On our honeymoon cruise, we attended an art auction. My husband entered a raffle, and he won a picture.
They were going to send it from their warehouse, and they very kindly charged us $30. Ahem. Seems like if you win something, you shouldn’t have to pay for shipping, right?
We decided to go for it. The value of this lithograph is supposedly $500. I don’t believe that, but it is interesting to look at.
The art auction company offered to frame it for us, and charge $200 for that. Whaaat? No thanks. We were fine with paying shipping, but that was just too much to frame a picture we weren’t crazy about.
The picture sat in the closet for awhile.
Yesterday, we were at Goodwill and DH found a rather large frame. There was a picture inside, but we didn’t like it. Still, it was framed nicely and was matted and things. It cost $12.99.
We could have taken it all to Joann Fabrics to have them frame it for us, but DH decided to try it himself first.
The picture fits, but the matting is a little off. You see two strips of white at the top and the bottom. But ya know what? I don’t really care. It looks fine to us.
We could buy a large mat and try to cut it to size, if we want.
Total cost $42.99.
Total it could have cost? In the hundreds.
If you ever decide to go the Joann’s route, make sure you’re signed up for their fliers. Most have something like 40-50% off custom framing. Definitely worth waiting the time between signing up and getting your first flier. Or just sign up now. :)
Digs Magazine had a couple articles on matting and framing.
The one on how to mat pictures yourself
Framing ideas
It’s a good site for budget decorating ideas, even though it hasn’t been updated for awhile since the editor is taking a break after ahvign twins.