To me, this is a matter of persoanl taste. I have family pictures displayed on our upright piano. The class photos on the piano of my two daughters each have their senior class picture. (The rest are all one behind each other in the frame. Sometimes my kids will open the back and looks through all of their photos.) We have a few photos on our mantel. The graduation photos happen to be in a small collage in our upstairs foyer.

What if you had a picture taken of your 10 year old and had it framed similar to the older son's 11 x 14 picture. They could hang near each other in the living room near the fireplace seating. If they are not large enough, maybe mat them and give them bigger frames. They could be in black and white too as an option if it fits the decor better.
Then put one of the smaller ones in the upstairs hallway too!

I am not sure where I aquired this rule of thumb and I do love seeing personal pics at others' homes, but somewhere I heard a rule that personal photographs should hang in private rooms only. I think a hall leading up to bed rooms counts as private living area. So I hang mine in halls and bedrooms. Even tho I follow this rule I still think personal pics in the living room are lovely too.

ellendi - That sounds lovely. I haven't hung many pictures since we built our home. I have a hard time with decisions, I guess. Honestly, many times there probably isn't just one right answer or right way of doing things, and it comes down to taste.

fleur - I would love to have a photo of our younger guy framed and hung together with our older one. I think if they share some commonality like similar frames, color or sepia or b & w, they could work together very well.

roarah - While I'm not one to follow strict rules, sometimes those "rules" really do make sense. Maybe once the pictures come in it will be easier to decide.

I would probably pick the hall or stairway since they'll be on the wall.

I have a few in my LR but I like the look of tabletop pics in there. I have small pic on each end table and two in the bookends of the e.stand. I did consider putting some on the walls but think it would look out of place.

I know some people don't like seeing photos and I've heard of the rules but I never met someone IRL that feels that way. I figure it's our house and I like to see pics of people I care about.

I plan on putting some in the hall, our bedroom above the dresser, and maybe even down the stairs at some point. In general though and like anything else, I will agree there's a way to make the photos more appealing to the eye. (height, frames, colors of pics, etc.)

Shee - I hadn't thought a lot about placing the pictures on tables, primarily because we don't have much in the way of tabletop space in our great room, but I think I like that better than on the wall. Hmmmm . . . Right now we do have a raised fireplace hearth, but not coffee tables and the end tables do not have enough space with the lamps on them. But, we will likely be getting a new L-shaped couch, and we would like to put a sofa table behind it. Not sure if that could work down the road.

Joanie, I definitely wouldn't have a studio pic taken of our youngest. It would just be a casual photo in a similar style framing, as well as others of the two of them. You're right that the senior picture is special, that's for sure. We just have a big age gap (7 1/2 years) between our boys, so our youngest won't be graduating for a long while.

Ask the kid. The photos were so darn expensive that we bought 1 8x10 and a few small ones to share. In 10 years who cares? Mine didn't and still don't. Don't forget college. Personally we prefer artwork over a bunch of faces but you may think differently. If they want to see the "old" pics they can look in the albums.

And when your son(s) graduate from college, will you want to have that senior/yearbook picture displayed? and wedding pictures?
I really think, that except for a few small tabletop pictures, that photographs belong in the family's less public places, like the stairway or the upstairs hall or even in a study, but not in the living room or family room.

Let me start with the fact that I have 2 college age sons. When each of their Senior pics came in, I displayed them in a prominent spot for a few weeks. Then...I hung them in the wall in my husband's home office-basically, no one sees them.

As stated earlier this is such a personal choice. I find the "rule" of hanging personal photos in only private spaces TEDIOUS!! What is the point of having pictures if you can't display them?!? I have also been told one should never display kid photos in a master bedroom, that is WACKED too IMHO!! Saying that, I have one family photo, 8x10 on a large corner table and I have the kid's latest school pictures in 5x7 frames on top of our antique secretary in the living room. Each of the 5x7 frames is a photo album book. I have smaller photos, formal and casual of each of them, for each year inside. When distant family appear or when the kids have a reason to show them off, the photos are at hand. Downstairs in the family room I have many, many photos on book shelves..from my grand-parents to my nieces and nephews. I find it curious that "high style" dictates no photos, yet every movie, TV show that goes into someone's home family photos are prominent.
So far I have one graduate, one coming this year. My son's senior picture is in the 5/7 frame. When they were being taken and printed I made my choices on what to print, with with the realization that within one year or less of his graduation I am the only person who will ever care to look at it again. I will not ever display a college graduation picture. There won't be one, I would suspect. I don't see the point of them. If mom doesn't want one, they don't happen!! Some day wedding pictures will need a place. That is so far from now I can't worry about it. Perhaps I will finally put away the sibling family wedding pictures I have on display down stairs.... As far as what to do with the 11x14 or 8x10's I am clueless. Never in my life have I purchased an 8x10 of a single person. There isn't enough wall space I figured, and if you can't display them what is the point of having them? I find family picture wall galleries a magnet, a conversation piece. Everyone loves to see the pictures, time standing still. Why would you want that in a "private" space? It will only mean you will have people trooping through your "private" spaces.

Nana - You're right that our son doesn't really care either way. At least he doesn't now. We adopted both of our boys, our oldest out of foster care at age 2. He has no baby pictures, so we wanted him to have pictures of these other times in his life. He may appreciate them more down the road.

lindac - What you stated is the rule I've heard before about family pictures, and I understand where it comes from.

rather - Yes, I know the fate of these pictures will be that they are eventually not going to be as current in the life of our son as they are now. That's a good point. I remember my parents had a large senior picture of me on the wall in their living room. Eventually, after years, I asked that they take it down, since I was married with kids, and could give them a more current family picture.

arcy - I love your idea about the 5 x 7 albums on hand in your main living area. We actually have a LOT of large wall space, and a photo or two hung alone would look lost on our walls. That's why I did a gallery wall in our upstairs hall/loft area. It has 23 frames of various sizes, from 5 x 7 - 11 x 14. I haven't filled them yet, as I'm waiting to see about these pictures when they come in. I agree that a wall like this will be a great conversation magnet, and I'm thinking about repeating something like it either in the stairway/foyer or possibly on a smaller scale, in our living room. I like the idea of swapping out the pictures from time to time. I can always put them in albums and add new ones.

I sort of go by that rule, but there are exceptions to every rule. When I was in high school, one of my friend's parents had a wall of family pictures in their den-not formal, but personal just the same. I always loved that. I did the same thing in our keeping room off the kitchen, but removed them a while back and put up some of our paintings instead. DH mentioned the other day that he had always liked having those pictures up. *sigh* Never said a word when they were there. Long way of saying that I am going to reframe all those pics (casual impromptu pics for the most part) and put them back up for him.

I like having a large grouping rather than just one or two when it comes to photographs. I am linking a previous post that shows just that. Hope sueb doesn't mind!

Here is a link that might be useful:

cyn - yes, yes, that's just what I had in mind for our stairway. I love that everything is tied together with the frame style and matting. I'm bookmarking that one.

Oh good! I love it, too. be sure to show us your finished space-please!