Picture Perfect (Black and White Edition)

When it came time to start decorating our "big girl" apartment this year, J and I needed to cover A LOT of wall space (am I right J??) I ended up buying some framed canvases at a local store but then we still had a ton of space to deal with. 

I found two 11x14 frames I had put collages in my sophomore year.  Cute at the time, but sorry friends and family, you're just not making the cut on my living room wall this year.  I had stupidly brilliantly thrown out the mats in the frame so that my beautiful collage could take up all of the space.  So I took a little trek to Michael's and found some double layered mats like this:

I have recently rediscovered my love for black and white photos.  I went back through my pictures and found some amazing (if I do say so myself) shots in Japan and Australia and narrowed it down to two that would work well together.  I printed 8x10 copies and put those and the double layered mats in the frames and voila, white space filled.  For the record, the collages are still behind the pictures so that I can relive high school and my freshman year of college at a moment's notice.

 {Japan}

{Australia}

I did this for my mom's birthday with pictures myself and my twin sister took in Florida where we always go on Spring Break together.  She just loved them, and they're already hanging in our newly renovated laundry room.

I love the personal touch the black and white photos add to different rooms especially when you or someone you know took the pictures.  Often times, I think people forget that their own photographs can look great in their homes so go find your masterpieces and then tell me about them the next time I'm over!!

(Image via one)