This post is sponsored by Pixo but all views are my own.
Most living rooms have an “elephant in the room.” You know the one: the difficult-to-design-around “big black box.” A necessary evil for daily entertainment but, when not in use, a decorating eyesore and a visual interruption to an otherwise thoughtfully-designed space.
I’ve taken great care to fill the adjacent shelves with interesting objet d’art, propagated pothos from my mom’s plants she had in college, and two very small photos of my mom and I visiting the World Trade Center in 1999. Aside from these, Josh and I don’t care to display large family photographs on our living room walls, despite having an abundance of space available on our 20 feet tall walls. Even if we did, the task of selecting just 1 or 2 or 5 photos to frame and hang is daunting and doesn’t begin to scratch the surface on decades of family memories, concerts, trips, parties, and moments big and small. We’ve printed family photo albums, but they end up dust collectors high on a bookshelf. The photos are never truly cherished or as powerfully dynamic as they were the moment they were captured.
What if I could turn our “big black box” into a beautiful piece of art, personalize our spaces, and solve two problems at once: fill the void of a dark TV with beautiful, personal memories, and have an accessible way to view the thousands of photos living on my phone? But – wait for it – ALSO invite those with whom we’ve created these memories to enjoy in the observation of cherished memories – from their own black box, anywhere in the world? The icing on the cake is sharing the moments that end up in phone or cloud album purgatory, so that they’re given a new life and a way to live on… to be reflected upon, to bring comfort, to jog a memory, to bring us all closer, to inspire creating new memories together again in the future. Enter my newest obsession: Pixo.
My mom and dad live in Washington State, and while we do see each other throughout the year, we don’t get to share all of the day-to-day, regular moments like soccer games, tae kwon do, regatta races, orchestra concerts, home improvements, disastrous DIYs and the (mis)adventures Josh and I experience as new homeowners. We send a lot of photos back and forth – some are saved, some are not. All are small and relegated to the postage stamp sized, iPhone view. None are on display.
With Pixo, I can organize my camera roll into curated albums. I like to do this by theme (kids sports, home improvements, weekend fun, cooking, hosting) – to make sharing with my mom and dad a breeze. If it’s easy and super convenient for me, I’ll share more moments, more often and they can have it on in the background in their basement whenever they want, or sit down and look through whichever album they’d like, at their own leisure. My sisters and brother and their families all live near my parents, too, so it’s also a great opportunity when they all get together to peep into our Pixo albums and see what we’re up to down here in Texas! What’s incredible to me, also, is that Pixo app memberships start as low as $1.49/month!
Last summer, Josh and the kids and I took a family roadtrip and picked up my mom, who had flown into Flagstaff and we stayed at the stunning and historical El Tovar hotel. We hiked down in to the Grand Canyon and then carried on to Santa Fe, NM for two more nights before driving all the way back down to North Texas. All with my mom! There’s no better roadtripper – or trooper – than my mom with my family of four on an early July, Lampoon’s worthy adventure. It was an incredible, beautiful six days. A thousand photos were taken. One was printed into a Christmas card. Until Pixo, the rest still lived on our phones, but are now viewable on our TVs, shared with my mom for my dad to also enjoy. And the happiest, most memorable alternative to the sad black box that is my boring television.
The cool thing about Pixo, aside from the on-demand, visual check-in or opportunity to display family photographs as art directly onto a large format like the living room TV, is we can make it as interactive as want! We can FaceTime with my parents and display the same albums on our TV in Texas and their TV in Washington and talk and share and laugh about the photos! They can ask Magnus about the electric soccer moment when he scored the winning goal, or when his team took the Championships for the third season in a row. Max can share about the finish line shot of his most recent 8-man Varsity boat PR. We can all laugh together about the photo of black paint raining from the ceiling in our exercise room when my paint sprayer caught on fire. The result is a shared feeling of emotional connection, and the gorgeous display of beautiful photos on our TVs – whether giving these photos full attention, gathering (virtually) and laughing, or simply having the photos on the TV just as they would hang on the wall while more regular, day-to-day memories are coming to life in the background.
And I’ll grab my camera and capture those, too. And upload them to my Pixo album. “Mom will not believe how bananas these pothos are growing.” “Dad needs to see Magnus’ new running shoes!” “Recipe alert! Look what we made for dinner!” Tap, tap, tap. Upload. Share.
Installing the Pixo App on my phone and on our TV was a simple, 3-step process. Once I created my first album, I tapped “share” and entered my mom’s phone number under “text.” You can also email the share notification! She received a text with a link to the album, which lead her to downloading and installing the app onto her phone. All you have to do next is follow the prompts in the app to download the app to your smart TV and then pair the devices by entering the code you are given. The install was fast and simple and now officially our new favorite – brilliant – way to share photos as art with my parents. Remember, life happens on Tuesday evenings or Saturday mornings – every day can’t be New Year’s Eve. It’s the regular moments that are the moments we all love to live, and share. It doesn’t always have to be extravagant vacations and Michelin Star meals.
But when we’re lucky enough to experience the once-in-a-lifetime, momentous occasions – you’d better believe we want to put those moments on our Pixo and reflect on them, too! Especially when they’re professional, glitzy photos of Josh and my vow renewal in Playa Mujeres, Mexico in 2019. We tied the “double knot” on the beach with 30 of our closest friends and family present during a celestial and bohemian themed, eclectic ceremony officiated by our childhood friend. Toasts were made, tears were shed, and we laughed, drank, and danced on a clear dancefloor at the waters edge. There were white jacket tuxedos, crisp button up dress shirts and romantic linen trousers wore by the most handsome men in our lives. There were gauzy skirts, exotic floral halter dresses and shimmering tops wore by my most beautiful girlfriends. We paid two photographers quite a sum of money for six hours, resulting in over 1,000 photographs of the most beautiful day of my life. I can now display them on our TV whenever I want and share this album with anyone who was there with us that day – even though we’re all scattered around the country. It’s amazing how one album on my phone can unite us all and transport us back to the happiest day in our universe.
In addition to sharing my own photos, the Pixo app also has a community section of suggested channels and categories that I can display. Everything from celebrity channels with photos of Betty White, to traveling categories like The Big Easy… there are even seasonal categories with multiple subcategories. For example, New Year’s Eve photos of sparklers and fireworks, Christmas photos, New York City during the Holidays, cookies, Spring holidays and landscapes, Fall and Summer. My favorite is the Art category, sorted by genre and medium. But the sky is the limit and there’s a category for everyone. Fashion, flowers and food – check, check, check.
If you haven’t left me yet to go download the Pixo app – go do that now. I’ll wait. Click here for App Store and here for the Play store. Don’t forget the very best part of your new way to view all the amazing photos of your most cherished moments: invite your friends and family – especially those who have created these moments with you! Girls trip: unite! Destination wedding: begin sharing! Graduation weekend: cue it up!
Pixo has given me a special trial offer and discount code to share with you! Enjoy a One Month Free Trial using code LINDSAY1 (for one TV) Or LINDSAY3 (to display on 3 TVs.) And just a reminder: the Pixo app memberships start as low as $1.49/month! Click here!
Get ready to explore all the features of this app covering everything from single photo display, album sharing and art and landscape photography from the talented Pixo community!
Say bye-bye to your boring, big, black box – and hello to beautiful, inspiring, captivating memories displayed in your living room!
