Beautiful, high-quality matted picture frames are quite possibly the simplest and most powerful way to elevate your art. Whether it’s a treasured family photo, a vintage poster, a one-of-a-kind print, your child’s artwork, or even a postcard or hand-written letter, the right frame will transform it from that piece you like to that piece you love and want to display.

Quick Tips for Selecting Picture Frames with Mats

When you order custom picture frames online, you want to be thoughtful not just about the size frame you select for your piece, but also about the frame’s color, shape, and width. Each of these aspects will play an important role in enhancing your art for hanging.

Color

Wood, black, white, or metallic finish will always provide a solid foundation from which to frame any piece of art.

  • Wood - as a natural material, wood feels warm and uncomplicated. Its array of light to dark shades also makes it appropriate for a range of home decor styles from rustic to modern to country and everything in between. When choosing the right type and shade of wood for your frame, note the overall tone and coloration of your art as well as the undertones of the room you will hang it in.
  • Black and white - it’s hard to achieve a more classic presentation of your art than with black and white frames. These hues don’t just make for clean lines and a modern feel; they also help to accentuate your art and highlight small details and patterns in it. White leans toward a more casual, bright look while black adds contrast, elegance, and consistency (especially when utilized in a gallery wall setting).
  • Gold and silver - a metallic finish has a dynamic way of lending both a modern and vintage feeling to a piece. Because of its sheen and shimmer, you don’t want to go too wide with a gold or silver frame, however, feel free to try it out on striking pieces like black and white photos, landscapes, and vintage prints and keepsakes. The shine of a metallic finish will naturally draw out the vibrancy in your art and help it pop.

Shape

Different shapes add texture and dimension to your framed artwork helping to make the overall look more compelling.

A flat frame, for example, feels neat, precise, and uncluttered while a beveled frame can add style, softness, and formality to a piece. Depending on the scale and visual strength of the subjects in your piece, you might want to play with different frame shapes and edges.

Width

A few rules of thumb apply to choosing the width of your frame. When in doubt, make sure your mat is at least double the width of your frame. This time-honored standard offers an appropriate ratio of image to mat to frame that is both familiar and pleasing to the eye.

You can, however, add more artistry and drama to your art by playing around with the size of your mats for picture frames. For example, an extra-wide mat combined with a thin picture frame can help a smaller image make a big impact.

Keep It Simple and Make It Yours

Use our picture frame website tools above to mix-and-match colors, shapes, and widths to choose the ideal mail order picture frames for your special pieces. Remember, you want your art to feel balanced with its frame, not dominated by it. Instead of trying to make an exact color match between a frame and the shades in your artwork, turn your attention towards the tone of your piece (warm or cool), the feel of it (formal or casual), and the decor of the space in which it will live.

Ultimately, if it looks and feels good to you, that’s all you need! The perfect frame will simply need to bring a smile to your face every time you glimpse your art on display.