Tea Time! Choosing Mat Colors. Secondary Colors Can Work

This is a poster from a 1950's magazine. It was originally mounted in an inexpensive off-the-shelf frame. While the poster is in good shape, the frame was dilapidated and the rubber cement (yes, I wrote "rubber cement") used to glue the mat in position was dried up and it all shifted inside the frame. Just a note here about mounting. We never use adhesives like rubber cement, white glue or any other damaging adhesive. We determine the type of mounting used on the art based on the art itself.

Our client brought this in to freshen it up. Not only was the frame falling apart and the art shifting inside; the predominantly green art with a green mat seemed lost against the clients green dining room wall. A good rule of thumb for choosing mat colors is to choose a color that is predominant in the art. It obviously wasn't working here. There was a light pink bottom mat (the 1/4 inch portion of the mat just below the main mat) and the top mat was green. We reversed it. We suggested picking up the secondary color, the plum and brick color in the art. We highlighted it with the green bottom mat. We offered this gilded gold frame to pick up on the texture of the leaves in the trees. It worked beautifully. Our client was thrilled and if our clients are happy so are we.