In praise of white picture frames

It wasn’t really that long ago that white picture frames were thought of, insipid, bland and without character.  Older picture framers clearly remember the times when white picture frames were only for special  occasions, special persons or special places. Only the occasional Customer would only come in asking for frames in this colour. We would be told that the frames were for a  wedding, and of course the bride would be wearing white. Or for baby or little girl’s room, since white invariably brings innocence and purity to mind. Or that there would be a special event with that white as the dominating theme.

Or that a hospital, rest home or similar care or welfare institution needed them.  Other than for those reasons, Customers just didn’t want them or asked for them. Perhaps it wasn’t the colour itself so much, but the versatility of the colour. Let’s think about this for a minute, or two.

Many Customers have, live or reside in beachside suburbs or along the coasts, by the sea, or lakes, for that matter.  Seaside colours, in the main,  are,  evoke or engender the outdoor with characteristics such as the sea, the sun, light, freshness and cleanliness with pale white or whitewashed surroundings.  Blacks or browns are anathema to such ambience, but white, instead, is a natural, sleek and perfect fit and the choice decor.

Indeed many resident artists have caught on to this natural ambience and its mood and regularly produce beach and sea art with white poster frames and white window mats. Starfish, seashells and other nautical objects and subjects naturally to lend themselves to peaceful, and serene whites.

Tourists, holiday-makers, visitors, and local residents,  often become Customers of those artists, with the concomitant commercial benefits this intercourse begets.  Thus, white picture frames are quite versatile. We find that the same colour frames, accentuate disparate art and images without distraction, so that we may focus on  the art itself.

As well as artists, galleries, collectors, architects and homeowners are now regarding white frames with new-found interest. They now opine that white, pale and light-coloured picture frames are well-suited to botanical and outdoors art renditions with their frequent, strong, bright colours.

Pale, aged, shabby-chic, rustic,  distressed photo frames, picture frames and furnishings have become quite popular.  A definite, yet underlying reason for this, is that  white is a neutral hue, not a prepotent one, and fits, suits and blends whit most homes and offices.

Whites picture frames are also surprisingly suitable for house mirrors as the colour exudes calmness, peacefulness, serenity and does not confine the persons or image being mirrored. Again, the same colour appears to be a naturally versatile enclosure to just about any tint, shade, hue and colour because as it doesn’t  “take sides”, so to speak,  with colours.

Another aspect, when using white photo frames or white picture frames is that these can be easily moved from room to room, or form house to house for that matter.  With the older design styles and past trends for instance, you couldn’t really re-hang an ornate gold frame in a bathroom, or a large heavily embossed walnut frame in a bedroom.

But with white frames, you can do that, so in some respects, or from an economical décor point of view, white is cool and cheap!  At the front customer counter, we’ve also seen a perceptible increase in demand for distressed, pale, beige and white picture framing mouldings.

This seems to be true for all customer Cohorts,  professionals, newly-marrieds, singles, young and older couples, and so on. Décor experts predicate that distressed whites will remain strongly in vogue for  2020 and beyond  as minimalism trends downwards and textures upward.

To sum up, white picture frames are versatile enough to feature on the walls of a cottage or on the stands of a swanky art gallery. We stock a great range of white picture frames, these being the White Shadow Boxes below:

and our White, Square, 3-Dimensional frames and Shadow Boxes some of which are shown under here:

Also, we have White Wood Poster Frames several handy and popular sizes, shown just below here:

And lastly, a range of  top-selling, excellent value-for-money white wood photo frames displayed below:

As picture framers we note a number of advantages when working with white, beige or off-white mouldings, from which we cut and join picture frames. Perhaps the first is that white moulding are easy to match, join, cut and touch-up, when needed.

A second advantage is that white frames nearly always selected with white window mats, or window mounts, when matting is requested during a picture framing consultation. On this particular point, of white mats, we need to point out a common misconception.  

A fair few Customers think or believe that a white match and a white frame must match precisely in their colour. But our practical experience is that these two colours  can and sometimes need to be just a tint or a shade different, lighter or darker.

These tonal variations between the window mat and the picture frame, stimulate visual interest and tonally enhance the art being displayed. To sum up, white picture frames have come of age and have come a long way along the path Customer acceptance, and, in many cases, ordering a white picture frame, is the new black, because you can put it anywhere!