How Much Should You Expect to Pay for Framing in St. Louis?

Revised August 21, 2026

Imagine it’s a Saturday morning and you’re standing at a framing counter in Ladue with a rolled-up print under your arm. Or you’re in Bridgeton holding a signed jersey that has lived folded in a closet since 2011. Maybe it’s a photograph of your grandmother that came out of a box in Hanley Hills after the estate sale, curled at the corners, the only copy anyone has.

You already know how this goes. The framer measures, asks a few questions, starts pulling corner samples off the wall, and somewhere in the next ten minutes a number arrives that is three or four times what you had in your head. Then you do what almost everybody does. You smile, say you’ll think about it, and drive home with the piece still in the tube.

Here’s the useful part. That number isn’t arbitrary, and it isn’t really one number — it’s four or five separate decisions stacked on top of each other, and you control most of them. Once you can see which decisions are the expensive ones, and which ones are actually worth paying for, the quote stops being a shock and starts being a menu.

How much should I expect to pay for framing?

Expect the quote to scale with three things: the size of the finished package, the grade of the glazing, and the grade of the mat. It does not scale with what the picture is worth to you. The same 16x20 print can be framed three legitimate ways with a wide spread between the cheapest version and the most protective one, and the shop is not padding the difference — the materials genuinely cost that much more.

You will notice this article doesn’t print a dollar range. That’s deliberate. Custom framing is priced per shop, per moulding, per project, and moulding costs move with import pricing and freight, so a published range is stale by next quarter and wrong across the river anyway. What you can learn instead is the arithmetic happening behind the counter, so you can read your own quote and see which line item is driving it.

One number in this whole category is published and dated, and it’s worth knowing as a floor: Michaels announced a 10-minute custom framing service on November 18, 2025 — a digital photo printed, framed, and gift boxed for $29, in an 8x8 or 8x10, with four frame finishes and an optional mat. That is a packaged product, not a custom quote. It tells you what the cheap end of a gift photo looks like. It tells you nothing about your grandmother’s portrait.

What are you actually paying for?

A framing quote is built from four buckets: moulding measured by the foot, mat and backing measured in united inches, glazing measured by area, and labor. Understanding the four is what lets you negotiate. You can’t argue a shop down on glass, but you can absolutely redesign the mat.

Moulding by the foot. Frame shops buy moulding in lengths from distributors and price it per foot. Here’s the part customers never expect: the footage you need is not the perimeter of your picture. Because all four corners are mitered, the trade formula adds eight times the moulding width to the perimeter. A 16x20 opening has a 72-inch perimeter, but in a 2-inch-wide moulding it consumes 32 + 40 + 16 = 88 inches, or about 7 feet 4 inches. So a wider frame costs you twice: more dollars per foot, and more feet.

United inches. This is the industry’s shorthand for size — one long side plus one short side. A 16x20 is 36 united inches. Mats, backing, fitting and a lot of the labor line are priced off that single figure, which is why shops can quote so fast once they know your dimensions.

Glazing by area. Glass and acrylic are priced from sheets, so glazing cost tracks square inches, not united inches. This is the reason big pieces jump in price faster than they look like they should.

Labor and fitting. Cutting the mat opening with a beveled edge, joining and clamping the corners, mounting or hinging the artwork, cleaning the glazing, fitting everything into the rabbet, sealing the back with a dust cover, and attaching hardware. Hobby Lobby’s own custom framing page describes the package the same way: the moulding, the matting, protective glass, an acid-free dust cover on the back, and the hangers needed to mount it.

How much does it cost to frame a 24x36 picture?

There’s no honest single number, but there is a very clear reason a 24x36 quote lands so much higher than a 16x20 one: it is a step change, not a proportional increase. Run the arithmetic and you can see exactly where the money goes.

A 16x20 is 36 united inches and 320 square inches of glass. A 24x36 is 60 united inches and 864 square inches. So the size figure the mat and labor are priced from rises about 67 percent, while the glazing area rises about 170 percent. That alone explains a lot of the gap.

Now add a 3-inch mat all the way around, which is a normal design choice at that scale. Your outside dimension becomes 30x42 — 72 united inches and 1,260 square inches, nearly four times the glazing area of that 16x20. In a 2-inch moulding, the footage goes from about 7 feet 4 inches to 13 feet 4 inches.

And there’s a hard break you should know about. A standard full sheet of mat board is 32x40 inches. A 30x42 outside dimension does not fit on one, so the shop has to move to jumbo board, commonly 40x60. That is a genuine material step, not a markup. If your budget is tight on a large piece, the single most effective thing you can do is design the mat so the outside dimension stays inside 32x40 — a 2-inch mat instead of a 3-inch mat on a 24x36 keeps you at 28x40 and on a standard sheet.

At that size the glazing conversation changes too. A sheet of glass over 1,200 square inches is heavy and genuinely dangerous if it lets go on the stairs, so many shops steer large work to acrylic, which weighs roughly half as much as glass and won’t break into shards.

Which choices actually move the number?

Glazing and mat grade move it most, and both are real value rather than upsell. Everything else — a fancier moulding, a second mat, a v-groove, a fabric wrap — is taste, and taste is where you cut if you have to.

Glazing tiers. The spread here is enormous and the labels are slippery, so ask for the actual specification. Tru Vue, the dominant glazing manufacturer in the trade, lists its non-conservation Premium Clear glass at 45 percent UV protection. Its Conservation Clear line blocks up to 99 percent of UV, with more than 89 percent light transmission and about 8 percent reflection. Its Museum Glass blocks up to 99 percent of UV and adds the anti-reflective coating — less than 1 percent reflection and more than 97 percent light transmission. The manufacturer states its conservation-grade products meet ISO 18902 and pass ISO 18916, the photographic activity test. If a shop says only “UV glass,” that could mean 45 percent or it could mean 99. Make them say which.

Mat grade. A decorative paper-faced mat, a conservation mat made of purified alpha-cellulose, and a museum mat of 100 percent cotton rag are three different products at three different prices. Cotton is naturally acid-free and needs the least chemical processing, which is why museums default to it. Alpha-cellulose conservation board is the sensible middle, and it is what most people should buy for anything they care about.

Float mounting. Floating a piece so the deckled or torn edges show, instead of covering them with a mat window, means the artwork sits on top of the board rather than under it. That requires spacers to hold the glazing off the surface, which adds depth and a step of labor. It looks fantastic on hand-torn paper and it costs more.

Mounting method. Dry mounting bonds the piece to a board with heat and adhesive. It is flat, it is cheap, and it is permanent. Hinging with Japanese paper and wheat starch paste is the conservation alternative, and the paste releases with moisture, which is the entire point. For a poster, dry mount it. For anything signed, numbered, original, or irreplaceable, do not.

Oversize. Past 32x40 you are in jumbo materials, and past that you are into shipping considerations and acrylic. Ask where the price breaks are before you fall in love with a mat width.

Nothing to do with frames — lawn and garden help.

What does archival or conservation framing actually mean?

It means every material touching your piece is chemically stable, and every step taken today can be undone tomorrow without damaging the artwork. Reversibility is the real test, not the word on the sticker. “Acid-free” only describes the pH of a board at the moment it was made; it says nothing about what that board does in twenty years inside a sealed frame.

The Northeast Document Conservation Center’s preservation leaflet on matting and framing works on paper describes the standard: a window and backboard of 4-ply 100 percent ragboard or lignin-free archival board, with the object attached to the backboard using hinges of Japanese paper and wheat starch paste, or with corner supports and edge strips that put no adhesive on the object at all. Wheat starch paste can be removed with moisture. That is why conservators use it.

The second half of conservation framing is the air gap. Nothing should press against the glazing. A mat creates that gap automatically; a float mount needs spacers to do the same job. This matters more here than in a dry climate, because a St. Louis August moves a lot of moisture through a house, and a photographic emulsion held tight against glass through enough humid summers can bond to it. Separating them again is a conservation job, not a framing job.

Buffering is the last wrinkle. Buffered board carries an alkaline reserve that absorbs acidic gases from inside the frame, including from wood mouldings, which are themselves acidic. Some photographic processes do better on unbuffered board. If you are framing photographs, say the word “photographs” out loud and let the framer pick.

One honest limit: UV glazing filters ultraviolet light, not visible light, and visible light fades things too. Conservation glass buys years, not immunity. Nothing you care about should hang where afternoon sun lands on it, which is why the cheapest preservation upgrade in most houses isn’t glass at all — it’s a blind or a shade on the window, or a UV-blocking film on the glass itself.

Where is the cheapest place to get custom framing?

The cheapest framing is the framing you don’t buy custom. If your piece is already a standard size — 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, 16x20, 18x24, 24x36 — a ready-made frame and a pre-cut mat will beat any custom quote by a wide margin, and for a reproduction poster that is the correct answer, not a compromise.

Four more ways to move the number down without wrecking the result:

• Let the mat do the fitting. If your piece is an odd size but close to a standard, buy a ready-made frame at the nearest standard size and pay only for a custom-cut mat. That is often the single biggest saving available.
• Print to a standard size. If you are having a photo printed anyway, size the file to a standard frame before you print it, not after.
• Bring your own frame. Most shops will fit new mat, glazing and backing into a frame you already own. Ask. If a moulding you love turns up at an estate sale in Webster Groves, it may be worth more to you than the sample corner on the wall.
• Spend the savings on glazing. If you have to choose, a plain moulding with conservation glass protects your piece. An ornate moulding with 45 percent UV glass does not.

And read the discount carefully. Hobby Lobby’s custom framing page states that custom frames are 50 percent off the marked price and that the discount applies to frames only. That is a real saving on one of the four buckets. It is not 50 percent off your ticket, and two quotes carrying the same headline percentage can still land far apart.

Is Hobby Lobby or Michaels cheaper for picture frames?

Nobody can answer that honestly as a blanket yes or no, and this article isn’t going to pretend otherwise. Both chains price custom work per project, both run promotional structures that change what a shelf number means, and neither publishes a comparable price list you could hold side by side. Anyone declaring a winner is guessing or selling something.

What can be verified is what each says about its own service. Hobby Lobby’s custom framing page says there is a framing expert in every store, that custom frames are 50 percent off the marked price for frames only, that the package includes moulding, matting, protective glass, an acid-free dust cover and hangers, and that UV-protective glass is standard with museum glass and cotton rag mats available. Michaels announced its 10-minute service for printed photos on November 18, 2025, at $29, in more than 500 stores at launch with a chainwide rollout by February 2026.

Rather than chasing a winner, compare the seven things that actually differ between any two framing counters, chain or independent:

• Who cuts the mat, and where. Cut on site, or ordered from a central production facility? This drives turnaround more than anything else.
• Does your piece leave the building? For a replaceable poster, who cares. For the only photograph of your grandmother, that is the whole question.
• Which glazing lines are stocked. Ask for the UV percentage, not the adjective.
• What mounting is the default. Is hinging offered, or is dry mounting simply what happens?
• Will they refit a frame you already own? Some will, some won’t.
• Can they handle the unusual piece? A jersey needs sewing, not adhesive. A shadow box needs depth. A diploma with a raised seal needs a spacer.
• Turnaround, in writing. Especially in May and December.

Broadly, the independent shop’s advantage is the design conversation and the odd job; the chain’s advantage is convenience and visible discounting. Which of those is worth more depends entirely on what is in your hands. Get an itemized quote from both on identical specifications and the comparison answers itself.

Does the Missouri or the Illinois side change what you pay?

Barely, and probably not enough to drive for. A finished framed piece is tangible goods, taxed at the shop’s address. Missouri’s state sales tax rate is 4.225 percent; Illinois charges 6.25 percent on general merchandise. Local add-ons close most of that gap: the Tax Foundation’s 2026 figures put the average combined state and local rate near 8.44 percent in Missouri and about 8.75 percent in Illinois.

On a $600 framing job, roughly three tenths of a percentage point is under two dollars. Meanwhile a single address in the city of St. Louis can sit well above the Missouri average, and a Belleville or Edwardsville shop can come in under the Illinois average. The rate that matters is the one at the counter you are standing at, and both states publish address-level lookup tools — the Missouri Department of Revenue rate map and the Illinois Tax Rate Finder.

The differences worth caring about are practical, not fiscal. Turnaround, in-house work and whether anyone there will touch a jersey vary far more between two shops in the same county than between the two states.

What the person on the other side of the counter is watching

A frame shop is a custom manufacturer with a retail front, and the arithmetic is unforgiving. Moulding is bought by the foot, and miter waste is real — that 16x20 in a 2-inch profile eats 88 inches of stick, not the 72 the perimeter suggests, and the drop usually can’t be sold to anybody. Output is capped by one bench, one mat cutter and one pair of hands, so a shop can only finish so many pieces in a day no matter how hard the phone rings. The year is lumpy too: graduation season in May and the holiday run in the fall carry months that are much quieter. And the thing framers say to each other is that percentage-off signage down the road resets what a fair price sounds like before they have opened their mouth. The good ones answer it by showing the work — naming the board, naming the UV number, saying out loud whether the mounting can be undone. Which is also why being findable matters: people search this trade the week they need it, and a complete listing is how a shop gets into that search at all.

How do you get a quote you can actually compare?

Bring the piece, not the measurements — a framer needs to see the paper, the edges and the condition. Then ask for the quote itemized, and take the same list to a second shop. Nine questions do the whole job:

• What is the moulding footage, and the price per foot?
• What is the mat made of — decorative paper, alpha-cellulose conservation, or 100 percent cotton rag?
• What percentage of UV does the glazing block, and what is the product name?
• Is the mounting reversible, and what adhesive is used?
• Does the outside dimension cross 32x40, and what does that change?
• Glass or acrylic, and why for this piece?
• Who does the work, in which building, and what is the turnaround?
• What happens if the piece is damaged while it is with you?
• Does anyone here hold a Certified Picture Framer credential?

That last one is a real thing, not a nicety. The Professional Picture Framers Association has run the Certified Picture Framer exam since 1986, developed with Educational Testing Service — a three-and-a-half-hour written test covering preservation, mounting, mechanics and framing math, with a Master credential above it that requires five years in the trade. Plenty of excellent framers never sat it. But if someone has, they will tell you, and the conversation that follows will be a better one.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find custom picture framing in St. Louis?

Four kinds of places do it: independent frame shops, galleries and art-supply stores with a framing counter, craft chains with an in-store framing department, and photo labs that sell framed prints. Shortlist two or three, then call and describe your piece — size, condition, and what it actually is — before you drive anywhere.

Where can I find custom framing services in Saint Louis, Missouri?

Both sides of the river have them, and for an Illinois-side reader a shop in Belleville or Edwardsville is often a shorter trip than crossing into the city. Rather than sorting by distance, call ahead and ask three things: is the mat cut on site, does my piece leave the building, and which glazing lines do you stock?

Does Hobby Lobby still do framing?

Yes. Hobby Lobby’s custom framing page says there is a framing expert in every store, and describes a package that includes the moulding, matting, protective glass, an acid-free dust cover on the back, and the hangers needed to mount it. The same page lists museum glass and cotton rag mats as options.

Does Hobby Lobby charge for framing?

Yes — custom framing is a paid service. The advertised 50 percent off applies to the frame, and Hobby Lobby’s own page states the discount is for frames only. Matting, glazing, mounting and fitting labor are priced separately, which is exactly why two quotes carrying the same headline discount can land far apart.

Why is framing necessary?

For a poster you would happily replace, it isn’t. For anything you can’t replace, it is. A frame holds the piece flat, keeps hands and dust off the surface, and with conservation glazing filters up to 99 percent of the ultraviolet light that fades ink and paper. For an original photograph or a signed item, that protection is the entire purchase.

Do paintings sell better, framed or unframed?

Nobody publishes a reliable number on this, so treat any confident answer as sales talk. What is verifiable: juried shows publish presentation rules in the artist prospectus, and works on paper generally have to be matted or framed to hang. The Art Fair at Queeny Park, run each spring and fall by the Greater St. Louis Artists Organization, juries more than 120 artists. Read the rules before you spend.

What are the trends in picture framing for 2026?

The clearest documented shift is speed. Michaels announced 10-minute custom framing on November 18, 2025 — a printed photo, framed and gift boxed, in an 8x8 or 8x10 for $29, in more than 500 stores at launch and chainwide by February 2026. Beyond dated announcements like that, most published trend lists are marketing rather than measured demand.

Is a framer a good job?

Picture framing is a skilled retail trade — measuring, mat cutting, joining, mounting and preservation decisions, mostly on your feet. There is a real credential behind it: the Professional Picture Framers Association has offered the Certified Picture Framer exam since 1986, developed with Educational Testing Service, with a Master level above it. Pay tracks the shop and the market, not the title.

About the Author: The St Louis Near Me Directory Team
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.

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