"If saving money is wrong, I don't want to be right!" ~ William Shatner (with fond memories of Leonard Nimoy)

In my previous post, I showed you these two prints unframed. you can see now that they are framed and hung! This was a bit of a frustration, but ultimately successful!

We had made a third trip to IKEA to pick up drapes for the living-room and frames for pictures and prints. We met with success on some counts (drapes and some frames), but were unable to find frames that fit my mermaid prints.

Next - armed with a 60% off all framing work at Joann Fabrics coupon, I set about selecting frames and colorful matting for my lovelies. The woman behind the framing counter was most helpful. I chose three different colored mats along with a modest frame. She calculated this combination for each print. WITH the 60% off coupon, the cost would have been $340 a piece! I'm not kidding! I stood there, mouth slightly agape, and repeated the price she had given me thinking that I simply must have misheard. Um, no. I asked her to recalculate. Um, no. I thanked her profusely for her time, took my prints and left.

I phoned Bruce and told him what had happened. He responded with something like - uh, that's not in our budget. No kidding! I told him that I was headed to Michael's to see what I could find in prepared frames and that if I was not satisfied, I'd take the prints with us when we head north and have Burt frame them for us. Those from Cortland know exactly who I mean!

Once in Michael's, I hunted through frames and ultimately came across something that I thought would work. The frames were originally dark brown, but I purchased some gold paint to lighten them up. Armed with the paint and a sponge, I feel really, really happy with how they came out (the right one looks darker in the photo, but is actually identical to the left).

The end result - happiness, and $62.00 including paint for both, in comparison to $680.00. I still have to believe that the young woman at Joanne's miscalculated - I know that custom framing is pricey - but that was a bit much!

The Bank of Bruce and Tracy is officially closed!

PS - The lovely mermaid lamp on the right was one of my birthday gifts from Bruce last year. She has finally found her home!