With Hari Raya just around the corner, there is already an air of festivity surrounding us. Befalling after a month of fasting in Ramadan, Hari Raya has to be one of the most awaited holidays in Malaysia as families plan their balik kampung trips and open houses to welcome their extended family members and friends.

Promising a steady stream of guests throughout the festive season, Raya is also the time to spruce up your homes with chic décor that will leave your guests dazzled with your designing skills. This coming Raya, why not add a special sense of celebration to your home with a DIY photo collage that will not only amp up your home décor but will also get the entire family together for a creative household project. Encapsulating your precious memories, a photo collage is a great way to share your families’ bond with guests and to keep them amused with interesting anecdotes throughout dinner time.

If you are looking to DIY your own photo collage, here are some tips and tricks to creating one that will not fail to impress your family and guests.

1. Choose the correct wall

Before you start pulling out pictures from old photobooks and set your printer to a printing frenzy, take some time to select a space where you want to display your photo collage. Give special consideration to accessibility and look for a spot that has good lighting, so your pictures are always well lit and bright. Locations like the alcove under the stairs or the space above the sofa in your living room make a perfect location for a photo gallery.

2. Pick a theme that resonates best with your family personality

You want your collage to have its own character and tell a story that best fits you and your family. To get the story flowing, ask your family members what you are most passionate about. Do you enjoy travelling, cooking, art or camping? For example, if you are the family that enjoys cooking, gather pictures from family barbecues and unique recipes that you have created together.  That way your photo collage will immediately tell a story with its unique presentation.

3. Always create a mock layout before you get handsy

If you’ve never created a DIY photocollage before, this tip will prove to be extremely handy. Before you hang your frames on the wall, take a piece of paper and design a layout that you would like to see. Keeping this design as your prima donna, start laying out the frames on the floor just below the wall reserved for your collage. This way you will be able to visualize how exactly your photocollage looks within the confines of the space on the wall.

4. Use paper cutouts or cardboard squares to plot the collage on the wall

Translating your photo collage from the floor to the wall often proves to be quite a challenge. However, you can expediate this step with a simple trick that only requires a measuring tape and some paper or cardboard. With the help of a measuring tape, measure the exact dimension of your frames onto paper or cardboard and trim them accordingly. As you trim one frame after another, mark the cutouts numerically and start placing them on the wall with the help of a masking tape. At the end of this exercise, you will be able to visualise how exactly your photocollage will look when finished.

5. Unleash your creativity with Command™ Picture Hanging Strips

If you enjoy being creative and shaking things up once in a while, here’s a golden tip for you. Use Command™ Picture Hanging Strips to create a collage that you can move around anytime. Easy to use and requiring no drilling, Command™ Picture Hanging Strips can hold photo frames up to 7.4kgs in weight and remove cleanly without damaging your walls, so you can unleash your hidden creative and move your frames around as you desire. You can even add more frames to your photo collage with these damage free picture hanging strips and surprise your family members and guests with a new look every time they visit you this festive season.

(PS: Follow the instructions written on the back of the Command™ Picture Hanging Strips pack to ensure best results.)

6. Pick similar frames to help achieve a consistent look

While you want your photo collage to have its own personality, you also want the overall look to be aesthetically pleasing. If your photo collage is inspired by nature or objects, pick identical frames to create a symmetrical collage that will give an almost gallery impression to your picture collection. The same rule applies for black and white pictures or if you are going for a minimalistic look. On the other hand, for people, centric images pick similar frames in different dimensions to create a cosy look.

7. Experiment with different layout styles

For a photo collage that stands out from the rest, feel free to experiment with different layouts until you find one that suits your home. You could go for a Rubik’s cube layout, a cloud pattern or even create your own chaos layout. Either way, you can use Command™ Picture Hanging Strips to experiment with different styles and patterns. The ease of use and fast application of Command™ Picture Hanging Strips will let those creative juices flow as you get busy with your DIY photocollage this festive season.

8. Get creative with wall art

Give character to your photo collage with decorative wall art pieces that will add more panache and style to your photo collection. For example, add a couple of hanging plants or use fairy lights to frame the collection and give it more visual appeal. Another tip is using a jazzy frame with wood or rustic metal and aligning your images around it or placing a low table right below the photo wall and adding some glitter candles, a table light, a couple of hardbound books and some greens to frame your collage.

9. Add wallpaper for contrast and texture

Adding a layer of wallpaper before your start framing your photo collage will help you to cover any leaking paint or tiny cracks that you are able to spot on your wall. With so many wallpaper options available in the market, you can choose one that would be in sync with your layout. From singular colours to pastel shades or from simple patterns to florals, adding a wallpaper is a way to give some texture to your photo wall.