We built our home, so our walls were brand new when we moved in. I hung something over our bed three months after we moved in as a surprise for our anniversary, and nothing else for another handful of months. I hated the idea of nail holes in our walls, so I found five ways to display photos in your home without nailing anything to the wall.

Because I just couldn’t.

For years,  I didn’t want to hang anything else. I know you can fix holes with Spackle and paint, but I kept thinking, “These walls are brand new.”

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that last year my parents got me picture frames so I could make a gallery wall in our kitchen. They got me an MDF “yum” sign (I have this one, but it’s not available anymore. The closest I could find is this one).

So, my apprehension about holes has changed. Last November, we hung the gallery wall, six shadow boxes in the living room, and Pete hung a homemade coat holder.

Lots. Of. Holes.

But I still haven’t hung up a ton of photos, so I’m actually still using the tips below.

5 Ways To Display Photos In Your Home (without nailing anything to the wall)

These ways to display photos in your home without nails aren’t in any specific order.

We actually do display photos in our home using all of these various ways because, even though our home is over four years now, I still haven’t covered the walls with holes.

I’ve thought about it, but still haven’t.

1. In frames on tables, shelves, etc.

This is the easiest. Print your favorite photos and put them in nice, decorative frames. Then, strategically put those frames on tables around your home.

We have one on our side table in the living room, but with frames, you’re not limited to tables.

We have a few on our dresser in the bedroom, others on a bookcase in the office and the FROG, and a few in our aforementioned shadow boxes. If you have multiples in the same place, be sure that the frames all match and don’t clash.

But, not like match match. Frames that go together strategically are what you’re really going for, not just a random collection of frames that you’ve found over the years.

2. On the fridge

I only really like to decorate the sides of the fridge. I like keeping the front plain because covering the entire thing feels a little overkill to me. And honestly, it can get really sloppy looking too.

We have a few magnets that we’ve gotten as gifts and then pictures of Pete’s nephews, another of us from my brother’s wedding, and a couple other really important photos. Changing them is as easy as swapping what’s under a magnet.

We also have a few photo magnets that I’ve ordered online that I absolutely love. They look so great on the fridge and aren’t sloppy looking at all.

If you do hang photos on your fridge, be sure to check on them every so often and make sure that they’re straight. They’ll look so much better that way. Opening and closing the fridge door, or even people walking by and bumping the fridge, will cause them to slide and turn. A quick check to straighten them displays the photos so much better.

3. Photo books

The fun part about having a coffee table is having coffee table books. You can put out random books or you could make your own. In order to display more photos, you should definitely make a photo book as a coffee table book.

These photo books do take a lot of time to make, though. My parents, my aunt, and my uncle went to Ireland together. When my mom and aunt sat down to make a photo book of the trip, it took them a solid 11 hours.

Yours might take a little less time, but it will take quite a bit of time to organize your photos, choose the best ones, lay them out, etc. But photo books are so worth the effort.

If you really wanted, you could choose a program that with automatically lay the photos out for you, but you run the risk of them being completely out of order. So I really suggest that you take the time to create the book yourself … even if it does take a whole weekend to do it.

4. As coasters

We have a lot of coasters. Probably more than anyone else I know. We have a ton of throwaway ones from bars, funny ones that Pete has gotten as gifts, and a set of pizza coasters that I got Pete for Easter a few years ago.

We also have photo coasters, which are very cool.

We have them displayed on our coffee and kitchen tables and are able to look at some of our favorite photos all the time.

Some of them are ones that friends have ordered for us as gifts, and some are homemade photo coasters that I’ve made. Actually, I’ve made homemade photo coasters are gifts for quite a few people now and everyone always loves them. So keep that in mind when you need a gift idea.

5. As drinkware

We used to have a mug with all our favorite photos on it. It was our favorite mug until the handle snapped off. Oh, that was a sad day.

That photo mug was something that I had made Pete for Valentine’s Day once upon a time and it just came out better than expected.

I also had made a photo mug for my grandma for the Christmas after we came back from Japan (that’s the one in the main photo of this blog post). She kept it on her desk at all times. It was a great way to see some photos without taking up any wall space.

And, to replace the one that broke, I got Pete the “Best Day Ever” mug with some of our wedding photos on it because really, that was the best day ever. Then, when he’s having his morning coffee, he can relive that fun day.

What are some of your favorite ways to display photos in your home? Be sure to let us know in the comments.