How big is the booth? Black & white is good but to add "POP' have another color as accent such as lemon yellow antique roses to place around. Does it have shelves? If everything is flat on a wall you need some cutouts with some color such as sm.Victorian. Maybe cut pics of covers of magazines from thrift shop. Hot cars, saiboat in bay,Paris St. etc. but something to break up the bk/wh look. People have to envision the frames in their homes. Having pics in some will help but are they all bl/wh photos? Say a wall 5 ft tall 8 ft long would need about 5 -7 bits of color. Attach cutouts. Would be better to have some shelves as some folks do not have much wall space so few pics could grace a shelf or small table with cloth that is very "in" color. A lamp in keeping with style you choose puts light on pics & is nice if allowed. Tablecloth can be fabric sq. that is folded under at bottom & pinned on in back so looks like a draped cloth. GF & I had booth 5 ft high x 8 ft wide & 8 ft deep. You have to "grab" people's attention so need a little bling. We were selling antiques & her handmade things. We did quite well but then they sold the building. If you have couple of shelves (could be store bought) add cloth, doily, small vase with high quality silk flower ,something that spells home, on another wall maybe more formal look,small book, couple of keys with decorative look. Look at magazines, other booths etc. Just frames on flat walls won't get you the sales that you'll get if the booth has personality & don't forget the floor, is it tile, carpet etc. It needs to look good with the rest. After all this is done you must keep everything clean & sparkling, dust & blurry glass in frames says things arn't going well or sloppy space sloppy work on frames. You want your booth to be a "knockout" Don't know what area of country you are in but if most folks are into country add country touches, European look ,pipe on book etc. Check out your competition & see what the other booths have & write down what & how many of each type booth & make your's different. I would use the letter ones on back wall as when folks look in they would see the letters straight on & would be good selling point. If walls are a mess cover them with fabric or repaint if allowed don't go dark on that as would make booth seem tiny. Lots to think of but study booths you like & note what they did. Incorperate some of that in your's. Good Luck! Jan

Perhaps you could make the photo boards in the shape of your church-using seam binding to divide the different areas (steeple, doorways, windows)..then insert a group of pics in each section. Also-use colored boards & title each one a different room or area of the church-like "Altar", Nursery, Sunday School room #1, Kitchen, Foyer, Steeple,etc & place pics in each area.

Thanks for the advice. I actually like the style of doors and cabinetry, just don't know how I can get them matched with new cabinets due to the hand glazing over the off-white color. This is showier than I envisioned originally but I was intrigued by this set because of how well it matched the one wall of my layout, and it would be the "focus point" of the kitchen. The second wall would just have the tall oven cabinet (in this display) and a large window over the sink wall (3 base cabinets as well as sink and 2 dishwashers, preferably integrated), and then I will have a large island which doesn't have to match. Recessed into an adjacent alcove would be a breakfast hutch but I was planning for that to match the island anyhow. I am not tied to inset, full overlay is fine too. Based on the advice here, I think perhaps I can use this set if I change my vision and can find matching cabinets for the base cabinets in my window wall, and perhaps paint the cabinets with a layer of cream colored paint to match the new cabinets. I emailed the Aya company to see if they could just provide matching doors. That said, can I have honest opinion on this type of hood? Any advice on the inserts? The hood is 36 inches wide and 22 inches deep centrally; it is not rectangular. thanks!

I found this older article by Joanne Furio for the San Francisco Chronical. It sums up my feelings pretty well with regard to photos as decor. I couldn't abide every surface (or just too many surfaces) in a home being dedicated to family photographs. People will argue with this view and many more couldn't imagine not being surrounding by pictures of those they love..... but here are some other thoughts. "As a powerful purveyor of middle-class style, Pottery Barn is a formidable player in the development of trends, and a savvy observer. That's why I took notice at an unusual spread in the company's spring catalog. In a dining-room vignette, hanging on the walls and propped against a sideboard and leaning wall shelves, were gigantic photos of children and their parents, the occupants of this imaginary family's home. The largest was a poster-size image of a cherubic boy. Another, maybe 2 feet square, was of two young children. All of the images were in black frames that matched the sideboard and shelves. To me, this seemingly innocuous decor represented the height of narcissism, the self-absorption of a generation more interested in turning the camera on themselves than outward. Picking up on what's already happening in homes across America, Pottery Barn seemed to confirm that the traditional ways of displaying family photos -- once relegated to the hallway or the mantel -- are no longer enough for the modern family. We must be surrounded by darling -- and colossal -- images of ourselves. Family photos have taken center stage, taken on a more important role in decorating and, perhaps, taken over. Not so, say Bay Area decorators, who consider over-the-top displays to be offensive and to actually detract from the decor. Exhibiting family shots in an artful manner requires the right place, creative framing and, just as important, discretion. "Narcissism can go to the extreme," says Greenbrae interior designer Jean Larette, who once visited a Malibu hairdresser whose home was adorned with life-size images of his former Playmate wife. That experience led her to one of her decorating no-nos: Don't display images of your ex in your home. "It makes people uncomfortable," she says. "Family photographs are wonderful," Larette adds, "if they are carefully chosen and beautifully displayed." Here, local designers offer suggestions on what, where and how to display or hang your family photos with finesse. Edit carefully: "Don't fill every corner of your house with family photos," says Jan York of Jan York & Associates Interior Design in San Francisco. Because framed photos will be displayed for quite some time, choosing a complementary selection is vital. Maybe it's important to represent both sides of the family in an intergenerational assemblage. Sheila Gleeson of San Francisco, one of York's clients, narrowed her selection to her immediate family, which includes her husband and two sons. From there, they selected "only fun pictures that represent special times and places they have been as a family," Gleeson says. York likes creating sepia-toned photographs from color images, which have "a warm look and feel." Both she and Larette expressed a penchant for black-and-whites, which have a graphic quality. Gleeson chose to use color shots in her arrangement because they made up the majority of her family shots. Be sensitive to subject matter: Although it may seem obvious, Larette advises against placing naked pictures of yourself in the powder room (a phenomenon she has also seen) "unless you look like Elle Macpherson." And, if you are or were a model or actress, your framed head shot should not be on display. "People may wonder if perhaps you may be soliciting work from your dinner guests," Larette says. Larette also frowns upon pasting photos of yourself in thinner days on the refrigerator door for inspiration. That's a case of making a highly personal subject -- your weight -- public. Choose an appropriate spot: As for displaying large images of yourself and your children (a la Pottery Barn), San Francisco designer Shelly Amoroso of Amoroso Design says it's all right as long as "you're a great photographer and you've taken great shots of your kids." The dining room, however, is not the right place. Amoroso also cautions: "A shot of you and your college buddies at a kegger party is not appropriate for the dining room." Such a room is more formal and demands more serious subject matter. Ditto for the living room, says Haruko Yoshida, the interior designer behind Integrafika Design Studio of San Francisco and Tokyo. She doesn't believe photos of family or friends should be there. "They're too personal," she says. What areas did the designers agree were appropriate for a more casual approach to photographic displays? The family room, den, home theater or playroom. They also like hallways and stairways, traditionally the spot for a family gallery, because they are intermediary spaces that "don't interfere with the decor," explains York. She and Gleeson ultimately chose the stairway to the second floor as the place to hang Gleeson's family photographs. If you have a large assortment of snapshots, Amoroso recommends displaying an edited selection on the back wall of a built-in desk, or on a framed corkboard above a desk. She also likes displaying snapshots on a kitchen wall covered with cork, where invitations and other family papers can hang. For a teen's bedroom, she recently created a prettier alternative by upholstering closet doors with fabric and crisscrossed ribbon, where snapshots are tucked in. In general, avoid overkill and underkill. Larette frowns upon covering a grand piano with photos; Amoroso doesn't like a lone photo on the mantel. Instead, photos should be clustered into small groups, whether they are on the mantel, piano, tabletop or wall. Framing and matting: These materials tie together the disparate images. Keeping the style of the house and the decor in mind, the designers recommend that frames be related, though not necessarily identical. "You need to have some continuity," York says. For a "crisp and elegant look," Larette suggests silver frames of various sizes grouped together. York likes to mix up finishes within a category, such as an antique silver frame with one that's more modern. Not recommended: mixing metal and wood frames. As for mats, the designers suggest using the same color or same size around each photo. For Lis and Misha Petkevich, Larette used black frames with ivory mats to finish off photos of the couple and their three children. Larette then evenly spaced them on a wall in their Presidio Terrace family room. Because displays of family photographs are subject to change, the design experts recommend using frames or mats that are readily available. If you've created a wall, leave room so you can expand in the future, York says. Or replace older shots with newer ones."