Understanding Bad Shopping Habits

Posted on: 9 March 2016

Are you thinking of finally getting your favorite posters framed instead of just taping them up on your wall? Framing pictures, even ones that are obviously posters you had up on your dorm room wall, makes them look nicer and makes your home look more like it was professionally decorated. However, permanently installing the posters in custom frames, instead of placing them in generic frames that you buy at craft stores, comes with a few considerations.

Independence

If you get the poster placed in a permanent frame, where it's affixed to a backing board and basically sealed in the frame, you'd have to go back to the framing store to get the poster and board out of the frame setup should the frame become damaged or if you just want to change the frame. Plus, you'd have to have the framing store put the new frame on, too. If you want to be able to change the frame at any time yourself, without help, go for a temporary frame. However, if you're OK with having to involve the framing store for any changes, a custom frame is no problem.

Transportation

Do you plan to move soon? How do you plan to transport the posters? Once the poster is permanently affixed to a backing board, you're no longer going to be able to roll it up. Instead, you'll have to pack the poster and frame like a typical painting, and the package will take up more room than a simple poster tube. If you're not prepared to transport and protect the poster in its mounted form—if you were hoping to roll it up again—then sticking with a DIY frame with a loose backing board to which the poster is not affixed is best. However, if you're able to protect something as large as the unrolled poster during moving, having it in a custom frame will be fine.

Fit

This is where custom framing wins hands down compared to temporary framing. You cannot beat custom framing for fit. If you want a frame that fits the poster perfectly, with perfectly proportioned margins and alignment, custom framing is absolutely what you want. While temporary frames are available in many sizes, these sizes aren't standardized with regards to posters—there's too much variation. That can lead to having too much space between the poster and the frame, or having to fold the edges of the poster to fit in the frame. With a custom frame, though, you can have a beautiful picture that is in perfect proportion to the frame to hang on your wall.

If you have more questions about framing, talk to frame stores that offer both temporary frames and custom framing services (like Hoosier Highlander). They can show you what their board mounting and frame sealing procedures are like and let you know how easy it might be to change a custom frame.