Tips & How-To
Framing Kids’ Art Alongside Your Decor Shelves
Sep
TL;DR
Frame a few strong pieces of your child's art, give them a generous mount, and hang them so they work with nearby shelves instead of competing.
- Pick drawings with bold colour and a recognizable subject, since faint pencil work disappears behind glass from across the room.
- Use a wider mount than feels natural so the artwork has breathing space and reads as considered rather than cramped.
- Let either the shelf display or the framed art lead, and tie them together by echoing a colour that's already on the shelf.
Why Kids’ Art Deserves Wall Space
Framing kids art is one of the simplest ways to make a home feel like yours. A drawing on the fridge says something temporary. The same drawing behind glass says it mattered enough to keep.
Children notice this. They see which pieces get saved and which ones drift into the recycling. A frame is a quiet vote of confidence.
If your kids' framed artwork needs a shelf companion, browse our handcrafted sculptures and statues at lcdesigns.cc to find a piece that fits the display.
Learn more →It also changes how adults see the work. A scribbled bird looks like clutter on a counter. Mounted with a margin around it, that same bird reads as a deliberate mark.
There’s a practical side too. Loose paper curls, tears and goes missing. Framed art stops moving and stops degrading.
So the question isn’t whether to keep it. The question is how to show it without the room turning into a scrapbook.
Choosing Which Pieces to Frame
Not everything can go on the wall. A child produces art faster than any home can absorb it. Selection is part of the job.
Look for pieces with strong shapes or one confident colour. Those read well from across a room. Faint pencil work often disappears once it’s behind glass.
Ask the child which ones they like. Their answers rarely match yours, and that’s useful. It stops the wall from becoming a display of adult taste.
Here are some things worth watching for when you’re sorting:
- Bold blocks of colour rather than thin outlines
- A clear subject you can recognise from a distance
- Unusual use of space, like a figure pushed to one corner
- Anything with the child’s own handwriting on it
- Pieces that made them laugh while they were making them
Keep the rest, but keep it flat in a folder. Rotation beats hoarding on the wall.
Matching Art to the Shelves Around It
Most people approach framing kids art in isolation. Then they hang it near shelves that are already full of objects, and the two fight each other.
Shelves carry weight and shadow. Framed art is flat and bright. The trick is to let one lead and the other support.
If your shelves hold sculptures or ceramic pieces, the art above them should be simpler. A single strong drawing holds its own. Six small ones turn into visual noise.
Colour is the easiest bridge. Pick a frame or mount that echoes a colour already sitting on the shelf. The eye connects them without you having to explain it.
Scale matters more than people expect. A large frame beside a shelf of small objects looks intentional. A small frame lost between big pieces just looks forgotten.
Frames, Mounts and the Space Around the Work
A mount is the border of card between the artwork and the frame. It’s the single biggest upgrade you can make when framing kids art.
The gap gives the eye somewhere to rest. Without it, the art presses against the edge and feels cramped. With it, the piece looks considered.
Go wider than feels natural. A generous mount flatters almost any drawing. A thin one tends to look like an afterthought.
Frame colour is a choice, not a default. Some things to think about:
- Plain wood frames sit quietly beside natural materials and greenery
- Black frames sharpen loose, messy drawings
- White frames keep things light in small rooms
- Matching every frame creates calm and repetition
- Mixing frames adds energy but needs a shared colour to hold it together
Whatever you pick, stay consistent within one wall. Variety across the house is fine. Variety in one glance is chaos.
Arranging a Wall That Grows With Them
Children keep making art. Your wall needs to expect that. Build an arrangement that can take a new piece without collapsing.
A grid is the most forgiving layout. Equal frames, equal gaps, straight lines. Swapping one image for another changes nothing structurally.
A loose cluster works too, but it needs an anchor. Start with the largest piece slightly off centre and build outward from there.
Hang at the height of the people who live there. Adults tend to hang too high out of habit. Dropping everything a few inches makes a room feel warmer.
Leave one frame that you change often. It becomes the spot the child checks. That small ritual is often the whole point of framing kids art in the first place.
Looking After the Work Over Time
Paper fades. Direct sunlight does the damage fastest, and it’s rarely reversible. Keep framed art off walls that catch hard afternoon light.
Marker and felt tip are the most fragile. Pencil and paint hold up better. If a favourite is done in bright marker, consider photographing it as a backup.
Write the date and the child’s age on the back of the mount. Memory blurs quickly. That small note is worth more in ten years than the frame is.
Store the pieces you rotate out properly. A flat folder in a dry cupboard beats a rolled tube or a stack under a bed.
Art made at the kitchen table doesn’t need to look precious to be worth keeping. Framing kids art and giving it a wall is just a way of agreeing that it counted.
→Seashell Collecting With Kids: Sorting, Cleaning, Displaying→Nursery Decor Themes That Still Work When Kids Grow Up
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I choose which of my child's drawings to frame?
Look for pieces with bold blocks of colour, a clear subject you can recognise from across the room, and any interesting use of space, like a figure pushed into one corner. Faint pencil work tends to disappear behind glass, so it rarely holds up on a wall. Ask your child which ones they like too, since their picks often differ from yours and that keeps the wall honest.
What should I do with the artwork I don't frame?
Keep it flat in a folder rather than piling it on a shelf or leaving it curling on a counter. Loose paper tears, curls and goes missing, so flat storage protects it until you want to swap something out. Rotating pieces through a frame works much better than trying to display everything at once.
How do I hang framed art near shelves without the two competing?
Let one element lead and the other support. If your shelves already hold sculptures or ceramic pieces, keep the art above them simple, since a single strong drawing holds its own where six small ones become visual noise. Echoing a colour that already sits on the shelf in the frame or mount ties the two together without any explanation.
Does the size of the frame really matter next to a shelf?
Yes, scale matters more than most people expect. A large frame beside a shelf of small objects reads as intentional, while a small frame stranded between big pieces just looks forgotten. Think about the frame and the shelf contents as one arrangement rather than two separate decisions.
What is a mount and do I need one?
A mount is the border of card that sits between the artwork and the frame, and it's the single biggest upgrade you can make. The gap gives the eye somewhere to rest, so the piece looks considered instead of cramped against the edge. Go wider than feels natural, because a generous mount flatters almost any drawing.
What does LC Designs make that would sit well on a shelf near framed art?
LC Designs makes handcrafted sculptures and statues, including animals, people, birds, flowers and plants, sea life and abstract pieces, all produced in-house in the studio. We also make 3D printed earrings, small toys, ceramic coasters and ceramic car coaster sets. Everything is sold as listed through lcdesigns.cc and shipped to you.
Can LC Designs frame or print my child's artwork for me?
No, LC Designs does not take custom orders, commissions or personalisation of any kind. Products are made in-house and sold exactly as listed on lcdesigns.cc. If you're framing kids art, you'd work with a framer or frame it yourself, then pair it with pieces from our catalogue if you like.
