You guys had SO many questions about these giant wall portraits in the new mudroom hallway. I wanted to give you the inside scoop on how to make your own affordable giant wall portraits. This hallway is really long, and when I started to look into artwork the cost was pretty overwhelming and nothing really seemed quite right.
Since I love nothing more than photos of my kiddos, and I’d been seeing some super simple kids portraits as of late – I thought “why not make my own?” The whole process was actually quite easy, and was friendly on the pocketbook too! Here’s all the steps I took:
1. Take those pictures
My kids are 1 and 4, and notorious for being terrible at taking photos, aka: standing still. I find with pictures it’s always best if they’re distracted – so I gave them each a Johnny Pop and got clicking. I had them stand by a blank wall, as I wanted a lot of negative space. While I had to take quite a few shots to get a couple that I loved- it was worth it for the candid photos that capture their little personalities.
2. The Editing
Even with a white wall as a backdrop these photos weren’t quite bright enough “as is” so I used the Snapseed app, and first made the photos black and white – then I used the “brush” option and cranked the “exposure” up to +1. I only exposed the negative space – making the background bright white. Such a fun difference, and it only took a few minutes.
3. Putting it all together
I searched high and low for large frames for these photos, and finally found the perfect 24×36 frames! These had great reviews and while they’re not glass I actually prefer it – just in case one gets knocked down. For the photos I had them printed at Costco in the 20×30 size for $9, and then grabbed some 24×36 white mats to finish the look. Total cost of each framed picture? $38 – not too shabby!
4. Hang your art and you are done!
These frames are super easy to hang on the wall, and even come with all the necessary hardware. Grab a level and tape measure to get your photos equidistant apart, and then stand back and admire your new affordable giant wall portraits – guaranteed your kids will love it too!
Love,
Ashley + Lindsay
