kswl your post reminded me of a discussion last summer. My son's "friend" was asking if girls here in "the north" get wedding portraits. The bride in all her wedding finery printed in an almost full size is common in "the south" it would seem. That was a new one for me and mine. I would imagine the price of such a photo would easily earn it a place on a newlywed's mantel!!

Lol, Arcy, i have never seen that large of a wedding photograph of a bride, maybe a good sized couples photo but mever that big! I was actually referring to painted works, and come to think of it i have never seen a painted portrait of a bride in my life. Different groups with different customs, i guess, even within one region.

Our photos that are displayed throughout the house as Nini describes are of kids in Halloween costumes, skiing photos, with dogs, DD at an Irish dance competition, my parents on vacation in NZ, etc. The only thing they have in common is that they are good snaps of a memorable moment or event. No staged pics with fake fall scenes as backdrops, etc.. We also have a tall display carousel downstairs loaded with unframed photos. It was supposedly modeled after an antique posrcard display...i bought it at Pottery Barn more than a decade ago and people LOVE to look thru those pictures!

I have a picture of my daughter in our entry. Why should family portraits be hidden away? We usually discuss here about personalizing our homes. Anyway, I think she's a beautiful work of art. :)

I have family/friend photos up in the third bedroom (the library) and there are a couple photos on the wall unit in the living room (in small frames).

My own question is about a rather large pastel portrait commissioned by my parents when I was about 12 years old. It is very nice artistically, and did look like me at that age. (My brother's portrait not so much.)

My parents are now deceased, and I have my portrait. I've always been hesitant to hang it -- I mean, it's of me... -- but it is a good piece of art. Should I go ahead and hang it in my future home currently being built, somewhere??

I had a large, beautifully framed photographic portrait that my father took of me at age 12, tenderly cradling my newborn baby brother (who is now in his 40s) hanging in the hallway of my previous home. I also displayed a number of "vintage" family portraits (my grandparents when they were quite young), as well as a few of the commonplace Olan Mills photos of people I love. This is my life. Why should I feel uncomfortable displaying any of these captured moments in my own home? That they are photos make them no less valuable than a painted portrait. My goodness - the time is so fleeting and the love runs so deep. Live with what you treasure surrounding you, and make no apologies to anyone for doing so.

Auntjen nails it for me.

Agree Aunt Jen---anything, if framed well and hung with an artistic eye, is art! Not all photos are art, bt not all painted portraits are, either :-)

I think some, including me, view painted portraits as more "suitable" in Living and dining rooms than photos on the wall because the former are more formal and larger and are framed in a manner more in keeping with the furnishings traditionally used in those rooms. I love a well designed gallery wall, or lovely black and white photos in a modern setting, etc.. And, i think people should do exactly as they want with their own homes.

I would never do that but that's just my personal taste. If you want to do it, do it.

Like Nini, I have oil portraits of my boys (one in the living room and one in the dining room) and smallish framed photos (none larger than 5x7) in silver frames on table tops and in built ins.

I've lived in the south my entire life and while many brides have formal photographs in their gowns done before the wedding, I've never seen any that were oversized.

Well, there are family portraits and then there are family portraits:

Hey, Oly - at least they're in Pantone's colors of the year! ;-)

those are some mighty wild eyes that man has!

I would not, but I also wouldn't want a large portrait -- photo or painted. I have the real thing to talk to and hug, and I have fine art to hang on my walls. But if you have a large portrait, how many places are there to hang it?

One of my sons' friends and her older sister had huge (near life size) portraits of each of them as well as one or more large family portraits (sofa, mantel size) hung so they couldn't be missed from the front door. You never forget them -- that's for sure.

Oh, the Awkward Family Photos are priceless! I hadn't visited that site in quite awhile, and am glad it was linked today.

Love this!

I just remembered the two photos that were taken of my brothers and me at Christmas, about eighteen years apart. I really should frame this and display it somewhere. Some things never change!

Auntjen, the son of mine you would have met if I had taken the rug would fit right in your family photos. LOL He is also known to photo bomb -- usually with one of those expressions.

Huge portraits of rich predecessors in mansions are all part of the showing off that is inherent in having a mansion etc. in the first place - impressing visitors to such habitations is more of priority than making them comfortable. Likewise in more modest settings it is overbearing to have family portraits or other personal items beaming at guests who are supposed to be left feeling welcomed. Therefore when I started renting bedrooms out all the people pictures went in a closet. Otherwise the message would have been "you are invading a family home that will never really be your home".

lascatx, he would definitely fit in with my family then! I'm not sure we actually have a photo of us "kids" together where one of us isn't doing something ridiculous.

And speaking of painted portraits, I can't stop laughing ...

we have a large painted family portrait hanging in our FR that i love, but i don't think i'd want it over the fireplace because i don't think i would want any photo/picture of us to be the focal point of the room! i think it would be fine tho to display a family portrait over your fireplace...nothing wrong with it!

My grandfather was a known local artist and did portraits using pastels. I have 2 different ones he did of me, at different ages when I was young, hanging in my dining room. They are beautifully done and framed, pieces of art.

So then it's not your dining room, it's your "you" room, where any dinner guests you may ever have will be made to feel self-conscious.

Nice portraits or goofy ones, them hanging in a room says "I think there is something else this room should be devoted to besides hosting you".

I don't care if it's the Mona Lisa, I don't want it looking on while I am supposedly being entertained and appreciated by my host.

Guests in our homes don't get to decide how we decorate them, and if they choose to feel self-conscious by family portraits that hang on the wall instead of focusing on the fact that they are being graciously entertained by the living, breathing human beings in the room with them ... honestly? That's their problem.

I can assure you, if my host had the Mona Lisa displayed in the dining room, I would feel quite honored indeed to be eating there.

I also feel quite certain that none of the guests to our house feel uncomfortable or intimidated by the portraits of my children that were painted when each was 4 years old. And I can also assure you, the portraits were not commissioned and hung with any thought of trying to appear "grand" or something. It is simply a family tradition, and I wanted to capture that perfect moment of my children's childhood in a permanent medium.

Therefore when I started renting bedrooms out all the people pictures went in a closet. Otherwise the message would have been "you are invading a family home that will never really be your home".

You are looking at the situation from a singular point of view, as no one else rents bedrooms in their primary residence. In your position I would probably do the same.

Nice portraits or goofy ones, them hanging in a room says "I think there is something else this room should be devoted to besides hosting you".

None of my guests are that self centered :-)

I'm pretty sure if anyone got their nose out of joint over family photos scattered about the house, they would not have been invited into my home in the first place. My home and its decor reflect me. Maybe not the idealized me I tried to be to please others, once upon a time. In fact, you can take me or leave me, suit yourself.

pamghatten -- If I had an artist in the family, I'd probably feel differently about portraits since they would be more personal as a work as well as the image. Let's hope I would -- the worst thing would be having a poertrait one by a family member that you really couldn't stand to have hanging on your wall. LOL

popping back in to bring up another point.

I think having eyes watching you all the time can be disconcerting. I think that's why people tend to naturally put all these pictures in a hallway, vestibule or staircase. I think I would have a hard time with big family portrait in my bedroom too.

Do you mean a small framed photograph on the mantel? I think that is very common to have framed pictures on the mantel or around the house.

If someone feels uncomfortable eating in my dining room with these portraits on the end walls, they are more than welcome to stay home. :>) Sorry they are sideways, couldn't figure out how to straighten them.

I don't consider my living/family room a "public area" We have a large family portrait over the fireplace. I stressed about how to frame it for a long time and just had it leaning up against the wall on the mantle till I happened to fine a large bronze easel one day - voila! I left it unframed on the easel. It has been there for years and we desperately need to take a new photo. When we do I may or may not replace it; I kinda need a change there.

If I were the person or one of the people in a portrait, I would feel uncomfortable looking at it on a regular basis.

It is interesting to me that people advise against family pictures in "public" rooms, but many will also advise against family pictures in a master bedroom. I once posted here with a plan to hang family pictures in our master and that got jumped on as well. "Oh no, not in your master bedroom. That's not the kind of romantic atmosphere you should be striving for in your private bedroom."

Well, where do the family pictures go then? Somewhere no one can ever see them? It almost feels like there is some weird underlying hostility to family pictures being displayed anywhere.

I say go right ahead and put a nice family picture over the mantel if you want.

" putting a family portrait on the mantel "

I think people are answering to whether they would hang a large family portrait on the wall over the fireplace. I think she is just asking about a smaller photo on the mantel.

Portraits on the wall, large ones especially, I think, make some people uncomfortable as if they are there watching or looking at them. I'm not sure portraits of children would have the same effect.

We have a nicely framed pastel of DH's grandfather in his Hussar's uniform over our fireplace and I have the old early 1900s wedding photos of all 4 of our grandparents in our library. DH's grandfather bought the property we're living on so it's only right he should have a place of honor in our house. And the other photos I love and cherish the fact that we have them at all. Why not display them? Our house is chock full of pieces that have special memories and meanings for us, and why not? It's our house. We live here. It should serve our purposes.

I don't know about the feng shui of it, but I would say do it if you want to. It's your house.

I have framed photos of kids and pets on tables and shelves in the living room and den, and a couple on the walls in both halls. To me, it's a way of saying "We still love and miss you, dear Rover" or "Oh, what sweet memories we have of this four year old face!". In sad times, they are reminders of happy times, too.

I have a framed portrait of a historically significant person hung in my living room. It was done by my daughter, who is not an artist and who hated having to take the high school art class where the portrait was assigned. It isn't very large, but it if was four times the size I would still have it hung there. I cannot imagine anyone coming to my house feeling like they have to comment on it, or feeling like I'm distracted from my hosting them by the fact that I have a portrait on the wall. I like the colors, I like the subject, I love my daughter. That's art to me!

If someone feels uncomfortable eating in my dining room with portraits on the walls, they are more than welcome to stay out of our home --- if I am foolish enough to have invited them in the first place.

And as an invited guest, I am under absolutely no obligation to comment on any aspect of someone's decor. Keeping my mouth shut is a privilege afforded to me at all times.

hang the portrait and enjoy it!

Honestly, portrait "eyes" making people uncomfortable? Watching too many cartoons, lol? Don't ever go to a museum, for heavens sake!

I agree, kswl! Who the heck actually thinks portraits are watching them? Good grief!

Some people think certain kinds of portraits don't belong in certain rooms of the home. Some people think they are decorative. and people should put whatever they want wherever they want. As we often say here, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Criticism doesn't really add to the discussion.

well, that would be the person up thread who said it!! nothing wrong with that! why judge!?

i personally wouldn't hang photos or portraits in my dining room- they don't 'belong' there in my opinion. i have a friend with a wedding pic in her DR- i wouldn't have chosen to put that there either, but it's not my house!! but, i wouldn't have a problem eating at a friend's house that hung the art they liked in their DR, even if i didn't like it ! why would it bother ME??

Kwsl2, thanks for: "Honestly, portrait "eyes" making people uncomfortable? Watching too many cartoons, lol? Don't ever go to a museum, for heavens sake!" -- agreed, even if I suddenly got a mental visual of those portraits at Hogwarts, with the eyes that do roll around the room and grimacing, looking at the current inhabitants!!!!

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, Dee, and that is mine :-)

I actually know some people who feel uncomfortable with them, so it can't be all that uncommon. (One I know loves portraits at museums). People should do what they want, of course, but I don't see why it should bother anyone if someone has some sort of phobia.

There are a couple of reasons I'd be selective about what photos to put on display in public areas. One, if they are very personal and special and, two, I wouldn't want them to be judged or critiqued.

I'm not sure why the OP felt the need to ask.

Photo of the first floor library at Hillwood estate of Marjorie Merriwether Post:

yeah, i'm not sure why some people feel the need to ask either... i bet they have a 'rule following' personality type...

Cyn427, that's an example of my theory, only show portraits of the famous, infamous and very rich.

busybee3, well, I think you could say that about a big percentage of the questions people ask here. I don't know that it's having a rule-following personality. I tend to make decisions best through discussion. Dh doesn't understand this process and it occasionally drives him crazy. But I think through things better when I "talk" to people about them.

crl, i see a lot of questions here where people question their sense of style or their taste or ability to see color, etc... or seek affirmation on their choices made... even questions about how high to hang a piece of artwork make sense to me if you don't have an eye for things like that and don't want to create more work for yourself of repairing holes...

but, that's different to me than questioning whether a family picture should be placed on the mantel... i am sure some people do need to discuss things more than i do even tho i am a 'hem and hawer' myself about certain things and have some serious cognitive dissonance sometimes, but i know i would never get anything done if i needed to talk everything over...

there's nothing wrong with being a 'rule follower' tho, if he/she is!

Old photos and portraits, of family members who have passed on, where nobody is smiling, are a bit...ghostly (and OP, I realize this is likely not what you intended for your mantel :).) There is a quite a difference between old black and whites or formal portraits and cute pastels of your smiling children or photos of your parents on vacation.

At one time I did have quite a few old photographs hanging in my dining room, but took them all down because of the creepiness factor.

Wow, so many opinions. IMHO, I've never liked the look - to me it looks narcissistic, and weirdly enough vaguely embarassing to look at...