The Power of Reframing Artwork

During my first project budget meeting with a new client, I show them how the budget number they’ve authorized breaks down into a line by line purchasing list. Somewhere between my saying, “Are you ready to get started?”and“And this last line item in your budget is for accessories and any possible reframing,”my now glassy eyed and sometimes deflated clients look at me like I have 9 heads. I don’t always know if they’re just tired, or if they’ve just decided they hate me – the look is sort of the same. But I usually look up and notice all this right around the time I read out  “Accessories and Possible Reframing” with a projected cost.

Reframe artwork?  Seriously?

Yes, you’d be amazed. Here’s a client’s painting that I felt had great potential, but it was fading inside a lackluster frame.

I knew that with some reframing, the painting could be an important, great looking piece and hold a key position in the soon to be designed foyer.

Here’s the frame I suggested. Its beefy proportion and roughed up texture made it a perfect complement to the folk art feeling and scale of this original painting.

As to the finished result, the frame and painting in total are a great foil to that fabulous mid century modern faux shagreen chest above which the painting sits. Fabulous.

Be warned, well done custom framing is not a low cost option. Go to a pro – the results will be so well worth it. Breathe amazing new life into your artwork by correcting under-proportioned framing or update out-of-date framing. Be willing to go traditional on something modern; go modern on something more traditional. You can even take an inexpensive print and by adding the right frame, achieve amazing results.