organise my photo wall

1. Decide on your frames:

Do you want all white frames, all black, timber etc. and do you want them all the same or a mix.

2. Start buying your frames:

This can be time consuming. It's good to buy a few new ones and mix with some second hand frames. You can pick up old timber photo frames at your local Vinnies store for $2 and with a quick sand and two coats of paint, you have a great, cheap frame with character.

3. Start collecting your photos:

Like me, you might have some from negatives and some digital. But, don't print any until you've collected your frames. I scanned old photos and printed them on photo paper myself and they came up great. I used Photoshop to crop and restore them to original colour etc.

4. Print your photos:

You'll want your best photos to be the largest ones, so start by printing them to fit your largest frames. Slowly go through and match the rest of your photos to the frames. You can print all colour, all black and white, or a mix.

5. Deciding on your layout (very time consuming, but worth the effort):

This is tricky. Lay your photos out on the floor (www.scrapnframes.com - framing - laying out your pictures) This website has a few ideas on different types of layouts and there are many other websites to get ideas from, just google photo walls.

I like a little symmetry, so I chose to have a verticle line down the middle. I lined up the edges of the frames down the middle of the wall and then worked my way out. I tried to keep approx. 5cm between each frame, but when you have different sized frames, it doesn't always work out.

Once you think you're happy with the layout, cut pieces of paper to the EXACT size of each frame and write on them what picture they are (believe me you'll get confused otherwise). Then blue tac them up on your wall, working from the centre frames out. If you're not sure, look at the wall for a few days, you'll quickly decide if you like the look or not. Mark the centre top on each of these pieces of paper, along with how many cm it is down to the hook or wire on the back (you'll need this for step 6).

This was random layout and after looking at it for 1 day, I hated it, so went with a bit of symmetry.

6. Now the fun part - time to put your hooks up:

I used three different 3m products:

1. Wire-Backed Picture Hanger (for frames that had a wire on them);

2. Saw tooth picture hangers (for frames that have a saw tooth flat hook on the back of the frame right at the top of the frame);

3. Picture Hanging Strips (velcro strips for 2nd hand frames that had no hooks or wires).

Make a small pencil mark on the top of your frame on the wall in the centre. Measure down to where the hook will be and press your hook on the wall. I waited overnight before hanging photos on the hooks.

I have the vertical line down the middle and worked outwards from there, I much prefer this to the random layout. Some people work from a horizontal centre line - it's all personal preference.

I have wanted to do this for 10 years and got sick of looking at the blank wall. I set myself a target of 1 month to complete. It took me 5 weeks and was a bigger effort than I thought, but the wall looks great and more importantly, it's a great talking point when friends and family visit. Even the teenagers are interested!