At the very least, you'll go to the framer with a specific wish list. At best, you'll go with a designer, who will consider the composition of the room where the piece will be. The cardinal rule for framing is the same for framers and designers alike: You don't want to do anything that will detract from the artwork. A framed work is like a good partnership in that it capitalizes on the best characteristics of each of its elements.

"As the times change, so does the way people frame," says Birmingham designer Betsy Brown. "I have clients whose art came from their parents and was framed perhaps in the '70s. By reframing it in a more modern way, it can look incredible." Other inherited pieces may have mats that have yellowed with age, which most likely results from exposure to sunlight and nonprotective glass.

So what is the best way to frame a work so that it is both archival and au courant? "The options are limitless," says gallery owner Maralyn Wilson. "You can pull together moldings to alter the thickness, you can pull together finishes, you can layer mats to give depth, or you can design a one-of-a-kind frame that echoes the motif of a work." She explains that on mats alone, you can add a French line (an inked border around the inside edge of the mat), watercolors, and marbleized-paper borders.

A recent change that Brown has noticed in framing is the use of larger mats. Sometimes they are double or triple the size of the artwork. "It gives it a treasured-jewel effect," she says.