3 Simple Art Framing Hacks

I looove art walls but up until now never really had enough open wall space to pull one off.  Now that I have plenty of room to make one (or three) art walls in our new apartment, I'm excited to finally put to good use all the posters and crafty projects I've been hoarding away (I mean collecting, yeah it's a collection). Since this is the first time I'll be hanging most of the pieces I had never gotten around to framing them, seems simple enough but I came across a few annoyances in the process & thought I'd share the hacks I came up with.

1- If your artwork isn't a standard size: use old wrapping paper as a background

I bought a bunch of simple frames at Ikea the other day (ok, I swear I am not sponsored by Ikea, it's just that I've been there 3 f*cking times in the past 2 weeks, I almost feel like I live there, and not in a good way, plus Dubai is so expensive and Ikea not so much! Rant over.) but it turns out that most of the pieces I wanted to frame aren't standard sizes and didn't fit the matting leaving empty space in the background...

So luckily this is where my artsy pack rat tendency comes in handy because it turns out that when I get really beautiful designer wrapping paper like the above from Paper Tiger I just can't bear to throw it away so I roll it back up and stash it away, that's right: JUST. LIKE. YOUR. MOM. But it gets better: then I actually packed it into boxes and shipped it half way across the world (so yep, I just out-momed your mom, and I don't even have kids!). 

So long roundabout story short: if your matting doesn't fit, using wrapping paper, old concert flyers or wrinkled tissue paper (great for adding texture) as a background layer is a super easy fix, plus it adds a little extra flair and is the perfect way to harmonize colors and get your different pieces to match.

2- Use A Ruler!

This might seems obvious, but I know that I for one have a tendency to think "oh I don't need a ruler, I'll just wing it, it'll be quicker". Then 15 minutes of trial, error and overcorrection later the photo is still slightly off-kilter still but I decide to just leave it be (but deep down it annoys me every single time I look at it until the end of time). However! Turns out it's totally possible to avoid all frustration and frame your artwork perfectly on the first shot if you just bother to actually break out a ruler.

3- Use Sticky Tack or washi tape To Make Sure Nothing Slips

Once you've got everything perfectly laid out, use a bit of sticky tack (or washi tape for some extra funk) to keep everything in place while closing the frame.

Have any other tricks I didn't mention above? We want to hear about it below!