Things to Consider When Choosing Frames for Your Artwork

Things to Consider When Choosing Frames for Your Artwork

The things we choose to display on the walls in our home are a very important part of our home décor. The artwork and photographs that we carefully choose and frame to hang up in different areas of our home not only show who we are and what’s important to us, but are also an important part of the interior design, adding interesting decorative features.

In this article, we’ll look at some important things to consider when choosing frames for your artwork and photos and also look at the key principles for hanging the frames up on your wall in the best way.

Choosing Frames for Your Artwork

• Frame Colour & Materials

I always choose the colour of the frame first. I think it’s important that the frame suits the artwork or photograph inside, but also complements the furniture and the colours of the room that it will be hung or displayed in. Usually, you can’t go wrong with a classic black photo frame but sometimes a wooden or a white frame works better. If choosing a wooden frame, ensure it goes well with other wooden items in the room. Some pieces of art look great in metallic frames and quirky pieces can handle bold colours too.

• Frame Size & Matting

You can buy frames that are the exact size of the artwork or photo that you’re trying to frame but generally this is only suitable for posters or very large-scale photographs. Regular sized photographs and other artwork look best in frames that are larger and with matting.

This paper frame inside the main frame will simply make whatever you’re framing look even better. White or off-white will be the best mat colour choice for most, but you can create drama with other colours like black if that’s your intention.

• Matching Frames

When hanging several pieces of artwork in the same room, it’s generally a good idea to match the frame styles and colours or at least opt for frames that have something that ties them together style-wise. Artwork that are part of a set look best in the same size and style frames to show that they belong together.

Key Principles for Hanging Your Artwork

Before you put a nail in the wall, make sure you go through the below steps to ensure that the hanging process goes well and that your artwork will look its best hung on the wall.

1. Plan where the picture frame will go. You might want to hold it up in a few different locations in the room to see where it looks the best and check that it’s not in direct sunlight as this will damage the art or photograph with time. Look at the chosen position from sitting down and standing up while someone else holds it for you. This is to avoid hanging it too low or too high.
2. If you’re hanging several frames together, it’s a good idea to draw up the display on your computer to see how they’ll look together and play around with distance between frames, positioning, and other aspects. If you can’t do this on the computer, you can lay the frames out on the floor to play around with this and see what works best. When hanging more than one frame at a time, you don’t have to line everything up. For pictures that are part of a set, it looks great to have them hung at the same height but for a group of pictures, a more irregular hanging pattern can look amazing! Use your own judgement too see what you think looks the best in your space.
3. Once you have chosen where the frames will go, check on the back where they will hang from to see where you need to put the nail to get it in the right position and use a ruler or tape measure to find the measurement. Make a small dot with a pencil on the wall, in the middle of the frame’s top and measure down from there. Then you can get started hanging the picture up in the desired place. You can use a level to check if it’s straight or use your eyes to see if things line up well.

Additional resources: 

• Sporting a classic look? Try out square picture frames for your photos
• DIY decorating tips for stay-at-home mums
• Is custom framing is becoming too expensive? 

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