Framing saga: a trilogy

I was trying to post outfit photos and Friend Friday, but my home internet isn't working today and I had way too much to say to type it out with my thumbs on my phone.

So here's a backup I was saving for just such an occasion:

I have a lot of professional-type documents that *should* be nicely framed and on my office wall. But between one of Mom's homemade frames that didn't survive the last three moves, and the acquisition of two new documents within the last few years... I need to get this done.

I've been in my current job over a year and a half, and my office walls are still covered with empty hangers from the last occupant. It's getting ridiculous.

Mom was going to get my law school diploma professionally framed as a Christmas gift, but she didn't have time, so she gave me a check instead. Between that money, and the offset of the grocery store gift card we got from Hubby's mother (for the expensive store we love)... I started looking into getting this done.

My sister's friend manages a Michael's (arts and crafts national chain store) in MI, and he gave me a heads-up for a 60% off custom framing sale. Yee-haw! So I packed up my university diploma, law school diploma, and all three Bar admission certificates, and practically skipped on over to the local Michael's.

I chose a nice midprice frame, and complimentary black and colored matting. My diplomas are off-white, two of my admission certificates are more yellow-toned, and one of them is recycled-gray. The colors of framing and matting were chosen very carefully to unite very different documents.

The clerk, who was a very pleasant art-school grad type, gave me a bit of a shock with the final price for getting them all done at once. Even at 60% off... it's not chump change. After a good bit of agonizing, I decided to bite the bullet and get it done.

No wonder Mom initially made frames herself. I get it now!

So I ordered:



OK, this sample is more "gold" than what I ordered, but it's just here for illustration purposes.

What I GOT a couple weeks later:









This is on just ONE of my FIVE documents I took for framing... they were all jacked up!

I started off pleasantly objecting, but when the clerks kept trying to fob me off with "we send them all out to Artistree, they don't guarantee that the corners will match...." Well....

I went "Ugly American". Yup. I threw an absolute fit.

The store manager came, was very pleasant, and totally saw the situation my way. He asked me to give him a few days to see what he could do. OK....

When I spoke with someone from the store a few days later, I was offered a complete redo, with a different frame of my choice, at no extra cost. So I went to the store, picked the most expensive "regular" frame instead of another midpriced one this time... again, being very careful with the color. It even went with the matting I chose the first time.

Second try:



The inner frame is the sample I based my choice on... the outer is what I received.

The corners didn't go screwy this time, but the color of the finished product was so different than the sample... much colder/grayer. These looked absolutely terrible with my yellow-toned Bar certificates. I chose the warmer color very carefully to harmonize very different documents... so the change was disasterous.

Again... not happy. The clerk saw it my way... and now do I not only pick out a more expensive frame than I originally paid for *again*, but the matting also has to change this time to go with my THIRD frame choice.

Isn't this stupid? Artistree refuses to "waste" a half-inch or so of materials per corner to match up properly... so they have now wasted how many HUNDREDS of dollars of materials replacing my frames?

And I'm wondering if the third time will be the charm, or if this is going to be a Douglas Adams trilogy (which has 4 books).

Third try... *drumroll*... SUCCESS!



They look really good! Here is one of the finished products:



Overall review: the management at the local Michael's handled the situation pretty well, given the stupidity of their contractor. This was a real pain in the behind, but I was given a great upgrade... so what I got at the end of it all was definitely nicer than what I actually paid for.