I’m just about all moved into my new apartment. I have to put a table together and that’s pretty much it. I’m sure I’ll figure out things I forgot I need somewhere along the line but in the mean time … I’m happy with my place except for the bare walls. In my last place (my house) I had a sort of an NYC motif mixed with a wine motif. NYC by virtue of two prints I had in my living room and wine by virtue of all these little wooden wine label thingies my mom glommed off on me. And then I had some mix-n-match thingies hanging up here and there.
Here, I’m thinking I want to either go full on movie one-sheets or old rock band posters or something like that; something that’s consistent throughout the place. So I’ve been poking around to find that unfamed posters are relatively cheap - I can certainly afford to pick up a complete motif/set of whatever for about $100 but I don’t want to just tape them to my walls like a school-boy.
Therefore … and this is the TL;DR portion of the post … what’s the cheapest and easiest way for a lump like me to frame those babies up so it looks like a real adult with artistic design skills did it?
Cheapest? Get a spool of wire, some picture hooks, and some scrap wood. Attach poster to wood with nails, staples, screws, whatever you’ve got. I’m sure you can figure out the rest.
I don’t think it’s worth having something professionally framed. It gets very expensive very quickly.
For the concert posters I have hanging in my house, I searched Amazon and found decent frames that fit. I think anything but a thin rounded plastic frame would look good. It would probably look best if you get frames that match. I would get the posters first and then shop for frames.
The style that @DCnDC recommended is pretty cool. If you don’t want to build them yourself, you can buy them online too.
Yep, I’d say that approximates my plans so far. I have about 25 prints on a wishlist ready to be plucked from. I saw frames on Amazon in different sizes for about $10 - $15 up to $25 for the one-sheet sized ones. That makes the frame more expensive than the print. I think I’m going to mosey down to an art store an ask a few questions, see what they can do for me. I was hoping someone had a miracle site for me … Frames-R-Us . org or something, all frames, 75 cents or less! No such luck.
Between Michaels and Walmart, poster frames range from $5 to $25. My wife and I look for travel posters while on our journeys and have never paid much for the frames.
You might also consider going to thrift stores and looking for art that fits your measurements. Ditch the art and keep the frames. A can of spray paint could make the frames all the same color. You can fix any issues with fit by getting some matting and a mat cutting pad.
My solution was to start buying art when I was still in my teens – piece by piece. I had everything nicely framed as I bought it, so the cost wasn’t as noticeable. A few valuable pieces I had professionally done, and it makes such a difference. Mostly now I use American Frame Company, because I can get exact measurements on non-standard sized art and assemble it myself…
But if you’re just framing mass produced prints go as cheaply as you can.
Five or more years ago I bought sturdy-looking hard black plastic (Bakelite-looking) frames off the shelf at Michael’s for movie posters and used one on the back of a 6-foot tall bookcase that was used as part of a room divider. After a couple of years, the frame broke all of a sudden and the bottom horizontal part fell to the floor, in the middle the night. I trashed it and replaced it with a spare frame, bought at the same time. A few months later, that one broke due to its own weight (plus poster & cardboard backing)and structural weakness. You get what you pay for! Posters are now rolled up on a closet shelf.
