Incorporating Custom Frames into Your Home Decor: 10 Ideas and Inspirations

by Andrew Lemieux Creative writer & content strategist

Custom frames are an excellent way to beautify your home. They provide a sense of uniqueness and individuality above the frames you might find in stores. They can also make decorating easier, especially if you have photos, artwork, or memorabilia that don’t fit in traditional frames.

If you’re looking to elevate your home decor, here are 10 decorating ideas to try out.

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1. Make it a Puzzle

Uniformly-shaped frames are lovely, but you can take it a notch higher by using custom frames of different shapes and sizes. Create a dramatic wall by arranging the frames as if they were puzzle pieces. It’s an excellent spatial exercise for the mind, as you’d have to combine small, medium, and large custom frames.

Tip: Can’t seem to make the pieces fit seamlessly? Instead, you can try to form a specific shape, like a circle or square.

2. Consider Contrast

A monochromatic room can cause your decor to blend together. Try to inject some life into the space by using custom frames in contrasting colors. For example, you can use black custom frames to decorate a stark, all-white room and vice-versa. Doing so can make the otherwise-tedious space look more striking and exciting. See our guides on picking a color palette for rooms like your bedroom or kitchen.

3. Add Wonder to Your Wide Wall

A blank wall is one of the best places for new decor opportunities. You can accommodate almost anything with enough space. Wide walls are great for larger decor like tapestries, multiple related works like triptychs, and even shadow boxes for memorabilia like sports jerseys.

4. Elevate Your Entryway

Another good place to decorate is your entryway. Custom frames make excellent entryway art pieces because art or memorabilia is personal to you and your family. They’re highly visible to guests, making for great conversation pieces. And unlike vases, plants, statues, or other standing installations, they don’t occupy floor space near the door.

5. Work on the Wallpaper

If you’re looking for inexpensive decor to complement your custom frame, then wallpaper may be the way to go. In fact, the right design can contrast well with your other art and provide aesthetic coverage of the space for a fraction of the price.

6. Oh, Baby!

Most nursery walls often feature pastel paint and other boring design elements. But if you want it to look better since you’ll spend a lot of time in it, decorate it with all things baby.

Apart from pictures, other souvenirs that look good in custom baby frames include ultrasound results, the baby’s footprints, or a lock of hair.

7. Venerate the Vandalism

If you’re raising young ones, you probably have many drawings and markings on the wall. It can be hard to remove them - especially if they used a permanent marker for scribbling.

Consider treating it as artwork instead! Take inspiration from this dad and how he framed his kid’s drawing a la museum exhibition. Placing a custom frame over your child’s scribbles will make it seem like you’re in a modern art museum. It’s sure to earn some hearty laughs from relatives and friends, too.

8. Focus on the Frames

While custom frames are made to complement your artwork, the frames themselves can become tasteful decorations as well. They’re often made with kiln-dried wood and other high-quality materials, after all.

You can hang the empty frames in an organized linear style or overlap the edges to create a chaotic yet modern design. There are so many design possibilities that you could try with these pictureless frames.

Image by Pexels

9. Don’t Hang It

Custom frames are meant to be hung. That said, they can also be used as standing decors - especially if they’re holding a bulkier item (such as the preserved flowers from your wedding bouquet.)

It’s easy to decorate these frames too. Consider placement on desks or tables. You can also install a thin ledge on your wall for displaying your frames.

10. Turn it into a Table Topper

Hanging custom-framed memorabilia can make for excellent decor, but why not turn it into a table topper instead? You can place it on your table or transform it into a table. Framemakers can craft them in such a way that they’re sturdier and better able to withstand the weight.

Custom frames are beautiful decorative elements that you can use to display your most precious paintings, photos, and memorabilia. And, with the help of these design ideas and inspirations, you can showcase your mementos and elevate your home’s aesthetics - all at the same time!