Moving offices: the framed art
When an office moves, sort the framed art before anything is packed: pieces that travel as they are, pieces worth reframing, and photographs or prints that have never been framed. The last two can come to us. We frame them in Costa Mesa, deliver in and around Orange County, and our own crew hangs them at the new office.
What should happen to the art before the move?
Sort it into three groups while it is still on the walls. Pieces in sound frames travel as they are. Pieces in tired frames, or with a brown line along the edge of the print, are worth a second look: that line is acid from an old mat or backing board, and it is not reversible once it has happened. A reframe replaces those materials with acid-free ones and a frame chosen for the piece; our store is completely acid-free, mats included. The third group is the work that never made it onto a wall at the old address: photographs, prints, certificates. A move is a natural point to frame them, and to frame them to match.
How do you pack large picture frames for moving?
Wrap each frame on its own, protect the corners and keep it upright. Whoever does the packing, these general rules hold:
- Wrap every frame separately, so no glass or moulding rubs against another piece.
- Pad the corners first. They take the knocks.
- Mark which side is the glass, so nothing is stacked or pressed against it.
- Stand frames on an edge, never flat under boxes, and pack them snug so they cannot slide.
- Carry anything large or heavy with two people.
Snug matters most in a car or a van. When a customer loaded large frames at our shop, the person who helped him “made a couple of bumpers out of cardboard to keep them from sliding around in the back of my 4runner,” Vince S. wrote on Google in November 2025. Anything we frame leaves the shop wrapped by hand. And if a glass breaks on the way, which happens in a move, the fix starts at our counter, with the frame in front of us.
What is the 2/3 rule for wall art?
Art hung over furniture should be about two-thirds of the furniture's width, as one frame or a group, with the bottom of the frame about 8 to 10 inches above it. In an office, that is often the reception sofa or a console. Where nothing sits below, center a piece about 57 to 60 inches from the floor, and keep one center line, or one top line, so the room reads as planned. In a conference room the screen already owns part of the wall: in one we framed for a commercial account, two framed canvases hang beside it, sized to the wall that is left. How to hang art covers the heights, the spacing and the hardware.
How is art framed for a new office?
As one project rather than piece by piece. A reception wall, a hallway of photographs, a matching print in every conference room: once a frame is chosen, the same frame, mat and glazing can be repeated across every room, chopped and joined in-house, with the printing done in our own lab. Projects are quoted from your plans, your drawings or a site visit, because there is no published price list. Site measurements and consultations happen at your project or at our design counter, with the corner-sample wall in reach; contact us to discuss the scope and any applicable fees. If the new space needs more than the company already owns, art consultation and curation are available, and the signs are color-managed with the framed work they hang beside. That is our corporate and commercial framing.
How does the work we frame get to the new office and onto the walls?
The pieces we frame travel in our own van and are hung by our own crew. We deliver in and around Orange County the work we have framed; delivery is available for an additional charge and is quoted separately, and if a piece to be framed will not fit in the car, we will come and get it. At the new address, the crew that made the pieces hangs them: we come to the wall first, measure it and talk through what goes where and at what height, then hang them, from a single piece to a wall twenty-five feet across. Tell us the move-in date when you send the plan. For a company with a Pro Account, volume framing and production runs are sequenced to the install date. See delivery and pickup and installation.
Can framed art be shipped to an office farther away?
Yes, for the work we frame. Longer-distance orders are packed and shipped according to their size and handling needs. Large pieces, multiple piece orders and long distances get a custom wood crate built in house for the piece it is carrying, shipped on our existing freight service accounts, and we confirm receiving requirements, such as a forklift, before booking shipment. Not everything needs a crate; everything gets wrapped.
To start, bring a few of the pieces, or the floor plan, to 1671 Placentia Avenue, Costa Mesa, Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm or Saturday 9am to 1pm; no appointment is needed. Or call (949) 791-8780, or send the quote form with the new address and the move-in date. A company can also open a Pro Account with its business name and address.
