Can someone please explain to me how to set up a file sharing system with two Windows 7 computers?

I live in a house of a family of four. We previously had one single desktop computer, a Windows XP. It had just one user account that was used by all of us (we didn't use the user accounts feature, though it was there; we simply had ONE desktop which we all used).

That computer has since crashed, and we're now in the process of replacing it with two Windows 7 laptops. We decided to take use of the user accounts feature this time. So now, each member of the family has their own account / desktop. This is the case for both computers, meaning that each laptop has four accounts for each person in the family (I've set them up so they behave identically regarding the user accounts).

We are having transitional problems, though; going from using one universal account / desktop to two computers, four accounts on each (8 total user accounts between both computers). On the old computer, all of our files were stored in one location. Everyone's stuff was in the "My Documents" folder. Now, we're dividing up the files that were in that one location, and dispersing them to the correct user accounts on the new computers.

The problem is occurring when I have files that I would like shared - files that anyone on any account on either computer can retrieve. For example, our pictures. On the old computer they were all in the "My pictures" folder. Now, with all these new accounts for each person, I can't figure out how to configure it so that the pictures can be in a shared location accessible by all accounts (from both computers).

I've been working for quite a while today trying to set up a homegroup, but I have absolutely no clue how the "homegroup" feature works. It seems like each computer has different information within the homegroup area. I've gotten one set up, but the information displayed by each computer is inconsistent.

All I want is to have a simple, easy-to-access place within the file storage area to put our pictures & other files we want shared, and be able to access that location easily from the other accounts of both computers. Everything I've tried today seems far to confounding for practical, daily use.

Yet I'm sure that plenty of other people with Windows 7 computers have quickly accomplished the very thing I'm struggling with. With all these getting started tutorials the system offers, they seem to be emphasizing "how easy it is to share files & information with other people in your group". I just can't seem to figure out how to do that. What should I be doing??