influencer for a day: my Framebridge experience!

If there was a Family Feud category called “Companies That Advertise on Podcasts” there are a few that stand out in my brain- brands like Stamps.com, MeUndies, Hello Fresh!, Leesa, and Framebridge are all top of mind. Imagine my shock when I opened my Instagram DM’s over the summer to find a (legitimate) message from one of these companies asking to reach out about a partnership!

Framebridge, a company I knew to do mail-in custom framing, had recently opened a showroom and framing center outside of Philadelphia. They wanted me to come in and give the process a shot on the house! How could I turn that down? And so, on a summer day in July, I found myself at the Suburban Square Framebridge store in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

As someone who has literally never paid to have anything framed in my life before, I arrived as somewhat of a skeptic. Art school taught me how to matte things on my own and my coupon-queen mother taught me to never pay for things you can do yourself. When I arrived, not only was I greeted by 3 cheerfully masked employees, I was impressed to see the variety of things they had framed as examples! Things I would never even know where to start to frame. The Framebridge shop in Ardmore is a framing hub but doubles as a gallery and showroom of all the framing possibilities.

We got right to work designing my frame. I brought in my new “Squeaky Toy of the Sky” art print; I wanted to hang it at my family’s shore-house, the place where I discovered my love for the American Oystercatcher. Right off the bat, I loved how simple and transparent the pricing structure is:

All you have to know is how big the artwork is. That’s it. It doesn’t matter what size matte you choose, nothing else- just the size of the artwork. Are there upgrade options? Of course! But they are also forthcoming about those special touches as well. In fact, they’re so open about the pricing, they have it adhered to the walls as part of the décor. 

Anyhow, back to the frame- they have a color for every taste! Some of them require upgrades as well, but they have a great variety of “base” frames that are sure to match any home. Every frame is custom built for the artwork, so we made those size decisions as well. As we planned out the frame, my consultant was taking notes on their iPad to send a confirmation with a digital mockup so there is no confusion about what the final product will look like.

Aside from the transparent pricing, my favorite aspect of Framebridge was a big hang-up I had about using an Internet framing company- shipping. Yes, you can ship your artwork to them and they will send it back (beautifully and carefully packaged, I might add) via a shipper like UPS. However, if you bring your piece into their store and elect to pick up in store as well, Framebridge has their own private courier service to ensure that everything is handled with care. I love this! Sending away artwork or memorabilia requires a level of trust and I would argue Framebridge does not take that for granted.

Two weeks later, my Oystercatcher print came back and looks even better than I could have imagined! Bonus: it’s wired on the back so it’s a cinch to hang. Of course, I forgot to take a photo of it in its new home, but here I am with the final product in store:

Thank you to Framebridge for making me an honorary “influencer” for a day! They did not pay me to write this blog post nor influence the contents of it in any way. However, in the spirit of full-disclosure, they did cover the cost of the framing. Now that I’ve gotten art professionally framed, I may never go back to my DIY way . . .