<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" In my many trips to the Country Living Fairs, I&amp;#039;ve amassed quite a collection of vintage artwork (including this absolute gem from the Golden Nugget Flea in New Jersey. It&amp;#039;s too good, right?). What to do with all these unframed pieces? The wall above my desk and around the TV was practically begging for a gallery wall. Enter Framed &amp;amp;amp; Matted, a new online spot for custom framing that&amp;#039;s actually affordable\u2014especially when compared to the specialty shops in my Upper West Side neighborhood in New York. So, I decided to give the site a try. Here&amp;#039;s what you do:  1. Visit framedandmatted.com and upload a photo of what you&amp;#039;d like framed. Since my artwork wasn&amp;#039;t in digital form, I scanned them in first. 2. Choose one of seven frame options. I stuck with very simple Addison in natural and black. (You can order free samples if you&amp;#039;re unsure.) 3. Choose your mat color (single, double) or no mat at all. I&amp;#039;m a traditionalist, so I picked milk white and ice white depending on the piece of art. 4. Double- and triple-check all your measurements. I maybe quadruple-checked, but I&amp;#039;m a worrier.  5. Order, then wait a week or so.  6. Receive your frames and mount your artwork. They arrive with the frame and mat together, with protective film over the UV-protected plexi glass:  Included within the package is hinging tape, which you use to attach your artwork to the mat.   Remove the protective layer on the plexi glass.  And put the frame back together. I was impressed how simple the mounting would be. (By the way, I bought this map of the Midwest from Findings at our Country Living Fair.)   I repeated these steps on five frames total. (That beautiful ranunculus print on the upper-left? It&amp;#039;s by Portland, Oregon-based photographer, Jessica Nichols. The rest are all vintage.)  Also included in the package are d-rings (already attached), hanging wire, and picture hooks to hang the frames.  Attach the hanging wire with a granny knot. This part intimidated me a bit, but it took only about a half-hour to finish all five frames once I got the knack of it. To do this, first thread your wire through the first d-ring from the top.  Once through the d-ring, pull the short end underneath the wire that goes across the picture.   Pull the short end it through the d-ring again from above. Pull the wire up through the loop.  Twist the short end around the length that goes across the picture.  Then, repeat on the other side.  Once I&amp;#039;d attached the wire to all five frames, I pulled together a few extra pieces\u2014including a typewriter Polaroid print by She Hit Pause Studios, a letterpressed Kansas City, Missouri, poster from Hammerpress, and fun eye chart from The Lepolas\u2014and laid them out on the floor. Here&amp;#039;s the thing with salon-style art walls: There&amp;#039;s no wrong way to do it! I move things around until I&amp;#039;m happy with the final look, then onto the wall they go. I usually allow for about an inch-and-a-half between everything.   Here&amp;#039;s the finished look:   I also used binder clips to simply tack up the unframed stuff, including three antique ledger sheets from 1874, which I purchased from JBS Mercantile at our Country Living Fair.   There are a few empty spots to fill, but overall, I&amp;#039;m thrilled with the final look. It&amp;#039;s worth noting that you can also send your artwork to Framed &amp;amp;amp; Matted, and they&amp;#039;ll ship it back to you already, well, framed and matted\u2014but hanging them on the wall is still your job!  Now your turn: Share photos of your gallery walls. We&amp;#039;d love to see them!   Photos by Rachel DeSchepper  ----- Plus:More products, decorating trends, and design inspiration we&amp;#039;ve gotta tell you about \u00BB 18 ways to hang pictures you might not have though of \u00BB  101 holiday decorating ideas \u00BB  Website we love: Chairish.com \u00BB   24 sly ways to show off your collections \u00BB "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.countryliving.com/life/reviews/a4768/gallery-wall-framed-and-matted/>