Alameda Custom Framing

Great little shop. Tom is fun to work with whenever i bring my Disney sketches in to be framed. He takes pride in his work and they always come out to something i hang up in the living room

I just had a wonderful experience with the business recently. They framed 5 pieces of work and they looked stunning. The couple’s experience and attention to details really showed in the finished work. The woman was very patient with me and gave great advice during my moments of indecisiveness. They even load everything in my car for me. Very professional and great service.

Just had my ‘masterpiece’ framed. One of the best pieces of art I have ever done. Really proud of it. Alameda Custom Framing did an amazing job. Excellent job with great service! I highly recommend ACF for all framing work. THE BEST!

Excellent quality framing! Helen has a kind nature and great customer care. Fair and reasonable pricing.

Tom was incredibly helpful and did a beautiful job framing my Master’s degree. He even redid one of the mats when I asked him to cut the corners a tad differently. It turned out beautifully, and I could not recommend them more.
Michael’s does a good job, but no one is better than Tom. Buy local and support these good folks — they do quality work, at a good price, with good timing.
Highly recommended.

Tom is the Bomb! had 2 jobs to be done, and his super friendly positive attitude and willingness to help pick out the perfect frame was second to none. the custom frame I chose ended up being a lot more expensive (I guess I have good taste) than the lower end frame options he originally showed me to keep me closer to my budget. My family has been using ACF for a long time and this was my first time having work done by them and Tom delivered in a crunch! I had a tight deadline (Christmas) and he made it happen.
Highly recommend ACF for your framing needs, now that I’ve been there personally I plan to have all the stuff that I’ve been stacking up over the years that need frames get done by him

While my wife and I were visiting our family over the holidays we had one piece of African art made from butterfly wings framed at Alameda Custom Framing. Despite its fragility, they did a beautiful job and did it quickly. The price was very reasonable so we took 4 pictures to be matted and received them promptly even though all of the frame sizes were different. We recommend these folks highly.

TERRIBLE!!! At first the owner seemed friendly and eager to help. I explained that I was looking for something basic so I pointed to a pre-​made frame that he had on the floor. After telling him that the one on the floor was scratched and damaged, he told me that he could cut me a NEW frame out of the same kind of material. A few days later when I came to pick it up, I find that he had just thrown my picture into the damaged frame. It was scratched ALL over, chipped, and the corners didn’t even come to a point! As soon as I opened my mouth to say that I wasn’t happy, he began to SCREAM at me that that was what I had wanted… Ummm. NO ONE wants to pay $ 100 for a damaged PLASTIC frame! After being yelled at for a good 5 minutes, he finally gave me my money back and then screamed at me that I would have to come back to pick up my picture because he couldn’t remove it. I refused to leave without my photo (at this point I’m terrified that he’s going rip it in half as soon as it’s out) and his wife had to force him take it out of the frame. I waited in front of their shop for 30 min. When I came back in, he snatched my photo from the counter and held it away from me as he began to scream at me again. I had to threaten to call the police in order for him to give me back my item. This guy is insane. I can’t believe that he would expect ANY customer to walk out of the store and be happy with the frame he tried to sell me! DO NOT GO HERE!

Good job at framing my prints.
Good price.
good timing
fine service.
Recommended

Great place to frame your pictures, photos, medals or anything. The owner, Tom, and his wife (I did not get her name) are very friendly, and provide you the best quality of framing work.
I had my son’s basketball championship medal framed. Tom found the best frame to go with my son’s medal, and somehow managed to put the ribbon behind the frame. Tom told me that many customers cut or remove the ribbon from the medal to frame, but I asked not to cut it.
As you can see in the attached photos, he did a perfect job, and the medal even looks better and proud. Tom installed heavy duty wires on the back, and did not forget to put pads to protect the bottom of the back of the frame.
The price for this job was actually cheaper than what I expected. The frame itself should cost $ 30 or so, so Tom hardly charged his labor.
The best place for framing. I’ll definitely go back when I put a label on this medal frame and any other framing.

Alameda Custom Framing did a great job on the pictures I brought them: helped me choose great frames and mats, made the prints look beautiful and charged what I think was a decent price — I didn’t shop around, saw all the good reviews and figured I’d just go ahead and bite the bullet as it was more important to have a great outcome than super cheap prices. Very personable, attentive customer service and good communication.

The owner is precious! Love this sweet man! He’s heard of Unilocal and people have told him he has nice reviews on Unilocal,but he’s never actually seen Unilocal.
He did two 4 foot by 6 foot paintings for me. He helped me to pick the perfect frames. That in inside took awhile. Then he took the paintings for about a week. During that time, he personally built bracing frames for these huge paintings, then stretched them. Lastly, he professionally framed them. The end products were just very beautiful.
The paintings are heavy and cumbersome. He placed heavy duty wiring to hang them with and told me about L brackets that I should place at the bottoms to help support the weight. I appreciate him looking out for the future of my paintings.
I had verbally checked with one other shop and feel his price was better too.
He has asked me to put pictures of these huge paintings on Unilocal and so when we get them hung, I will. He took a lot of pride in the work he did on my paintings.

Tom is a super person and always pleases us. We’ve had many a painting framed here. I highly recommend them. He’s very honest and accommodating. HIs framing is excellent and precise. I highly recommend him.

My frames are still on order, but I wanted to praise this shop now while it’s fresh on my mind. I was really nervous about trying to frame some artwork I recently bought. I had no idea what type of frame or matting I should try for. Tom spent AN HOUR going over possible combinations with me and my husband. He would hold up the frame sample next to the art and we would run across the room to look at it from a distance, then we would hold it up for him so he could look at it too and give us his opinion. This is exactly the kind of help with framing I’d been needing, and which I’ve found no other place. Who takes that kind of time? We picked a frame I think is going to look great on my pieces. Thanks so much, Tom!

This couple is AMAZING! Before I moved to Alameda I had looked everywhere in Sacramento to frame my oddly shaped wedding poster. The best price I could find was over 380 dollars! So… in the corner it sat.
But then once my husband and I moved to Alameda I was sick and tired of looking at the poor thing so I headed over to Alameda Custom Framing on referall from my father.
BOY AM I GLAD! Tom was so sweet. He smiled and cracked jokes but at the same time was so knowlegeable. And best of all the PRICE! He quoted me (including taxes and everything) a whopping 200! Talk about a STEAL!
I just picked up my frame today (Which was early btw) and I am more then pleased. Customer for LIFE: D

I was so happy that I found this wonderful local store! I simply adore Tom! He is so sweet and friendly and was very helpful when I had a print that I wanted to have framed for my husband’s birthday.
We went through the ‘cheap’ black frames first, but it just didn’t feel right. I asked him for something a bit more fancy and we found a nice white frame that fit perfectly. He offered me a very good price and even stored the framed picture for me for a couple of weeks, so I didn’t have to fear for my husband to find the picture before his birthday. Will come back here with all my framing needs!

Cute talented couple.
I recently treated myself to two really nice art prints. One was a Ryden and I wanted it done right. I thought about he cheap price point of Michaels but opted for local, custom framing with a more personal touch.
It wasn’t cheap. I’m not really up on framing costs so I have no idea if this was a good price, normal price whatever. He did cut me a deal by eliminating taxes if I paid in advance, which i did. He also added anti-​glare glass which he didn’t charge me for. I’m not sure if anti-​glare glass is more expensive than regular glass anyway so I’m not sure if it’s a good deal.
So why am I giving this 5 stars?
Service and local store support. I’m sure I’d get a cheaper job at a big box place but there’s nothing like supporting your local shop. This guy was friendly. Took his time with me (I had two prints and was waffling between frames because I wanted something cheaper) did come down on price of one of the frames, and he had a great eye. He selected the frames and did a good job with matching a frame to the print.

I found Alameda Custom Framing on Unilocal.The reason I needed to go there was to have both of our graduate diplomas framed for posterity; well actually I just didn’t want to misplace or throw them out by accident. I’ve been known to do this on occasion. Just ask my wife. I wanted to surprise her, so I had them framed and hung them on our wall for her to eventually notice on her own.
The owners, Tom Chai and his wife Helen, are the nicest and most cheerful people that I’ve met in a very long time. Tom was incredibly helpful by suggesting different framing and matting combinations. We decided on a very professional dark frame with neutral matting. (See picture) Their prices were really reasonable, but I think they may have given me a deal because it was my first time using their services and that I was doing it to surprise my wife.
As we were finishing, I asked Tom should I come back in a week or so to pick them up. He said yes. This was on a Tuesday. To my delight, Tom called me on Thursday of that same week to let me know that I could pick up both frames. I hung them both before I had to pick my wife up to go to the gym. Well, it took some time that night for her to notice them hanging over our computer desk, but once she did, she was very surprised and ecstatic on how great they both looked side-​by-​side.
Thanks Tom. I highly recommend Alameda Custom Framing.
Cheers.

I don’t even know where to begin. I’m a Rock Art poster junkie and have 2 Social Distortion limited print posters and wanted them framed and matted nicely like a few others I have. I thought this store closed but they just moved.
Tom was AMAZINGLY helpful. I took both posters in. We started off at about $ 245 a framing and dwindled it down to $ 200 for both!!! He had a couple pre-​made frames that fit and significantly reduced the price; also talked me out of purchasing UV glass until I need it. He took his time figuring out exactly what I wanted and how we could get it for the best price.
I am sold and don’t think there is a place worth going but here again. I got severely gouged at another local framing shop in Alameda, but not here.
Fantastic business! Tom knows the key to success is to be honest and real. I can’t wait to bring in more posters.
Seize the day, frame your framibles because you CAN afford it. Plus they have great discounts because of the move to the new shop.

In mid December I saw Julie Z’s review of this framing shop and bookmarked it. When I was last in Ashland I bought a couple of photographs I wanted to have framed. I called and learned that they would be moving at the end of the year and w/​one thing and another it took me until today to go over there.
I have been bereft since Amsterdam Art closed on University in Berkeley. Almost everything in our house that has been framed was framed there. It was a wonderfully funky store w/​quirky, artistic young people who offered great help in choosing mats and frames. I went to another framing place since, but didn’t connect. Their work was OK, nothing wrong w/​it but it wasn’t a place that drew me back.
I found the shop today pretty readily. I walked in and was greeted by Tom. He was friendly and warm, excited about the new shop, which is attractive and well organized. I showed him the first photo, a magnificent owl w/​its wings spread. Because the mats were standard sizes he brought over a couple of ready-​made wooden frames, one brown, one black. We agreed the brown was better. He gave me a 20% discount because of their new location, which was quite generous and much appreciated. The next photo was of a pierris in full bloom in the Japanese Garden in Lithia Park. I’ve admired it for a couple of years and had finally bought it. We used the same frame as the other. He will call me when they’re ready and I’ll get to take another trip to Alameda. I think I’ve found my new frame shop.