One of the reasons that white mats are used so frequently is that it does not detract from the photo as does a colored mat. It also allows a more accurate representation of the colors in the picture/photo. That said, I do think there are many shades of white to chose from. I most often select more of a creamy, antique white than the stark pure white that you typically see in the premade mats. I agree, the grey only detracts from the photo. I could possibly see a warm red, matching the red in the fireworks if the white color family doesn't interest you.

Hi, Val, just thought I'd show you the botanicals I've framed, just to give you more ideas, but it sounds like you have it almost all figured out. I have enjoyed watching your room come alive! I got all my botanicals off Ebay too & decided to do ready-made frames and had custom mats cut to make the prints fit in my frames. I used 16x20 frames with inserts of 10x13 openings. My botanicals are slightly smaller than the insert, so to fill it out, I used black mats on all of mine & I love how it makes them look more important. That touch of black all around really makes the botanicals stand out, I think. Whether this is proper placement or not, I have no idea, but it worked for my eye. I have framed several sets of these in this same way & will show you all the pics of how I've used the black mat exactly the same way. These were standard black frames from Michaels & came with the ivory mats inside with the glass & these had a black border built in on the inner ivory mat already, I just added another custom black mat to fill in the space that I needed to fill to fit my botanical. I know you can't see all the details on these pics, but hopefully this will help you some: This one is open frames from Hobby Lobby & I bought standard mats & again added the custom black inner mat so the botanicals would fit. HL does a great job with adding mats & glass & very reasonable. These gold frames came from Tuesday AM & they had the ivory mats with gold edge already in them, along with the glass. All I did was again add the black inner custom mat & it was done. I found this to be the most cost effective way to frame these odd-shaped botanicals.

Our preference is to choose mats and frames that, ideally, will complement each piece individually. Unless we had a series or some closely related pieces, it wouldn't occur to us to consciously go for the kind of cohesive look you describe. However, to the extent that our taste iteself is cohesive, many framing jobs work well with each other, and many pieces are done in similar kinds of mats/frames. Many of our frames are brown woods or gold. Most photographs are in black frames. I don't care much for silver, and the only silver frames we have are on an oil that had already been framed that way in the gallery and some photographs, also already framed. What I can see in this room, which has mostly contemporary pieces with a modernist look....(1) Colored pencil piece done on a brown paper; mat is a tannish color; frame is brown wood. (2) Ink and watercolor (blacks and greys) on ivory paper; double mat - wide outer one in a very light brown and thin inner one in black, and white edge on outer mat shows; ornate antiquey gold frame; (3) and (4) two modernist prints, black on ivory paper; mats are a slightly darker ivory; frames are black wood, very simple; (5) oil on board, much chocolate brown in it; frame is dark brown with a thin gold strip. If I look into the next room....oh never mind. There are 16 pieces of art there! However, four of the 16 are 15th c. manuscript leaves, done on parchment, and all four are matted and framed identically (ivory mats and ornate gold frames). Sometimes we go for colored mats, e.g., some Japanese prints with many blues in them and/or of night scenes are in simple black frames but with blue mats.

I really like the print, Linelle, and like it framed both ways. Of course, I like striking art and this fills the bill. (I have a little painting of a crow hanging right by my front door. Someone recently asked me what the "story" was on it - and I had to say there's no story. I just like it.)