Great post, delsimcox! Lots of good info there! Thanks! Oh, welcome to NR! Post more often!

Have you checked out the frame selection at Kohl's? I have discovered a treasure trove of handsome eco-friendly wood frames with glass and neutral matte board for very reasonable prices. The ones I like are manufactured by Fetco, and are often on a buy one, get one free offer. Add to that a 15% to 30% coupon that you can get if you have a Kohl's card and you're in business. The net cost of a matted frame to hold an 8X10 is about $15 and a frame to hold an 11X14 print is $25 with the discounts. There are many other sizes and configurations, and my store keeps a good stock so you can purchase multiple frames that match.

I have a matte cutter and some framing supplies, but these are better looking and a lot less expensive. Buying frame stock is very costly! I did purchase some PerfectMount adhesive mounting board to mount the photos before putting them in the frame - that way they stay flat. I purchase this from Jerrys Artarama (on-line). I also broke out the glass supplied with these frames, and replaced it with non-glare acrylic (Cyro FFP-99) which you can purchase from an acrylic supplier locally (and cut yourself quite easily by scoring and breaking) - or you can purchase it pre-cut on-line. It really is worth the extra effort to have the print viewable from any angle without those annoying reflections.

I print digital photos on my Canon Pro 9000 MkII up to 13X19 on Red River Ultra-Pro Satin paper (*Link Removed*) using their profiles and the results are really good.

Well, there's a bunch of links in the Luminous Landscape matting article for companies that offer mats in custom sizes:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/matting.shtml

I've never tried any of them, and I don't know if they are still around though.

jerl said:
What I do when I want a low cost (but still reasonable) solution is to buy a cheap frame with a pre-cut mat from Walmart/Ikea/etc.. and just mount the image in that. Of course, you have be careful about what frame you pick- ideally you want something that simple looking, but not cheap looking. The other thing you have to watch out for is that you can only get "standard" sizes for precut mats, so if your picture doesn't have a 5:4 (for an 8x10, 11x14, 16x20) aspect ratio, you will have to crop.

Cutting your own mats is a good solution to this (I'm starting to get into this), but it will take some practice to do a good job (so be prepared to spend some time on this). Making your own frames is also a good low-cost solution, but takes even more patience to do well, especially if you're not already familiar with wood working tools and finishing. I'd avoid custom framing- it is far too expensive.

Of course, going with a frameless solution as others have suggested is probably the least work of all.

Yes, I get your point. I was off on this mission about around 2005. The plan was to buy inexpensive manufactured frames (e.g., Aaron Bros, Ikea, Michael's, etc.) and custom-cut my own mattes. Mainly because the problem was that Aaron Bros. tended to carry very little stock in "plain white" pre-cut mattes in standard "photographic" dimensions (11" x 14" and 16" x 20" sizes). I also had the added problem of shooting in non-standard aspect ratios (1.78:1 or 1:85:1).

I started to buy some rotary cutting boards and graphic arts supplies (some of which I already had), but then of course, I got distracted and gave up. Now, I no longer have a dedicated "matte-cutting" work space, so I'm back to square one again. I'll probably go the black Foamcore and canvas print route. Until we finish remodeling, I can't hang any artwork up yet anyway.

But certainly, if anyone finds an inexpensive supplier for pre-cut photographic mattes, online or retail, I'm all ears!

Just on a side note, you might want to give the 11X14 size a big consideration because I have always been impressed with its size when hanging it up. Its not too big nor too small. I have a shop who prints to these dimensions for around $5 then the matting and framing gets hand made at another shop for just $35 to $50. Each frame is made from scratch as well. I'd shop around for prices and consider the kits you can buy mentioned on here by others.

1. Turn photo over.
2. Lick the back vigorously.
3. Slap photo onto wall, making sure to give the corners a good whack so they don't curl.
4. Repeat.

Of course, you're going to want to keep a pitcher of water onhand, since with that many photos, you're likely to end up with cottonmouth otherwise.

We often take one print, one magnet and stick it to the kitchen wall. The whole wall is covered with floor to ceiling pictures and mementos from over the years.

I buy cheap (but nice) frames from Ikea. They're the best Quality/Cost ratio for standard sizes

Foam boards are neat but very expensive here in France. I'm sure US prices are a lot better.

What I do when I want a low cost (but still reasonable) solution is to buy a cheap frame with a pre-cut mat from Walmart/Ikea/etc.. and just mount the image in that. Of course, you have be careful about what frame you pick- ideally you want something that simple looking, but not cheap looking. The other thing you have to watch out for is that you can only get "standard" sizes for precut mats, so if your picture doesn't have a 5:4 (for an 8x10, 11x14, 16x20) aspect ratio, you will have to crop.

Cutting your own mats is a good solution to this (I'm starting to get into this), but it will take some practice to do a good job (so be prepared to spend some time on this). Making your own frames is also a good low-cost solution, but takes even more patience to do well, especially if you're not already familiar with wood working tools and finishing. I'd avoid custom framing- it is far too expensive.

Of course, going with a frameless solution as others have suggested is probably the least work of all.

Great idea, tcole! My mom bought two rather large black-and-white photographs printed on canvas, and they are stunning. Been meaning to try that with some of my own images.

Your local camera shop can probably do the foam ones if you wanted, but didn't want to do them yourself. I saw some at the local place and they seemed pretty neat and I think they even put a hanger on the back of them. They are light weight so you don't have to worry about large nails or anything for them. My wife's friend ordered prints on canvas (just the print) and then mounted them herself on the wood. I think they turned out to be like $20 or so a picture instead of $100+ they usually cost. It would take some skill though to get them to look nice.

I usually get frames at Michel's or similar store. They have coupons sometimes for 50% off an item and things are usually on sale anyway.

It also depends on the pictures and style you are looking for.

go for economic version and buy a double sided tape :)

Drab said:
So no frame, no glass, just velcro on the blocks and foamcore and the blocks on the wall?

Neat idea, and likely just up the OP's alley. Makes me wish wish I lived in a more modern styled home.

Ha! Yes! No frame. No glass. It's how we used to mount graphics at trade shows when I was a marketing manager at a high-tech firm. It's clean, neat, and, yes, very modern.

Drab said:
I don't even want to get into the lengths I had to go to hide the TV, much less the speakers!

Funny, Drab! All of our speakers and components are fully "exposed," and an integral part of the interior's "design." I spent most of the xmas break drilling holes through concrete block to hide the speaker cable for these:

The surround system in the bedroom (not shown), are all in-wall JBLs, with grilles painted the same color as the walls.

So no frame, no glass, just velcro on the blocks and foamcore and the blocks on the wall?

Neat idea, and likely just up the OP's alley. Makes me wish wish I lived in a more modern styled home. I think the wife would get upset if I did that in our Antebellum home. I don't even want to get into the lengths I had to go to hide the TV, much less the speakers!

Maybe the mistress would let me get away with that in my office. ;)

Haven't gone the custom-frame-at-home route yet (although I once was planning to have a whole room dedicated to matting and framing). I typically do either of the following:

1. I often buy a bunch of frames and pre-cut mattes during Aaron Bros.' one-cent sale, and mount the prints into the mattes at home, using acid-free adhesive tape to affix the prints to the mattes.

2. I also like having prints mounted on black Foamcore (I use a commercial service bureau, Adage Graphics, in Los Angeles; but Kinko's probably offers this service as well). I mount the Foamcore to the wall using 1" x 1" wood blocks (horizontally), and attach adhesive-backed, 3/4" Velcro hooks onto the back of the Foamcore, then attach adhesive-backed Velcro loops to the 1" x 1" blocks, and voila! Easy to level; easy to change.

For a one-time cost of ~$200 you can purchase a mat cutter, a glass cutter, a miter saw, and a framing strap / clamp.

The framing strap isn't needed per se, but makes bradding the corners much easier IMHO.

From then on the only cost is raw materials and time.

Outside that, framing wise, the sky is the limit, in terms of style (matted vs unmatted), cost, frame (or lack thereof) and general mount.

Hey guys,

Did a search on the forum and, apparently, this question hasn't been discussed yet, so here it goes:

What do you guys suggest to hang print outs on the wall?

I have a series (some 10 or so) 8x10 print outs of photos I took over time, and wanted to do a nice display on the wall. However, I'd love if I could make it look good but, at the same time, not cost hundreds of bucks.

Would love to get the input of those who have done something similar with their own photos!

Thanks,
Danny.