I Kept Changing the Window. The Price Did Not Care.

The price only moved when I changed the outer size

I kept changing the opening on 27 September 2026 and the price did not care. Outer size, yes. Window, no. I sat on matboardandmore.com with a kitchen ruler and a print that is not a tidy eight by ten, and I typed a smaller hole three times like that would cheapen the sheet. It did not. The till prices the board you ship, not the hole you cut. I am leaving the live sticker unpublished rather than reprint a figure that will move with family, core, and quantity by the time you read this.

I was going to call this a frame shop. That is too tidy. Matboard and More LLC cuts mats, frames, plexiglass, backing, and show kits at 1791 West Oak Parkway, Suite 7, Marietta, Georgia 30062, and ships them from the Atlanta area. Phone is 678-688-MATS, that is 6287. Email is info@matboardandmore.com. Chat when someone is at the desk; a form if you can wait until the next business day. Trustpilot and a 2018 founder interview put the start around 2012. Existing orders live in a signed-in account. The suite is — wait. Treat that address as production space unless they confirm a visit. Most supply is U.S.; a few frames come from Italy. Not a mall counter that mounts your print while you wait.

Skip this till if you need a person with a hinge

Start here if you were about to treat the builder like a same-day appointment. You will not watch anyone T-hinge an original in front of you. You will not walk out with glass. You will type two numbers, wait for Atlanta to cut a sheet, and assemble the sandwich at your table. That is the job. If the object cannot be reprinted and you want a person holding it under the same lights as the wall, book a local framer. I mean that as a filter, not a slight.

Canada is out, even when a card would clear. Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico can move after you call, usually with extra freight. Sheets stop at thirty-two by forty inches because, the shop says, larger ones cost too much to ship. Thick canvas, wet mounting, a written treatment, or cotton museum board — that is a conservator. Ovals and multi-openings need a labeled drawing. Color is another pause. Screens lie about white on white. A one-dollar chip is slower than a shop that holds a real swatch next to your print, and I am not sure a laptop will ever settle that for you.

• The piece is an original you cannot reprint, and you want the hinge done in front of you.
• You need glass, a size past thirty-two by forty inches, or canvas thicker than the rabbet.
• Your ship-to is Canadian, or you assumed Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico would price like Atlanta.
• You need an oval or multi-opening you cannot draw, or you need it tomorrow.
• You want a written treatment, wet mounting, or cotton museum board as a stock cart line.

Stay if you already have the glass size

This cart earns its keep when you already know the glass, or the inner rabbet, and you can use a ruler on a Sunday afternoon without turning it into a design consult. Photographers selling editions in show kits, households matching an odd opening to a frame they own, offices that need a stack of the same window, and buyers who can send a purchase order are the people the help pages keep naming. There is no minimum. A student watercolor, a poster, a run of identical eight-by-tens you will bag yourself — that is the cheaper path. Government and museum terms still want a direct contact.

• You can measure the glass or the rabbet and you will not guess from the outside of the wood.
• The print can be assembled as a kit: mat, glazing, backing, maybe a bag.
• You are shipping editions, office stacks, or household art, not an irreplaceable object.
• You will order the dollar chips before a large acid-free run, and you can wait a week on a truck.

Volume off starts at quantity two and, on the published list, can reach seventy-six percent. That is a list claim, not a promise your color will hit the bottom rung. Open the live sheet before you tell a client you locked a bulk number. Uncut sheets are a real option: type No Opening, or zero by zero inches, if you want the board whole. The builder is the product.

Two numbers, then a bevel you cannot uncut

Outer size is the frame size. It has to match the glass you already have, or the inner rabbet of the moulding you own. Artwork size is the image you want to see, not leftover paper. Opening size is the window. Make it about a quarter inch smaller on each side so the mat overlaps the art enough to tape. Measure the glass. Measure the glass, not the outside of the wood. If you still need a frame, the help pages push ordinary outers — eight by ten, eleven by fourteen, sixteen by twenty — so a hardware-store moulding still fits. The inner opening does not change the price. The outer size does. I keep saying that because I watched myself forget it.

Borders of two to three inches are the default advice. The art-show note stretches that to two to four and calls a one-inch border almost never enough. Double mats add an accent layer; the usual reveal is a quarter inch, and the shop says it tapes those layers at no extra charge. Cart margins already include that reveal, so do not subtract it twice. Offset, including Top Center, makes the bottom heavier. A half-inch shift is enough for most eight-by-tens in eleven-by-fourteen frames. Wrong numbers get cut into board you cannot uncut. The window is final. You do not get a second pass at the same sheet.

Conservation Select, a dollar chip, and I stopped naming lines

I am not dumping the aisle. Two named pieces were enough to see how the shop talks. Conservation Select is the buffered wood-pulp board they treat as acid-free. The primer is blunt that the thinner economy surface and the household decorative surface are not. Thickness sits near five-hundredths of an inch on the better families; the cheap sheet is closer to four-hundredths and the art-show note steers it away from juried walls. Cotton museum board is a different fiber, and the primer does not present it as a stock cart item. A Conservation click is not a museum hinge. Do not tell a client you bought museum board until you ask whether that fiber is actually in the basket.

The second named thing is the one-dollar sample chip. Mats, backing, plexiglass, and frames each have a dollar sample, and a coupon credit of up to twenty dollars waits on the next non-sample purchase. Most of those packs, the help pages say, land in two to five days. Cores are the bevel after the forty-five-degree cut, default on every opening unless you arrange a special. Cream cores cost less and, the company warns, yellow over a decade in light. White and black cores are sold as acid-free cores that keep their color; they still sit under a surface that may not be Conservation. About eighty percent of show work, they say, is still plain black or white. The chips exist because the site already knows the screen will lie.

How the till actually charges you

Mats price by family, core, outer size, and quantity, not by the color name you click. Every color inside a family costs the same. That is why a catalog of whites is a waste of this page. On an earlier September pass a small eight-by-ten Conservation example sat in the low-ten-dollar band. On 27 September 2026 I am leaving the live number unpublished. Free shipping is described for many continental U.S. deliveries once the subtotal clears fifty dollars, but the cart still quotes your address. Rush shows a date from that address. There is no minimum.

• No minimum. Volume off starts at two pieces and can reach seventy-six percent on the published list.
• Family, core, and outer size set the price. The inner opening does not. Color inside a family does not change it.
• Cream cores cost less than white or black. Dollar samples, then a credit up to twenty dollars on the next non-sample buy.
• Many continental U.S. carts over fifty dollars are described as free freight. The live quote still wins.
• Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico: extra charges after you call. Canada: do not check out.
• Rush is a cart date, not a walk-in. Double-mat taping is listed as no extra charge. Museum terms need a direct contact.

What leaves Marietta in the carton

Custom frames stop at the same thirty-two by forty limit, in wood, MDF, metal, and a few other finishes, hanging hardware included. Metal frames come apart at the corners so you slide in plexiglass, mat, art, and backing, then tighten. The components note still points most gallery work at simple black or walnut wood. I am not naming those mouldings as products. The frame is a box for the window you already measured.

The shop ships plexiglass, not glass, because acrylic survives a courier. Sheets stop at thirty-two by forty. Extra coatings can double or triple the glazing cost; the same note calls plain plexiglass enough for most household walls. Leave the film on both faces until the pane is in the rabbet. Economy backing is thin pressboard. Archival backing is acid-free in the same range. Show kits add a resealable archival bag; the labeled size is the board that slides in, not the print. I am leaving bag prices unpublished. Packaging is custom. Mats and plexiglass often ride sandwiched between backing boards, so an empty-looking box may still hold the expensive layer. Open it before you mail a complaint about air.

Canada is out. The refund clock stayed unpublished.

Orders normally leave within one to three days, then spend another one to five on the truck. The cart offers rush and shows a date from your address. Production sits in the Atlanta area. Canada is excluded. Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico can ship with extra charges after you call. If a gallery later needs the work north of the border, land the carton at a U.S. address you control. No Canadian landed-cost table appeared on the pages I reviewed, and I am not inventing one.

Here is what annoyed me. I opened the Service Policy and the Terms on that September pass looking for a refund clock I could quote. I did not get one. Those screens did not expose a static window, so I am leaving the refund period unpublished rather than invent a number of days. Assume a custom window is not a stock poster-frame return. If the opening matches what you typed and you dislike the white in daylight, that is a taste issue the dollar chips were meant to catch. If the opening is wrong, or the courier crushed a corner, photograph the carton, then use the signed-in account, 678-688-6287, or info@matboardandmore.com. A 2018 founder interview said damaged shipments are replaced. That is not the live legal text. Read those two URLs at checkout and keep a screenshot.

A custom mat is a measurement problem first and a color problem second. Order the dollar chips, tape a paper window on the print, and only then spend on Conservation Select or a thicker ply.

— Priya Nair

Frequently asked questions

How do I turn a print into an outer size and an opening?

Measure the image you want to show, not leftover paper, and treat that as artwork size. Subtract half an inch from both overall dimensions so the opening is a quarter inch smaller on each side and the mat overlaps the art. If a frame already exists, measure the glass or the rabbet and use that as outer size. If you still need a frame, pick a standard outer such as eleven by fourteen for an eight-by-ten print. Bottom weighting and Top Center are usually free on the measuring page. For a double mat, set the reveal, commonly a quarter inch; cart margins already include it. Wrong math is expensive, because the board is cut. Cut to your digits.

Will they ship to Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico?

The help pages are blunt. The company can ship to those regions except Canada, and extra charges may apply outside the continental United States. Free-shipping language is tied to continental deliveries and to subtotals over fifty dollars, not to an island or an Alaska address. Put the items in the cart for a live quote, then email or call if the rate looks wrong. A Canadian ship-to field is the wrong checkout even if a card clears. If a gallery later ships north of the border, land the order at a U.S. address you control.

Can I send a custom mat back if I hate the white?

Do not plan on it. Cuts are made to order. Samples exist because screens misrepresent white. The Service Policy and Terms pages did not yield a refund clock I could quote on 27 September 2026, so that window stays unpublished. Read those two URLs at checkout and keep a screenshot. If the opening matches what you typed and the white looks wrong in daylight, that is a taste issue the chips were meant to catch. If the opening is wrong, or a corner arrived crushed, use the signed-in account, 678-688-6287, or info@matboardandmore.com with photos.

What do I pick if the print has to last decades?

Step up to Conservation Select, a white or black core, archival backing, and UV plexiglass if the wall gets sun. The primer says Conservation Select is the acid-free paper line most frame counters mean by that word, while the economy and decorative surfaces are not. Do not hinge an original with household tape. The mounting note tells you to use a T-hinge only at the top, or photo corners and Mylar strips that never put adhesive on the art. Cotton museum board is a separate fiber; ask whether it is actually in the cart. A conservator still beats a web order when the object is unique. This is not a diagnosis of your paper, and it is not a guarantee the print will last a set number of years.

When should I just book a local framer?

Hire a local shop when you need glass, thick canvas, a size past thirty-two by forty inches, or a hinge you can watch. Hire one when the deadline is tomorrow or the piece is an original you cannot reprint. Matboard and More is a cutter and a parts cart, not a design appointment. It will quote unusual windows from a drawing, tape double mats, and ship a kit. That is the right job for editions, student work, and frames you already own. It is the wrong merchant if you expected someone to dry-mount, fit, wire, and hang a family oil in one visit. Use the Marietta cart for the window. Use a framer for the object you cannot replace.

How do the dollar samples and the volume off actually work?

Samples of mats, backing, plexiglass, and frames are one dollar each. A coupon credit of up to twenty dollars applies to the next non-sample purchase. Most sample orders, the help pages say, arrive in two to five days. Volume discounts start at quantity two and can reach seventy-six percent on the published list. There is no minimum. Color inside a family does not change the price. Outer size does. Open the live list before a bulk cut, and do not promise a client the deepest discount until the cart shows it for your family, core, and outer size.

How long until it leaves Marietta, and what if the box looks empty?

The usual clock is one to three days in production and one to five days in transit. Rush options sit in the cart and print a date from your address. Mats and plexiglass are often sandwiched between backing boards, so a box that feels light may still hold the layer you paid for. Photograph a crushed carton before you discard it. Then use the account tools, 678-688-6287, or info@matboardandmore.com. Track existing orders while signed in. The builder will not mount the print for you. You will.