Jamie was walking through the den the other day and couldn’t quite figure out what was missing.

It was Carter.

A 4 foot by almost 3 foot gap in the wall decor of our house would catch anyone’s attention.

I grabbed this oversized poster last year to hang over our bar cart.

I’m hoping that y’all know all about Carter the Great by now.

They offer reproduction of his vintage advertizing prints at AllPosters.com .

We also found some on eBay.

The eBay dealer has either canvas or paper print in a huge variety of sizes……and we wanted a fairly large one (48 x 32) to really make an impact.

For over a year now he has been on the wall with, …….I’m a little ashamed to type it, but ….eeehhhh, thumbtacks.

He deserves better than that….so it’s time to get him framed.

It’s important to have a good framer.

Luckily, I have a great framer, Art Frame Expo on Mockingbird Av. The staff is amazing. They have done miracle work for me at lightning speed. If you live in Dallas, go there first.

Don’t be hesitant about framing anything. Sure we go to Ikea and buy 10 buck frames all the time, nothing wrong with that, but if you really care about a piece, just have it professionally framed. You will be so grateful that you did.

Just look at the assortment of mats and frames they offer……

I unrolled Carter and Kyle helped me lay out a handful of different black frames. (I knew I wanted black, I consider it to be a neutral color, that was the easy part)

Here are the 4 I started with , and I’ll tell you why.

My print is about 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide. I need a frame that looks substantial enough to hold a picture that size together, without taking your eye away from the print itself.

• 1 I love the thickness, from the side it will look dramatic, but it’s only 1 1/2 inches wide in front (too wimpy)
• 2 Slightly shorter than 1, but even thinner. looks like it could snap from the weight of hanging
• 3 Almost perfect, still thick-ish on the side, and 2 inched across the top
• 4 I like the way it bevels, and thick from the front, but way too thin on the side

Here’s number 4, with a new contender hugging it. The new frame is slightly chunky on the outside edge, nice and substantial, but with that same delicate bevel edge pointing in toward my print.

It’s a perfect combo of 3 and 4 from the first picture.

Ladies and Gentleman, We have a winner.

The mat is the paper frame within the frame, usually with a beveled edge, that sets the picture away from the actual frame.

We landed on a 3 inch mat, just to balance out the distance between the frame and the print.

As a rule of thumb, on a very large print, I usually go with mat and frame about the same width. My frame is 2 1/2 inches wide and the 3 inch mat will be slightly tucked under the edge of the frame.

There are about 1,000 colors of mat to choose from, after ruling out ultra suede orange (not kidding, they offer it) I wanted a “white”.

Still about 40 whites to select from and most people usually choose “Ultra White”.

I landed on “White”…..no joke, Look…..

White.

Not too bright, not too yellow.

My print is a little “aged” looking. A too bright of a white would have overpowered it.

It was a lonely week without him, but now he’s back where he belongs.

Wanna see him?

That slight bevel on the inside edge of my frame is decorative without being too decorative.

It’s just enough detail.

Still love how the demons in the poster seem to fly out of that big glass ball of beer bottle caps……

No fear of color in this house. This print has all of them.

Not every poster in our house has to be a cowboy, or indian, or even a huge cow head.

This guy certainly adds more whimsy to our abode, so glad that I finally broke down and framed him.

Yeah, I know, I know,

Perfect idea again……

Now we look like adults….and a little less “College Dorm” with the thumb tacked posters.