A common question when designing groupings of pictures is, “should the framing all be the same?” The answer I give is that it is a matter of personal aesthetics. I don’t think that it needs to be all the same, but I do like a common element to tie them all together. For instance using a white mat in all of the art, or having all black and white photography. So it all depends on what appeals to each persons eye. The grouping examples bellow all show varying styles.

These are not all the same, and hung more in a parlor style.

These groupings are all the same framing.

We get requests to frame sports items from time to time, it is also one of the most common phone calls for a price quote. Most often it is a team jersey to be put in a shadowbox. The cost for this can vary greatly depending mostly on how big the overall size is, what frame is picked, and the mat or mats chosen for the design. We have done small t-shirts from around $100 to large pieces around $600(and higher). On average the price for a standard jersey, like the one pictured bellow is around $300(without the special mat cuts), with the special mat cuts around $400.
Other sports items we have framed include (but are not limited to) golf clubs, golf balls, baseball bats, baseballs, banners, pieces of running tracks, and fishing lures.

My husband and I love this artist, David Hale. You can check out his wonderful art here. We recently bought this print from him and I framed it up for my husbands Christmas present. I used Guinea hen feathers around the image and a black mat as the inlay. I am in love with the unique and custom look it gave the piece.

I am always looking for new ways to display framed art. I noticed in the recent Pottery barn catalog this picture with the same finish frames all hung in a row with the sides touching. I love this idea! It creates an architectural feel in the room. This would make a great accent wall in a room. Or two rows of sepia toned family photos in a hall would look great especially if the top row had the bottoms of the frames lined up and the bottom row had the tops lined up. I might have to give that a try in my hallway at home. I will post pictures when its done to show how it worked out.

I try to get all of the furniture catalogs and home decorating magazines that I can to stay up to date on color and style trends. Recently I have noticed a lot of places are leaning their pictures against walls and book shelves. Like this one I saw in a Pottery Barn catalog recently. It is a very informal look, especially when paired with interesting objects.

This is great for weddings and anniversaries. This was done by using old photos of the couple grouped on either side and combining them with the ampersand. Great on guest book tables and makes a great keepsake for the couple.

A customer brought in the beginning of their business plan which was written on a bunch of pieces of napkins. I was not sure what to do with this at first, so I asked her to leave it with me for a few days. I emailed a few ideas to her using our visualization software. We decided to cut the companies logo out of the mat and then varying the heights of the pieces of napkins, to add some interest. It was a fun project.

I recently framed an invitation for a friends wedding. The invitation was a really sweet pair of love birds with leaves on the outside. I decided to use a fabric wrapped mat with the leaves and branch pattern on the mat so the pattern was raised. I thought it turned out pretty good.

This is the closeup of the pattern.

this is the end result.