The short answer
Usually not. Most art prints — including ours — ship unframed. What arrives is the printed artwork itself, rolled and protected, ready for a frame you choose.
Some shops do sell framed prints, and a few print-on-demand services offer framing as a paid add-on. But the default across independent studios and most online art shops is unframed, and the listing will say so somewhere. It's worth checking before you order, because it changes both the price you're comparing and what you need to do when the parcel arrives.
Why most independent studios ship unframed
Three practical reasons, none of them about cutting corners.
Framed art is fragile in transit. Glass breaks. Corners get crushed. Even with heavy packaging, framed pieces arrive damaged far more often than rolled prints do, and replacing them means printing, framing and shipping the whole thing twice.
Shipping cost scales badly. A rolled 24×36" print goes in a light box. The same print framed can weigh several kilos and needs a large, rigid one. That cost lands on the price whether it's itemised or not.
Frames are a personal decision. The frame that suits your room depends on your furniture, your wall colour, your ceiling height and your taste. A shop guessing at that from a distance will get it wrong more often than right — and you'd be paying for the guess.
There's an honest fourth reason too: shipping unframed keeps our prices lower than they'd otherwise be. A good deal of the difference between a framed and an unframed print is the frame itself and the packaging built around it.
What "unframed" actually arrives as
This is the part people are least sure about, so here's the detail.
Ours arrive rolled inside a long triangular kraft box rather than a round tube. The print sits loosely coiled in the middle with clearance on every side, printed face turned inward, so nothing presses against the edges. The paper itself is medium-weight and substantial in the hand, with a faint texture you can feel, and a matte surface that stays matte — no glare under a lamp or a window.
The curl relaxes as soon as you unroll it. Smoothing it flat with the palm of your hand is usually all it takes — no need to weight it down overnight. If a print has been rolled a long time, laying it face up under something flat and light for a few hours will finish the job. Don't iron it, and don't leave it in direct sun to flatten.
Three ways to frame a print
Buy a standard-size frame off the shelf. The cheapest and fastest option, and it works well as long as the print is a standard size. Ours are 12×18", 16×24" and 24×36", all of which are sizes you can find ready-made. We've written a full guide to which frames fit these sizes, including which near-miss sizes to avoid.
Buy a larger frame and add a mat. A mat is the card border between the print and the frame. It makes a smaller print feel more substantial and gives the artwork visual breathing room. Costs more, looks more finished. Ready-cut mats exist for common combinations; custom cutting is available at most framing shops.
Custom framing. A framer will build a frame to the exact size and let you choose materials. This is the most expensive route by a wide margin — often more than the print itself — and for a standard-size print it's rarely necessary. Worth it if you're framing something irregular or want museum-grade materials.
For a nursery, our honest recommendation is the first option. A simple oak or thin black frame, no mat, hung well, looks better than most people expect. The room doesn't need the frame to do any work.
A frame is also a safety decision
Worth mentioning here because it's easy to overlook while you're thinking about colour and style.
Most inexpensive frames come with glass. Acrylic — sometimes listed as plexiglass or styrene — is lighter and doesn't shatter, which matters in a room where a child will eventually be pulling themselves up on the furniture underneath. Many frames now ship with acrylic as standard; check the listing rather than assuming.
Lighter frames are also easier to fix securely to a wall. If you're weighing up where to hang something, we've written separately about hanging art safely near a crib.
What we ship, exactly
To be completely clear, since this is the question this page exists to answer:
- Included: the print, on heavyweight matte paper, printed to order
- Not included: frame, mat, glass, hanging hardware
- Sizes: 12×18", 16×24", 24×36" — all 2:3 ratio
- Shipping: free, worldwide. Made and dispatched in 3–7 business days
Nothing sits in a warehouse waiting. Each print is made when you order it, which is why the wait is a few days rather than same-day dispatch — and why we don't have leftover stock to discount.
Browse the collection — three sizes, printed to order, free shipping. Shop nursery wall art →
Q: Do art prints usually come with a frame? A: No. Most independent studios and online art shops ship prints unframed. Framed options exist but are less common and cost more.
Q: What does an unframed print arrive as? A: The printed artwork on paper, rolled inside a kraft shipping box. No frame, mat, glass or hanging hardware is included.
Q: How do I flatten a rolled print? A: Most of the curl relaxes the moment you unroll it, and smoothing it with your hand is usually enough. If it's been rolled a long time, lay it face up under something flat and light for a few hours. Don't iron it or leave it in direct sunlight.
Q: What frame size do I need for a 16×24 print? A: A frame listed as 16×24 inches. Metric frames sold as 40×60 cm are slightly smaller and won't fit.
