The Memory Keeper

At exactly this time last year, I made an emergency visit to my sister Lisa's house when she unexpectedly became very sick. The trip ended up extending to ten days, and when I wasn't roaming Tucson Medical Center waiting for news, I was roaming my sister's empty house.

I realized during those endless hours walking up and down Lisa's hallway that she has become the unofficial archivist of our family. We had very few pictures in our house when I was growing up -- my parents were very good at telling family stories and passing down folklore, but not so big on pictures. I think my parents preferred to experience those busy years without the pressure of having to photograph it all. I've wondered over the years where those few pictures we had went and now realize they've somehow all ended up at Lisa's house. Our grandmother's high school graduation picture, our parents' wedding pictures, pictures of the two of us as children dressed exactly alike sitting on the steps of our front porch. They're all there.

It's perfect, actually, because my sister got all the brains in the family. She is one of those rare people who is both extremely analytical and extremely creative, so she not only has the family photos beautifully framed, she has digitally archived them. I think if they were at my house, they'd all be in shoe boxes marked "flower pots" or some such thing and lost forever.

I've been thinking lately about archiving and labeling the Furber family pictures, as it's getting harder and harder in my old age to tell the babies apart in the pictures. For those like me with the will, but not the skill, to build a digital archive of your family history refer to this simple article written by Amy Urquhart "Creating a Digital Photo Archive" and some good information from the National Archives on preserving the originals. Or call my sister Lisa. She's all better now and has been posting all our old pictures on Facebook.

And Lisa, if you have that picture of me ten months pregnant with Andie in a bikini, we don't really need to keep that.

Resolution #1: Update my family gallery wall

The last time I did my family gallery wall, I was still pregnant with Katie, who's now six. My children are suspended in time, and anyone visiting my house would think they're 8, 5, and a newborn. Regular Suburban Zen readers know that's not the case.

One reason I haven't updated the wall is that I love looking at the old pictures of each of the Furber kids -- I remember precisely when and where each one was taken, and what else happened that day:

• The picture my friend Erin took at her house in Olympia -- Jack was wearing Andie's pants because he'd taken a dip in the bay in his own and needed a change.


• The Christmas card picture from the year Katie was born. Andie edited the film and picked the picture because her hair looked the best in that one.


• The picture of Jack on his first day of Kindergarten -- he asked me right before school "Mom, what's the best way to meet friends?"


• The picture of JP and I on our honeymoon kissing in the front of a catamaran.

Every time I think I'm going to update those pictures, I can't decide which I can bear to take down. I've decided instead that I'll just add to the wall until it's completely full. Now I can add the new pictures I've been meaning to add, like this one:

without retiring any of my favorites.

And Dad, remember the shot of us with the Elvis statue at the House of Blues? That's going on the wall too.

One More Thing Your Children Will Thank You For

I'm a huge fan of displaying photos. I think they add life and personality to my house, especially the candid shots of the kids. My favorite thing to do is to enlarge the close-ups and frame them in 24x36 poster frames. Those little faces are so cute, I just can't get enough of them.

While it's tempting just to rush through the framing projects, this is one place where it's best to plan ahead and take your time. I've learned a lot over the years through trial and error about photo preservation. My friend Clay has also been a good resource for me for photo etiquette, as he has a vast collection of family photos that goes back many years. It takes much more work to do it right, but the results are worth the effort. Here is a list of the highlights:

When framing photos that are valuable to you, use acid free mats and photo safe materials. While you can purchase inexpensive frames just about anywhere, they're rarely the best choice for your pictures. Good sources that I like for well-priced museum quality frames are Pottery Barn and Exposures.

Use reproductions when you can, and store your original photos . I make copies of most of my photos and frame the copies rather than framing the photos themselves. Kinko's is a great resource for really high quality reproductions.

If you choose to frame your photos, rather than reproductions, don't hang them in the sunlight. The only thing that does more damage to an original photo than sunlight is a toddler with a crayon.

Everyone tells you to label your pictures, but no one reminds you to use a photo-safe pen. Using a regular pen can damage a photo beyond repair. And for goodness sake, don't write on the front of your photos with anything!

If you're like me and can't manage to get your photos into archival albums, at least store them in archival storage boxes so they can be protected from dust, light, kids and dogs.

When you hand your photo collection down to your children, be sure to pass on the rules of preservation also. They'll probably roll their eyes, but they'll thank you for it later.

Everything Eventually Comes Into Fashion If You Wait Long Enough

I've been in the catalog business for most of my career, and many hours on location have made me a fan of a product known to photo crew members as "goop".

For years, I've been sticking photos, postcards and other things I like to my walls with goop. I add and subtract as I go, and my walls become sort of a living display of my family's and my current interests.

I've always liked this method of photo display because it's easy, I think it adds nicely to the casual vibe I have going in my home, and it doesn't require the time commitment of sizing, framing and hanging all my photos. In short, it's perfect for a working mother of three.

I'd like to thank the stylists and magazine editors who've recently made just sticking photos randomly to the wall a style statement. I'm seeing it everywhere now:



Any trendsetter who popularizes the easiest possible decorating idea is doing all of us working moms a big favor. If I could hug each of you I would!

Only the Boring are Bored by Guest Blogger Andie Furber

A kid's bedroom can often seem, well, boring to them after a while. To make it more interesting, add a picture wall! I have one in my room, and whenever I look at it, it cheers me up.

Devote an entire wall to it, preferably facing your bed, so it's the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning.

There is a delicate balance to which pictures to choose from, and they can't all be the same kind of thing. You'll need three different things:

1) Photos: They bring back memories, and they remind you of your family and friends. For these, use plain white frames for them. They'll balance out a color photo, and complete a black and white one.

2) Posters: If they're very colorful, they look really good on your wall. I have two posters from the plays I was in: Seussical Jr., and Stuart Little. The Seussical poster is bright and colorful and pops, and the Stuart Little poster is more neutral. For these, don't even bother with a frame. My mom buys some blue clay-like stuff from the store, and you put it on the back and it sticks.

3) Artwork: Use some artwork from your elementary school days. (You know you still have it.) They remind you of those days, and they look great on a wall! For these, use colorful frames with patterns and cool colors, and try to match the frame with the art.

My Mom always says "only the boring are bored." So if your room is boring, don't let that define your personality. Take control of the situation, and express your creativity with a picture wall.

My Digital Camera Ate My Pictures

I had a party at my house yesterday for my son Jack's 4th grade class and I heard two things consistently from the Moms in attendance:

"Thank goodness school's almost out"
"I have got to frame some pictures. All mine are trapped in my digital camera"

To the first, I say "Amen, sisters." To the second, I have a few words of advice -- as you know from yesterday's post, I am the gal who frames anything and everything, so I have some experience in the area of getting the pictures out of the camera and onto the wall. Here are some simple guidelines for building your own gallery wall from scratch in a day:

Pick a blank wall that you can cover, and that you can stand far enough away from to see the whole thing in one eyeshot.

Pick at least two common elements that you want all your pictures to have so the wall has some consistency to it. Doesn't matter what -- frame color, frame size, frame profile, mat, photo type -- just pick two so your wall has some order.

Figure out a way to add some drama . I use huge blown up photos to anchor my wall, but you can use anything -- use only close-ups of faces, or paint your wall a pretty color. If you want to blow your photos up to be huge, Kinko's is a great resource. The quality of photocopies is so good now, and they can blow something up to the size of a poster if that's what you want.

When you have everything framed and you're ready to hang, this is the one and only place that I'll ever say "do it the hard way." Follow these steps, and you can't go wrong:

Lay your pictures out on the floor so you can get the composition right before you start with the hammer. It's best to put the largest items down first, then let the smaller frames either radiate out from the big ones, or fill in around them.

Now, stand on a ladder and take a picture of your floor of pictures. The camera will see things in the composition that you won't see with your eye until you hang everything up.

Trace the frames onto kraft paper, cut them out, and tape the frames to your wall in the same composition you designed on the floor. Don't forget to mark on your template where the picture hook is on the back of the frame -- that's where the nail will go. Use a level, and use blue painter's tape -- everything will be straight, and the tape won't peel the paint off your wall.

Now stand back and take a picture of your wall of paper. The camera will see the blank spots or any imbalance that you won't see with your eye.

Once you've done all that, you're ready to hang. Just hammer your nail right into the paper, tear the paper off the wall and hang your picture up.

If you want to make sure your husband is available to help you on picture hanging day, do what I do: make a habit of getting out whatever huge honkin' nails you can find and pound them into the wall with your shoe. My husband has seen me rampage through the house pounding nail after nail until I get everything just like I want it. Now, whenever I start making noises about hanging some pictures, my husband clears his calendar and doesn't let me out of his sight.

Art Schmart

It's funny that my last post contained so many references to art. The truth is, I have no art in my house. When my husband and I bought our first house, we thought we'd collect some art when we got more established, but we started collecting kids instead.

Now my house is the best kind of gallery, filled with memories of our family's life. We collect photos, maps, cards, art made by our kids, and proudly frame and hang it all. And I mean all.

Some of our very favorite installations are:
Our entry hall that's completely covered in photos of the kids. The gallery has evolved with time, so it's a fun time capsule showing the kids at all ages and stages. We always frame in black frames, with black or white mats, and convert our photos to black and white so we can add to the gallery whenever have something new.

Four 4' square frames in our living room with our favorite pieces by our house artists Andie, Jack and Katie. When presented in the right way, kids' art can look like beautiful pieces of modern art -- great color, and kids seem to have a natural eye for composition.

A world map my husband gave me for Christmas a few years ago. He marked all the places we've visited, together and apart, with different colored pins before he gave it to me. The map has come in mighty handy in our elementary school phase for geography lessons, and the kids love to hear our travel stories. For now anyway.

A big pinboard at the end of the hall where we pin postcards, letters, leaves collected by Katie on her nature walks, stuff from our various roadtips. We add to and subtract from the pinboard all the time, so it's a rotating chronical of our family adventures. It's very fun to stand in front of the pinboard and meditate on our happy family life.

I've resigned myself to the fact that, unless one of my children grows up to be a professional artist, my art collection will remain only sentimental in value. However, I love the confidence my kids get from seeing their photos and art proudly displayed in our house, and the walk to the bedroom each night past the entry hall, the living room, the world map, and the family pinboard is better than any gallery walk I can imagine.