Shine With Gold: Gold Picture Frames for All Occasions

Warm, lustrous and inviting. Gold (or aurum in Latin) exudes a special aura that can lend a room with its timeless beauty when used wisely. As an element in your interior décor, you can use gold (particularly gold picture frames) to give any room some shine and more than its own fair share of stylish elegance. Gold can be classic, reminding one of the opulence and grandeur of drawing rooms of 16^th to 18^th century royalty. Gold can also be modern, imbibing a room with energy and a sense of adventure.

Here are some tips when using gold picture frames in your room:

• Use gold as accents rather than the main color. When used indiscriminately, gold can lose its visual impact and can make a room look gaudy and pretentious. There is more “oomph” when you use gold as accents at strategic points in your house. For example, if you are already using a gold gilt picture frame, do not surround this frame with other gold decorative items.
• Defy the rules and mix your metals. Conventional interior decorating principles generally frown at the mixed use of metals. However, using not just gold but also silver, bronze, brass, black metal and copper can actually imbibe the room with a unique appeal and break the monotony. To pull this off, you need to first select a dominant metal and carefully build from there. For instance, if your statement piece is an oversized gold gilt mirror, you can add chrome-edged chairs or a silver-based lampshade near your statement piece. You can also add silver accents inside a gold-framed custom display case.
• Liven up a room which is predominantly in a neutral color with touches of gold and other metals. Gold can go with certain shades, particularly neutral colors such as charcoal gray, cream, pale gray or cool blues. You can also go for a happy and bright ambiance by mixing yellow with gold accents. However, it is also important to note that other color schemes may require different metals aside from or other than gold. For instance, although gold can energize a blue wall, silver accents also work excellently. Bronze metallic ornaments can relax the atmosphere of a room with predominantly dark brown tones. For other metals that are designed to complement gold (which is a “warm” metal), choose a cool metal such as chrome.
• Use gold in mixed finishes. You can also opt to use just gold and just go with a combination of shiny and matte finishes. As with combining different metals, this jars the overall picture just enough to break the monotony. For instance, combine a picture frame of a burnished gold finish with candle holders that have a shiny gold sheen or matte gold throw pillows. You can also use the images inside of the picture frame as a contrast in finish, considering the combination of bright yellow, warm buttery gold or gold leaf within the framed photo or artwork.
• Give it more glow. Highlight your gold accents with strategic lighting. Use a raking light or light scones above or beside a golden picture frame to draw the eye to the frame as your statement piece.