How to Personalize Your Home with Photos

If you've ever sold your home, you've probably been told to depersonalize your house so that potential buyers can envision themselves living there.  That includes removing all your personal photos.  BUT... what if you're not in the market to sell?  I say if you're living in the home, you should do the exact opposite and personalize your home so that it's reflective of you and your family.For most design projects, whether it's interior decorating or staging, we can go to a local retailer, find art that we like and install it in our homes.  Unfortunately, when we were filming Power Broker, we were not allowed to use commercial art due to potential copyright issues.  I guess, an artist could sue the show for using their art without permission. Personally, I would think the artist would be flattered and more than happy that we did use their art...more exposure right?  In any case, we had to be very creative with what we used to fill the walls.Here are some examples to help inspire you to personalize your home with photos of you and your family and what is significant to you.This is a photo wall we did in Nelson and Delaney's bedroom using photos of them during their travels and pictures of their dog.  We added a C for their last name and the vinyl letters spelled out "Eu Te Amo" which means "I Love You" in Portugese...the first words Nelson taught Delaney to say in Portugese when they fell in love...  I love this because it has special meaning to them and know we nailed it when Delaney said when she sees this, "it melts her"...booyah!!  =)This next picture is from Ronnie and Erica's Dining Room.  Believe it or not, this was actually a fairly large space and we needed to fill it and did not have much of a budget to work with.  My amazing assistant, Autumn, did a private photo shoot with the family and created these pictures using photoshop to manipulate the color of the fruit.  I think she did a fantastic job.  The pictures were enlarged and mounted on foam board and hung on the wall with 3M removable hanging strips.This scrabble wall was also in the Season Finale episode with Ronnie and Erica.  We had a large wall that needed to make a statement and this scrabble wall was the perfect solution.  We used the names of all the members of the family, including their dog, Lola, and swapped out one letter for a photo of that person.  It's not serious art, but it's fun and the kids really got a kick out of it.  It's a conversation starter that's for sure...These canvas murals was our nod to pop art which is in line with the mid century modern feel of this home.  There are resources online to help you create that pop art look with any photo of your choice...but they can get pricey.  Have I mentioned that I'm always on a tight budget?  We created an inexpensive alternative by engaging the creative skills of a talented photoshop artist (Go Curt!) and replicated the same photo of Scott and Tara 4 times in different colors.  On the bottom right hand corner, it reads BING... which is a pet name that they have for each other.  Again, personal to them and a stand out statement piece that is hard to miss!This picture is of the exact spot that Kyle proposed to Stacey in Central Park.  They had always wanted to do something with this photo, but they didn't know what...Power Broker Design Team to the rescue!  Luckily, it was a high enough resolution photo that we were able to enlarge it and have it printed on a canvas...gorgeous!!!  Love how it has a 3D look to it.  Now it hangs proudly in their family room where they spend a lot of time relaxing, entertaining and just being!This photo mural was hung in the Living Room of our pilot episode with Mark and Rosalia.  Get those engagement and wedding photos out and display them where everyone can enjoy!These two pictures are of landmarks in Paris...the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.  John and Jen got engaged under the Arc de Triomphe and we needed a mate to fill that wall so what's more significant than the Eiffel Tower in Paris right?  I love that the pictures are close-ups rather than of the entire structure.  We chose to go with black and white to keep in line with the industrial chic vibe.Last, but not least, we needed some art to create height and interest above the bed in John and Jen's Master Bedroom.  So...we took one of their wedding photos and zoomed in on their hands during the ceremony and created a triptych out of it.  You don't see their faces but you know exactly what the photo is.  I love it because I'm not a big fan of what I call the "I love me" photos...big huge poster size couple pictures from your wedding.  It's more stylistic this way, don't you think?There's plenty more but this is just to give you some ideas of what you can do with your photos to create inexpensive but personal art to decorate your home.  Which do you like the best?  What will you incorporate into your home decor right away?  I would love to know...please leave me a comment below. Thanks for reading!