Back To the Picture

4.5 stars
Delays. VERY reasonable. I’m used to months at a time for odd jobs that require the expert of the house, and we got the phone call quite fast.
Price. We framed 12 items, so it adds up, but at the end and with the bulk discount, it came out VERY reasonable.
Now the details. each of my pieces needed some special handling. The cross-​stitch are STRAIGHT!!! I can’t believe it! One of the cross stitch was beyond hope (a dirty cloth from my great grandma) and I requested a reversed mat to salvage it. They ended up with a regular mat over a piece PERFECTLY stretched.
I requested a old drawing to be recut to straighten it. Again, it looks better than ever.
I would have given a 5 — save the young lady who was not very helpful — but allowed me to grab and choose. I spent an hour choosing all the mats and frames, and she wrote a perfect order, with all the pieces framed in the matching items.
The job was so well done, I’m confident they would have called if something «looked wrong».
Overall, excellent experience for a chore I dreaded for about 10 years. AND I’m happy to support a local business on Valencia, so we don’t end up with one more clothing store.

Great place! service is one of the friendliest I’ve encountered, the prices are affordable and they have all sorts of frames and mirrors.

I took an 8×10 photo in for a mat job. Had a frame, and just needed a mat. I showed them the photo and pointed out the top. I showed them the farme and said I wanted the mat to fit. It needed to be a specific thickness.
1) they cut my photo down when it didn’t need to be cut down – a major loss of art integrity
2) the mat did not fit the frame
3) They placed the photo upside down in the mat.
I’ve used these folks before but today was a travesty.

I had a great experience at Back To the Picture! This place does great work for a more reasonable price than other shops in the area. I was able to get two basic frames built and the pictures inserted in about a week — would have been even sooner if they had had all the parts on hand to begin with. Excellent and friendly customer service, and the man who we first spoke to gave great advice on picture frame colors/​borders/​etc. He really went the extra mile and helped me with some of the hanging hardware when it became clear I wasn’t very competent! Would definitely recommend! (and the Unilocal deal is great!)

Went in there to have a collage framed and Randy was a super polite, kind, knowledgeable, helpful, competent artist, framer, salesperson. I couldn’t have been happier and more satisfied with my experience there. Plan on taking more there to have framed. Great place. Excellent customer service. Great stuff!

Robin is a gem. Helpful, knowledgeable and has a creative eye.
Excellent work.
High cost, very expensive.
Very, very slow delivery.

Wow! I am super impressed with everything about my experience here. Framing is quite a pricey endeavor but we got great price. The owner handles most of the framing and is a consummate expert! He’s very friendly and chooses the materials that are right for the project.
Every time I walk past the lovely PhD diploma I got framed I notice it is the nicest frame in the house. Definitely will be using them from now on!

Today I bought 3 frames from Robyn, who was helpful, knowledgable, and kind. I am doing the framing myself and what she suggested worked out well. I plan on returning tomorrow to frame two more. Thank you for your customer service!

They did a good job with the actual framing, but:
— it was very expensive — far more than the artwork cost me
— they were late — said they’d be done in a week and they weren’t (for 3 frames, one of them custom)
— customer service nothing to write home about

I recently took in a piece of my needle work to be framed, and the staff was incredibly helpful and friendly. Their work product was excellent, and the price for the job was reasonable as well. I highly recommend Back to the Picture to anyone needing something framed.

They are very helpful and do great work. I always go there!

First up, there are a lot of positives. Very helpful staff, and they really do solid work. Unfortunately, I had a very disappointing experience. I was told my framed poster would be ready by April 9 (already a long two weeks after I turned it in), and it wasn’t ready until April 27. I wasn’t called or notified of the delay one time, and in the end I had to call to make sure it was still being worked on. Its also incredibly expensive. I understand things happen, but the fact that there wasn’t any warning or notification of such a long delay isn’t acceptable, especially from such an expensive shop.

I’ve taken a few pieces here over the years. The work is OK but pricey.
Randy is helpful and knows his stuff.
The rest of the staff are pretty much useless. We have an expression in the South: «A whole lotta sugar for a dime.» There is a young woman who works here who is fake-​sweet but completely unhelpful.
So it’s a decent place, but they might as well only have Randy working there.

I have been going to Back to the picture for more than 10 years now and more framed pictures now than wall space. The gem is Randy who spends thoughtful time suggesting how to best display your picture. I always get the Mission resident discount and the wait time is not more than a few week for your finished product. I’ve had gifts done for others and they were well liked. Love local business and will always have my art framed here for as long as I live in the city by the bay.

I have no idea why framing is so expensive. It just is. Now that I am a mature adult, I guess I can’t get by with tacked-​up posters anymore.
So I’m cranky when I go in to Back to the Picture, but they are so helpful and patient that I leave happy. Happy to be spending hundreds of dollars. Happy about the number of years I’m going to enjoy looking at the finished product. Happy that my artwork is in good hands — better than mine, probably. And happy to be supporting what seems to be a locally owned, longtime, independent small business.
As other reviewers have noted, Randy is a gem. I have also been helped, during the very busy holiday season, by equally friendly and knowledgeable people.

These guys do a great job, and they’re very professional. I always feel comfortable bringing art work here to get framed.

Randy did a fantastic job framing seven prints and drawings for me. He spent well over an hour patiently helping me find the perfect frames and mats, and the results looks really beautiful. It is probably not the cheapest place in the city to get things framed, but it is absolutely worth it.

Randy is super helpful and always smiling whenever I show up. He has great suggestions and takes wonderful care of me, and my prints that I’m having framed. Thanks!

I went in to order a print. Had a nice talk with one of the guys who worked there. He said he would order my print and call me when it came in. Two weeks later after no call I went in and politely inquired about my order. The same guy who took my order was there and I dealt with him again. He again took down my number and said he would check on it and get right back to me. I never heard from him.
We are in a down economy, and this place can afford to turn away business. I have close to a thousand dollars worth of framing I need done. Guess who is NOT getting my business or my money?

Derek is a super nice guy. I came in with a poster I purchased in Tokyo. He guided me through the framing process, provided a creative idea re: an alternative to matting, and charged me a fair price. He’s a super nice guy who spent a lot of his precious time with me. This is a great place to go to honor your art, without losing an arm or leg. Thanks, Derek!