The right display area will make photo collections look their best

Decorating with photographs may be the best way for homeowners to personalize their living spaces, but choosing the right place to show them will ensure they make the best impact in a room.

"Small pictures look like visual noise on a wall," Minneapolis interior designer Andrew Flesher told RealSimple.com. "But they can pump up the personality of an otherwise ho-hum table."

The website recommends using frames of the same material or color to give them the look of a unified collection. Keeping the frames at approximately the same size also allows them to be seen as a whole, rather than having one stand out and disrupt the unity of the display.

The idea to avoid hanging photographs on the wall isn't a new decorating rule. "Keep the framed photographs on the writing table, the dressing table, the mantel, but do not hang them on your walls," said the late designer Elsie de Wolfe, author of The House in Good Taste.

For a window treatment that softens the angular look of a photo collection, roman shades are a good choice. They have a softer look that works best in a residential setting. Light-filtering roman shades allow natural light to permeate a room without giving up privacy.