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Our dining room walls have never seemed quite right to me. First I did a large art piece that wasn’t large enough. I ended up moving that above the fireplace and it fits perfectly there. I added a mirror and art & easel as a placeholder until I figured out what I really wanted to do. Still not love. For now, I decided I wanted to add an oversized piece of fine art above the cabinets. Like, really big. 40″ x 50″ to be exact. You can see I taped it out here, and I think the scale works much better for the space.
We have two really large walls in the dining room that mirror each other which makes adding art more difficult. I don’t want them to match, but they do need to compliment each other. She’ll sit empty while I wait for the perfect piece.
I ordered the oversized art last week, but before I committed, I ordered prints from several different print shops to test who had the best quality paper and prints, and also who had the best pricing. I’m sharing all the nitty gritty below as well as where I ended up ordering.
Overall I’m not a fan of Pictorem for a few reasons. First, they rolled the art and it won’t uncurl so I have no choice but to put it in a frame. Second, they’re the most spendy option at $19 for an 8×10. Yikes! Last, it took weeks for it to be delivered. The print is pretty & I even prefer it over MPix, but with all the other issues I won’t order from here again.
As a photographer, I love MPix for printing photographs I take with my DSLR. They print true to color and have several paper options to choose from and super affordable pricing. I ordered their Giclee Prints on Fine Art paper. An 8×10 is just $3.73! For the price I would order here again, but only for art that isn’t seen up close. The paper was very smooth and matte, but you could clearly tell it was a digital print. It didn’t look authentic at all. Still, much better quality that Walgreens or Walmart.
I’ve ordered several times from PosterJack over the last year and a half or so and they were my favorite print shop until recently (still my second favorite). I really love their fine art paper. An 8×10 is $10. It’s nice and thick, has minimal texture, and a matte finish, which helps digital prints look more authentic. I’ve found they do print a little darker than any other print shop, so keep that in mind if you’re printing super moody art. It can get a little muddy.
The Stackhouse is my new favorite print shop by far. They have so many gorgeous paper options and you can order a media sample kit for free & it includes all their different paper and canvas options. An 8×10 is just $9.60! They’re also running a Mother’s Day sale– 25% off sitewide with code MOM25. My favorite is William Turner. It’s a heavier paper, that is a little creamier and has the most texture which will make your digital art look the most authentic.
I also really love the Cold Press option, it’s a brighter white with a little less texture, and the Photo Rag, which has slightly less texture still and is somewhere in the middle on the creamy scale. I highly recommend ordering the sample pack if you plan on investing on anything larger than an 11×14. I ordered a 40″x50″ print on William Turner and it should be here later this week. Come back to find out which art I chose & I’ll be sharing custom framing options as well!
I hope this made ordering digital art prints easier for you. I’ll hop on Instagram stories today to give you a closer look at the paper options. They are really hard to photograph, but the texture shows up well on video. You can find some of my favorite digital art here and here. And I shared 5 tips for creating a gallery wall & rounded up a whole pile of affordable frames here. They’re all under $30!
Updated to show the art framed & hung! I love how it turned out!
Thanks for these comparisons. I wonder if you’ve used Printique. If so, how would you rate Printique in comparison to The Stackhouse?
I haven’t tried Printique, I’m sorry!