The frame is actually much more subtle in person - it's brown but not a "flat" brown, it has some dimension. I think the clips could be painted, that was my thought as well. Maybe painted to match the mat color. I'm slightly afraid of ruining it, though! I got this a discount home store - it's "nothing special" that I would custom frame. We had originally thought of doing three coordinting B&W photos here, but we have so many similar photographic groupings in the house, I liked that this was something different for us - abstract art. (But not too different that we don't like it.) Maybe I should stick with abstract art but look for print that I could have framed in a similar way to this piece, but without the clips and with a frame similar to what you suggest (a thin antiqued gold frame with a tiny bit of detail would fit in very well with our taste and other elements in the room).

Annie, it could be any Joe Schmo who signed these paintings. If you really want to find out take them to a local art gallery they pretty good at identifying paint artist and paintings maybe they can help...they have all sorts of books they can use as a reference. A few years back my brother-in-law was messing around with his projector, so he hung a canvas on the wall, put a picture of his daughters in the projector, did the outline on the canvas, got some oil paints and filled in the blanks. Took another picture with a background, and did the same, trimmed the canvas, put a signature and framed it. When I saw it, my jaw dropped... it was a beautiful painting and the guy never held a paintbrush in his life. If this painting was in the Art Gallery, without his daughters on it, you would think it was done by a professional artist. I remember going back 30 yrs or so, there was an article in NY Post, that someone purchased a painting from a trunk of a car for $10 it had some sort of a signature on it and they took it to an art gallery to see if it was worth anything, and the art gallery purchased that painting for 90k. So you never know, good luck!

This OP has posted several dilemmas lately. I started reading this one from the onset and yes, there are several of the more critical posts missing. She clearly was happy about the selections and appeared to want validation from the people that had helped her with her other dilemmas. One of the first comments on my first dilemma on here was devastating to me and left me very upset. Fortunately, I have a thick skin and just flagged it and then along came some wonderful people to help me. Sometimes certain contributors just go too far. I’ve seen many OPs run off from this forum, but this is the first I’ve seen someone completely delete their account. THINK before you comment people! You could make or break someone’s day with your words

Thanks everyone. I agree on the drapes, they came with the house - don’t love them. But the in addition to the two windows on each side of the fire place there there is a very large window on the walls to right and the left. So this will be quite an expense that I was trying to avoid. But definitely an option and would do in a similar way as @BeverlyFLADeziner suggests. I also agree with a chunkier mantel, however the mantel replacement will require additional stone work, so unless I can modify what I have, vs. replace it - that is not an option. I will definitely keep my eyes open for Art, you have sent some great suggestions that I like a lot. I don’t think I will go with a mirror, as I had one up for awhile and hated the reflection.. as some has commented could be an issue.