What a great question, and one we all ask. Being thoroughly disappointed with any kind of "art" you can buy at local chain stores, I started finding prints I love from places you can find ANYTHING you like...like Art.com and FulcrumGallery.com. That's the great benefit in finding art that suits your style. However, I've had mixed results with framing. We recently moved into a new home and I had an entire house of blank walls. After finding just what I wanted at Art.com, I placed a very large order of framed art. I will say that all items, except one, arrived fine. However, it took me 6 weeks to finally get the last picture to arrive without damage (broken frame, smashed glass). It was getting ridiculous. A few months later, I got two more framed prints for my kitchen at Art.com. One was beautiful, the other had minor damage to the mat. It wasn't enough to send back, but I did write to them about their quality control. I never even got a reply or a "we're sorry." As for pricing, I only got my orders through Art.com when they did 50%, but even at that, it was expensive. I decided from then on, I'd just buy the prints online and take them to a local Hobby Lobby or Michaels for framing. I did just that with a huge print I had framed at Michaels for my husband's office. It turned out fantastic and I didn't have to worry about damage or computer monitor colors being off. Bottom line is, I didn't see much of a big price savings by having it framed online, versus my local hobby shops.

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.

Nice print! I'm not sure of the difference in quality between the three options, but I do know that non-glare glass takes away some of the crispness of any print. I have a few prints hanging on my walls right now with the non-glare glass. I don't think it detracts too much, but there is a difference, more when you observe the photographic print from an angle.. BTW, just yesterday I ordered a framed print of Mel Allen's "Ullswater, Glenridding" from Art.com . It will be a birthday gift for my DS. I ordered regular glass with it. Let us know, please, what you find out about the differences in quality between the 3 print options. Lynn

western pa luann - I'm starting to prefer the trunks in the center, too. Thank you for your response. maryanne3 and rob333 - Thanks for letting me know about using two hooks per print. For these 27" prints, how far apart should the two hooks be? graywings - another good suggestion from you! I could forget about using the wires and use one sawtooth hanger at the top. You are correct that these canvas prints are MUCH lighter than prints in a regular frame with glass. These 27" prints weigh about 4 lbs. each. Thank you for the pic and for the link. If I go this route, I'll probably want to get the large size. robin4444 - Thanks for the pic of the abstract print in your living room. I love your bookshelves, fireplace, and the way the colors in the print pick up the colors in your room. Whether I end up doing a shelf or hanging, I can see the value of being able to swap the tree prints depending on what mood makes me feel best. I do wonder what the artist intended. These prints were not sold as a "set". There was no photo example of them together on the site I purchased from. The print with the trunks on the left is titled Golden Birch I With Blue Sky. The print with the trunks on the right is titled Golden Birch II With Blue Sky. If using "the way we would sequence and read" thought...one could say that the print titled with I should be on the left side. Print titled II should be on the right side. If hanging them with that logic, it would put the tree trunks on the outside. But sometimes logic needs to be set aside and how one feels relating to art should be the guide. I feel like trying to contact the artist James Wiens. Is that possible? I'm so curious, now. Lilylore - I like the way you describe how each orientation makes you feel. Trunks inside - disturbing, interesting, possibilities. Trunks outside - resolved, calming, charming. Thank you, as always, for your thoughtful insights.