SQUOOSHED: Adventures in Custom Framing

Patrick and I have a slight addiction to Groupon and the lesser known but equally good Living Social. Since discovering these daily deals, I don't think we've actually saved much money since we now end up spending more on things we normally wouldn't do. But then again, we get to do a lot of stuff we normally wouldn't do... like go to expensive restaurants (spend $25 and get $50 worth of food!), or go on a Washington Walking tour (spend $7 for a $15 tour... we chose the historical Georgetown one), and we still have one saved up for kayaking that expires in the spring and tickets to a mystery theater that we convinced some of our friends to buy with us.

Our latest Living Social expenditure was for a French custom framing store in Georgetown called L'Eclat de Verre. This company has several stores in France and are gradually starting to expand internationally with a store here in Georgetown and another in Belgium. According to their website, they combine "French 18th century techniques with modern style to create one-of-a-kind items." Also, each item is constructed by a "master framer" who has attended a "framing academy" for four years. Pretty neat stuff. The deal of the day was $60 for $150 worth of custom framing. We ended up buying two and it's a good thing because, as we found out, custom framing is expensive.

...but well worth it. After picking up our frames last night, we couldn't be happier with the results. The first piece we had framed was a watercolor painted by Patrick's sister Susan while attending Notre Dame. The painting is of a popular statue whose name escapes me but it's very recognizable on campus as it stands in the middle of "God Quad" facing the Dome (I don't think any of the students know its actual name). Here is the result (it actually looks WAY cooler in person but you can get an idea here):

Why does our white wall appear tan?

What's great about this place is that all of the frames are handmade. We chose this frame because we thought the rustic wooden look complimented the picture. We also got to choose the "bevel" -- that little border between the matte and the painting which is made from handmade paper. Apparently this is a very "French" technique -- something that sets this place apart from other custom framing stores. You can't tell in the picture above, but we chose a reddish brown color. Actually, here is a close up of it:

The second item we had framed was the original collage that was made for our wedding programs, also done by Patrick's sister Susan (she's quite the artist). We chose a yellowish orange background (also from handmade paper) to compliment the colors of the collage as well as a simple black frame. (Again the white wall looks tan in this photo). You might not be able to tell, but we also had the program mounted so it sticks out a tiny bit from the background: