This is a tough place to review (for reasons which will become evident as one reads my story). Do I…read morebestow 1 star or 5 stars here? Hard to say. I'll go mid-way and give it an average 3 star rating. Here's what happened:
My mom and I wanted to reframe an original watercolor which came to us in a heavy black wooden frame. We intended to put it in a small powder room, in close vicinity to another watercolor that was framed in a delicate rose-gold metal narrow frame. Ideally, we were looking for a similarly toned metal frame (rose gold or similar).
We pass this frame shop daily, as my parents live a few blocks away. Upon entering the shop, I was very impressed by the many works of art on the walls here. All were framed expertly. (I worked for years as an interior designer, and I have a degree in the field, so I kinda know professional framing. The works on display here were incredibly done, hand's down). There were original artworks, prints, and some shadowboxes, all showcasing a variety of styles and sizes, some matted and some not. All were framed incredibly beautifully. So my mom and I had confidence that this shop would do a great job on our project.
We chose a frame to compliment the existing work in the powder room (it didn't match exactly but was close in rose gold coloration and thickness of the metal frame). The lady behind the counter pointed out the minor buckling of the existing matte and suggested they replace it. She was right, the matte did need to be replaced. Might as well, if we're updating the frame, right? Might as well do it right.
She quoted us a price (way higher than I'd estimated, but hey, this is custom work, so I knew it wouldn't be cheap. Still, the artwork was small and it came to roughly $175) and she said it'd take about 6 weeks. My mom paid the 50% deposit. And we waited.
The work was ready for pick up 2 months later. When my mom went to get it, she was shocked that the frame was not rose gold but, rather, a pure silver metal. Totally NOT how she remembered her order. And not how I remembered it, either. The lady employee said this has happened quite a bit in the past, where customers don't remember what they ordered, so she got in the habit of taking a photo of the frame that was ordered at the time of ordering. And she showed my mother the photo she took 2 months ago of the frame we ordered. (My mom said the photo was not definitive in how clearly it depicted the metal tones, so it really proved nothing).
Now, I was not present when my mom picked up the work. But the sheer fact that the employee said that this issue happened frequently leads me to believe that this is not a one-off occurrence. And I would STRONGLY recommend anyone placing an order here to take their OWN photos of the frame (and matte) they are ordering, and to take notes on everything, as it may be many weeks (or months) until you get your work back.
Is it possible that both my mother and I were incorrect in thinking we had ordered a rose gold-hued metal frame, and we instead ordered a silver metal frame instead? Sure, it's possible. But not probable.
The work itself was framed and matted beautifully, and it does look nice in the powder room. It's just not how we imagined it to be.
