measuring" and "being exact" are my worst nightmares. But hanging photos in a grid sort of takes some planning. I used tape and a level to get a straight line. Then I measured where the centers of the frames would be before hammered the top row into place. The bottom row was based off the top and is held to the wall with command strips (making them much harder for Ellerie to bump).

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I ended up with space for more on the wall so back to Ikea I went. 10 frames seems just right. This wall is impossible to photograph because it's so narrow and obviously there are no windows to throw in some natural light. I would say that the 12x12s are almost too big for a space this small. But they are striking and fun and I'm so happy with how it turned out.

Seriously. How did I wait so long?

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22 responses to “framed hallway photos”

  1. Kelsey Avatar

    These are awesome! Ribba frames are THE BEST, as are causal everyday photos 🙂
    We have a billion framed photos all throughout the house (mostly on ledges and shelves though) and now I’m starting to run into the problem of having a drastically disproportionate amount of photos of my children throughout their lives. They’re only 9, 4 and 2, but man – there’s virtually no photos of the younger one and only slightly more of my middle kiddo. Definitely need to come up with a system for regularly updating the photos we have framed AND for maintaining integrity in our ratio of how many times each kid is “featured”. Because the younger two are starting to notice there aren’t as many of them. Oops!

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  2. Anna Avatar

    These are so fun and colorful – I love this idea. And it’s oddly reassuring that even in your house, with all its gorgeous light, there is an impossible-to-photograph hallway. 🙂 I put together a gallery wall in a hallway in my apartment using some of your palm tree prints, and keep wanting to share, but can’t get it to look as good in the photograph as it does in real life!

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  3. Brianna Avatar
    Brianna

    I can’t wait to have my own space to decorate with something other than the wall calendars that organize my life.

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  4. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    I love this project! Are all of your photos using your iPhone?

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  5. Kristin Avatar
    Kristin

    This is lovely! I have a wall that has been bare for years…. You are inspiring me to get stuff hung. 🙂

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  6. michelle t Avatar
    michelle t

    I have framed photos on every available surface in my house. I just love to be surrounded by them. Yours is beautiful, as are the photos. Thanks for sharing, so inspiring. Michelle t

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  7. Callie Feyen Avatar

    “We might as well live with our memories.” Gosh, I love that.

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  8. jennie Avatar

    no way are they too big. they are stunning! what impact!

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  9. Carla Lane Avatar
    Carla Lane

    This rocks! Love it for so many reasons! I say go big (and lots) or go home!

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  10. Cele Schaffer Avatar
    Cele Schaffer

    These are the BEST PICTURES to depict your family memories! I teared up looking at them. You have come SO FAR in your parenthood journey… Ellerie is SO LUCKY!

    Like

  11. kristina Avatar

    The first picture of Paul holding Ellerie… Is it from when he returned from one of his deployments? For some reason I don’t remember seeing it on here. It’s so beautiful. It must be so special to you 🙂
    Ps. I’m going to copy this 😉

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  12. Hannah Avatar
    Hannah

    Really cool article – thanks for sharing the link!

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  13. Sarah Alves Avatar
    Sarah Alves

    “It’s our house and we might as well live with our memories.”
    YES.
    Ever since I read your post from a while back that said something (to the degree of) everything on your wall is a love letter, I decided that I would forever hang as many typography and word-heavy prints as I wanted. I just love them. My husband and I joke that we’ll be like the parents in The Fault In Our Stars that have quotes everywhere. It’s fun 🙂

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  14. Janet K Avatar
    Janet K

    This looks Fantastic!!! Is there a trick to printing out phone photos with good quality?? I am an android user…so maybe the iphone photos are just better quality???

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  15. Mal Avatar
    Mal

    Solid gold.

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  16. Dani Avatar

    I love it and hanging framed photos is something I’m willing to do forever. I guess I need to just get started, right? Thanks for the inspiration.

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  17. Zsofi Avatar

    This is so great!I just posted about my gallery wall. And look what I have there! I will definitely do a similar kind of arrangement in my bedroom!Thank you!

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  18. Sarah Milligan Avatar

    So fun! Amazing that you can print these at home. That is so appealing.

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  19. mandy Avatar
    mandy

    Hi Elise! I’d love to hear your thoughts on ink usage with this printer. Do find that you’re needing to change cartridges frequently? About how often do you need to replace the ink with the amount of printing you do? I have a very nice photo printer now, but it eats through ink so quickly it feels almost easier to order prints elsewhere. Thanks! : )

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  20. Elise Avatar
    Elise

    Elise: with the command strips, did they hang off the edge of the frame?

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