Finding the right frame for your art is one of the most essential parts of buying art for your home or office. What may have looked great when purchasing may look terrible by the time you have it on your wall and leave you disappointed, or worse, wanting to return your art to the supplier.
How can this situation be avoided? Well, it's all about balance...
Whether you are purchasing your art online or from a brick and mortar art store you have to consider not only which wall the art may be going on but also the objects surrounding the area that add elements of color to the wall itself.
Let us examine a possible situation by picturing the following. Lets say we have a white wall, with some dark vertical shelves, a small potted plant in a tan vase and a soft light. Next, we are online ordering our art and find a fantastic piece that is a expansive rolling landscape that we must buy now. Now let's select the frame. First, let's take into consideration the wall. It is very light white and has accents in tan - the vase, green - the potted plant, and black - the shelves. The recommended frame in this situation is something that stands out from the largest amount of color in this area, the wall. We should select a dark frame rather than a light frame. Next, we need to complement these element colors - the vase and the shelves - so that our framed art does not stand out like a sore thumb when mounted on the wall. We complement these colors by choosing a nice dark tan, brown or black color for our frame to really offset these accent items.
You can fine tune the style of the frame by choosing extra trim options. Look at the smaller elements in the room. What colors are you dealing with? Do you have green or blue books on those shelves? Maybe a small collection of ornaments lives on top of the shelves. What kinds of shapes are used in the furniture in the room? Are you seeing a lot of curves or straight edges? Ideally, you want the shape and trim of the frame to reflect these subtle sub-elements in your room.
Next, it is time to choose the mats. Mats are heavy paper inserts that create a more complete look or you can even use an embossed effect to make your art really stand out. In many cases this comes down to personal preference. However, as a general rule of thumb, to create the decorative illusion that the art was designed to be part of the room, you should choose matting that complements the color of the wall but also contrasts with the primary colors in the art itself. You can often use double matting to smooth transitions of color or create virtual blend to soften any vibrant colors in the art itself. Ideally, have the two mats should compliment each other.
As we have seen, with a little forethought about the area you want to place your framed your art within, you can make any art blend into your home with good framing and matting choices. One final tip - if you are purchasing art online or at your local art store, take a picture of the area you are going to hang your art on to compare with your framing options and matting. That way you have an realistic representation of the colors and it will help you remember the exact shades you may be dealing with.
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