Photo Wall Beginnings

Another project for The Room is a photo wall – a great way to involve Layla in people recognition and name identification; but also a great, 3-dimensional artwork, that adds more color to the decor. I bought a bunch of cheap wooden frames from Ikea – they aren’t very finished looking, but inexpensive and because I am altering them anyway, it the aesthetic nature of the “before” doesn’t matter. I actually like that the “glass” is actually a piece of plastic for her room as I don’t have to worry about them being a safety hazard. These will be velcroed to the wall next to her bed as a place of Reflection and a reminder of all the wonderful people in her life and all of the amazing things she has done so far.
With a little color-coordinating scrapbook paper and some Mod Podge, I cut, pasted, and glazed these little wooden frames.


I printed photos of family members and photos of things Layla has done. I recently read a study which indicated that when we look at a photograph of a happy time our brains actually elicit the same happiness in response to the picture as they did while we were in it. With this in mind, there are plenty of happy faces – reminders of the things we’ve done together – and the fun times we’ve shared. I also tried to vary the “wheres” and objects within the pictures so we could also play “Can you find…” in the pictures…another interactive component and great conversation starter.

Some of the frames will be “empty” with a piece of velcro inside so that I may put her artwork inside and we can switch them out.

This is where the photos will go on her wall….the trick is trying to figure out the velcro matrix so that the frames will fit in a structured, aesthetic way, and still be interchangeable. More post to come on this project…