I should have leaned the print against the file cabinet when I got it and kept it like that for a few days instead of having it flat on the cabinet waiting for my friend to come back from vacation to hang the print.

I LOVE the print so much with the vibrant colors and that beautiful Japanese tree that I knew I would love after my neighbors planted a dwarf version of one. I love the 1.5" Sovia frame, I love the black suede inner skinny 1/4" mat, I love the museum quality glass BUT now I see I wish I went with a white mat that was only 2" wide rather than a 2.375" wide Off-White Linen Mat. I love the texture of the mat and the way it looks when I stand in front of it but when I am at my desk and looking at it without being right on top of it, at night it is so creamy and I wish it was whiter. I will live with it for a few more days and then decide if I want to exchange it for the less wide mat that is whiter or live with it since it is still very pretty. Maybe I need to get used to it since I had excepted it to be whiter. The art.com and allposters.com viewer is now making it more off-white. Before when I ordered the print it looked as white as the white to my eyes but with more texture.

Michael's framing store kept pushing me to go creamier than I even went when I bought the print framed at Art.com. I had planned to go with a white mat. Art.com salespeople were pushing me to go darker. No one told me I could make the mat slimmer.

This is a learning process for me. I still love the picture as it is so if I did not change it, I would still be happy since I love the texture of the linen white mat and how the picture looks standing right in front of it. I just wonder if I would be happier with the small changes or would I miss the texture of the mat? I wish they had a white textured mat.

Any opinions from looking at the pictures?

Very nice, Lynn. I can see that would be lovely in your beige office to bring some color to the space, yet it has a serene feeling despite the strong color. It is fine that the mat doesn't match your wall - the mat should work with the art, not the wall color.

Les917, thank you so much! As soon as I saw the print, I knew it was the one I was looking for since I agree with you that it adds some color to my space but also has a serene feeling. I love the frame. My neighbors were pushing me to go wider but I fell in love with this 1.5" wide Sovia frame and I feel it is perfect for the picture with the little bit of added design to the sides and not too wide.

I just wish I made the mat slightly slimmer but I did not know I could do that. Do you like the width of the mat and color the way it is?

It took me all these years to finally take a chance to put a picture on the wall. I guess I fear I will make a mistake. I love the picture so much and that is how I then looked for a Japanese Garden print for the family room since none of the autumn tree prints had the red I wanted in them.

Les, did you look at my Japanese Garden print in my prior post that has many trees in it with red, orange, yellow and three shades of green since I am still trying to figure out what I should do but I do love the Gazebo, the pond with reflections and the bridge. I have the print here. Art.com will frame it for me and pay return postage for the print or I can go to the local guy but he is more money.

I actually like the wider mat better -- there is not enough variation between the 2" mat and the 1.5" frame for me -- it gets to look kind of "pattern-y" because the widths are so close together. With the wider mat, the mat stands out on it's own and has a better proportion vs. the frame. I can't judge about the color because on my monitor the off white and the white mats don't really look much different. But I defintiely think that proportion-wise, the wider mat is the better choice.

I just read your second post - we must have cross-posted.

No,the wider mat is perfect. The thinner ones look too skimpy for the size of the frame.

Also, the warmer color of the off-white mat works with the golden tones on the tree in the center of the pix. White matting would be too stark, like you bought any old mat and frame and then just stuck the pix in it.

Thank you Lkplatow and Les917 for your opinions! I started to question myself tonight. You are both making me feel better. I still LOVE the print, frame, inner mat and I guess maybe you are both right that the width of the mat is nice and maybe the creamy color was just a shock to me since I expected it to be whiter. My friend came back from vacation and before he hangs it, he wanted me to lean it against the wall for a few days. He loves it just like it is and felt I did a great job choosing the print on my own and only asking for opinions on the frame. No one likes the Sovia Frame but I did not like the plainer wider frame so I went with my instinct and it was right for me. I guess I expected the frame to be whiter but the linen texture is so rich looking in person and the museum quality glass makes the $35 print look so expensive and beautiful.

It's a beautiful print, and I think you made great choices for the framing.

I agree with Les that the white matting would be too stark. I have some framed photos with bright-white mats, and they really are just too bright. Some other pieces of my framed photos have off-whites, and they just seem to be calmer to the eye.

I also like to have a slightly wider mat than what "traditional" proportions would give you-- it gives the piece of art more heft, something to carry the wall space a bit more.

And I love the black grooved frame--I have something similar on a large framed serigraph; my framer calls it the "LP" frame because it reminds her of a 33-and-a-third record album!

I meant my three neighbors who I only asked about the frame (I chose the picture and was in love and the way I framed it so I never asked opinions about that) since I was at first going to go with a skinnier 1.25" frame but they all talked me into a wider 2" frame that I did not like that much. I ordered it and then called to see if I could still change the order to the Sovia 1.5" wide frame that I had not seen at first and did not realize I had a choice of. Before I changed it, I asked my neighbors and they felt the 2" frame was better. I love the Sovia's stepped up pattern on the side and I feel the 1.5" width is perfect for my home office since my licenses are on .75" wide and 1.125" wide black frames. The print is even prettier in person! I love it! One day I want a Japanese Maple tree in my yard but it would have to be a dwarf tree since I live in a townhouse.

Pammyfay, thank you so much for your opinion and making me feel better about my choices since I have never chosen matting and frames before. I love the Sovia frame and I am glad I went with my instinct. It is so pretty in person with the black grooves on the sides adding some style to the frame without it being too busy for the print. When I opened the package, I was so in love with the picture the way it was.

But tonight seeing it lean on the wall and I guess the linen off-white mat picked up the creamier wall color (BM Bone white I have on the walls which is a few shades darker than the picture's linen off-white frame and the lighting is fluorescent modern lamps with no natural light at night.

But standing in front of the picture has me in awe of the beauty of the print and the texture of the linen mat and the texture of the suede inner mat. I love the design I chose but I guess I pictured the mat looking less creamy.

So glad you also love the black grooved frame and you could tell by the picture I posted. :) Thanks for letting me know you have a similar frame that sounds beautiful.

After taking a day off from the picture obsession, I am seeing now that if I knew I could make the mat less wide, I would have chosen the 2" wide linen off-white matting for this beautiful Japanese tree and not the 2.375" matting and not the 1.5" matting. But the picture is here and beautiful and I am not sure if it is worth paying shipping back and reordering it to be more to my liking since I feel it is more balanced to my eyes with the 2" mat. Seeing the 1.5" mat, I see now that is definitely too slim. I love the picture and at least I also now love the linen off-white mat also and if I keep it as is with the 2.375" outer off-white mat and the 1/4" inner suede mat, I will still enjoy the beauty and the added color in my home office but I wish I knew that I could adjust the mat widths.

Tonight I am so happy with the picture just the way it is thanks to everyone on this site that has helped me either within this post or posting pictures of their own. Anyone that visited today has told me how beautiful the picture is and how nice it looks in my office and to now just hang it.

The photo is perfect as it is. I wouldn't go with a smaller mat since that will make it feel unbalanced. Any smaller and the mat will start to look like a thin frame within a frame.

Love the photo!

Thank you so much annz! Your opinion means a lot to me and thanks again for that great site to post pictures to!

I am so happy tonight with everything about the picture. I love the combination of vibrant colors but a peaceful scene. Thank you so much and everyone for being there for me. I am ready to hang the picture as soon as someone helps me since I hurt my thumb and elbow so I do not want to drop the picture.

It looks lovely. And I agree about the wider mat. It should not be too close in size to the frame and will help give the art more presence on the wall. I, too, was surprised how much bigger I needed to go in frame size in order to properly mat a print. Since, I DIY'ed all mine, I would often order multisizes of frames until I got that point; otherwise, my prints would look lost on the wall.

I also love Japanese maples and planted my 3rd tree this past spring on my property. If you have a window in your office, it would look lovely to plant one in view. I love to repeat a theme in 2D and 3D.

Thanks again valinsv for your valuable input.

When planting happens in my community, I will see if they allow me to plant a Japanese Maple like my neighbor did since I just love the coloring of the tree so much. Your property must be beautiful to have three of these gorgeous trees.

Before I even read your post, I looked at the pics and liked the widest mat the best.

Thank you sashasmommy since that is the mat I bought and I guess I started to question myself when one of the salesgirls told me I could have reduced the width of the mat. I am now happy with the linen off-white color and the width of the mat that I have ordered thanks to all of you! I have 30 days to exchange the picture but I will leave it as it is. I really appreciate your opinion.