Framing a child’s artwork
Frame a child’s artwork with the same acid-free materials as a limited edition: acid-free mats and backing, glazing chosen with you for the piece, and a mount that can be undone. Several drawings can share one mat, and the moulding is chosen at the counter, with real corner samples held against the drawing itself.
What are the best frames for children's art?
The ones built like any piece you mean to keep. Children’s artwork gets the same acid-free materials as a limited edition, and our store is completely acid-free, mats included, so nothing behind the paper burns a brown line into it over the years. UV-protective or museum-quality glazing is chosen with you, because daylight fades pigment. That is the side of the work called conservation framing.
The look follows the room as much as the drawing. In a children’s nook we framed, four pieces (watercolor leaves, an Aloha print, a calligraphy print and a rainbow) went into natural wood and gilt mouldings picked to sit with the wallpaper rather than against it. A mat color or a thin fillet can be taken from the art itself, the way a navy and gold jersey gets a navy and gold fillet. Every custom frame we make is cut to the piece it holds and crafted by hand in our Costa Mesa warehouse, so a drawing never has to be trimmed to fit a stock frame.
Can several drawings go in one frame?
Yes. Our computerized mat cutter cuts several openings into one mat, so a set of drawings can be framed together. Lettering and shapes can be programmed into the same mat, so a child’s name can sit under the art, and a photograph of the artist can share the frame. A summer camp craft or a piece of ceramics with depth goes into a shadow box instead, deep enough that the glazing never touches it.
How do you organize kids’ artwork on a wall?
Frame it as a set. Matched mouldings, matched mats and matched spacing are what make several frames read as a single wall rather than as separate pieces, and in a grid every mat is the same width, so every frame lines up with the one beside it. A salon hang is the other choice: collected rather than matched, and harder to hang, because nothing lines up by default. Our guide on how to hang art covers both layouts.
Can the original stay home while a copy goes to the grandparents?
Yes. If the original is fragile or one of a kind, our print lab can scan it at up to 600 dpi, print it on the same floor and frame the reproduction, while the original goes back where it was. A second copy for the other set of grandparents is one more print and one more frame. The best framed gift is usually something the family already has, and a child’s drawing is exactly that. There are more ideas in holiday gifts worth framing.
What about a frame for a toddler’s room?
Tell us where it is going. The place a piece will hang is one of what we call the four corners of a frame, along with the customer, the piece and the frame itself, and our designers walk you through the glazing and the mounting hardware when the frame is designed. A light piece hangs on a picture hook rated for its weight; medium and heavy pieces hang on D-rings, with screws into a stud or anchors rated for the load. Our crew can also deliver and hang it in and around Orange County, with delivery quoted separately.
What do I bring, and how is it quoted?
All you need is the art. Bring it to 1671 Placentia Avenue, Costa Mesa, Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm or Saturday 9am to 1pm. No appointment is required, though you are welcome to book one. Framing is quoted in person once we have seen the piece, and there is no published price list: the size, the moulding, the mats, the glazing and the mount are what change the quote. If it is a gift with a date, tell us the date when we design it with you, and if the date is tight, call first.
Not sure what you like? “I don't have any artistic eye so I trusted their opinions and recs,” Chris K. of Costa Mesa wrote on Yelp in October 2025. Bring the drawings in, call (949) 791-8780, or send the quote form.
