April 7s Custom Framing

Just the best, really. Very highly recommended!

After waiting over a decade to get a special artifact from our travels framed, we finally wandered into April 7s. We knew the item deserved special treatment, but didn’t have a clear idea in mind. The staff member we worked with had an art background, and used it to give us some good direction. When our vision was bigger than our budget, he helped us find cost savings. We picked up the item late last week, and it was gorgeous. The piece was almost four feet long, and to make hanging it easy April 7s created a cardboard template, with drill holes. It was an extra bit of service we didn’t expect, but made it easy to get this large piece up on the wall. We’ve definitely found our Chicago frame shop.

The guys at April 7s are fantastic. Truly, truly fantastic.
I bgouth five diplomas in to April 7s to be framed. Two different guys helped me and my husband choose frames, mats, and glass for the diplomas. They were well priced and they got the diplomas framed quickly. They even found a program from my swearing in ceremony in the envelope with my law license and put a little pocket on the back of the frame to keep the program with it – free of charge. It was so thoughtful and such a nice touch.
Fantastic local business that will really take care of you and anything you need framed.

Thanks to all the great reviews I stopped at Aprils after breaking a painting on the way home from an art show. Amazing customer service. Fixed the painting in an hour! I’ll be back — a customer for life. Friendly service and great pricing. You won’t be disappointed.

If there was one word to describe how you feel every time you walk out of here with your personalized picture it would have to be euphoric. I have been working with Martin for several years now. He has done everything from a sports photo, to a Thailand souvenir to a WWII keepsake. Every single time I wonder how he could possibly get better and he exceeds any expectations. He truly is a genius and it is so wonderful to have a partnership with someone that is not only talented as he is just a nice person. These items hang in your house and you would think they only mean something to you, but the pride, skill and time he puts into it shows how much those items mean to him, too!
Such a fantastic shop filled with wonderful people! I cannot say thank you enough!

Hard to remember name. But really nice work. And I guess since it’s the work and service that you pay for, I’ll try to do better to remember the name. But I can’t make any promises!
I had 4 pieces that needed to be matted and framed and were going to be hung in my office. The tricky part? They were all different sized vintage posters with different colors and highlights and yet needed to all look like they were a part of a set.
Well these guys were great! They started by pulling frames and mats off the walls and just about the time we think we’ve landed on something, my friend shows up and starts pulling even more options off the walls. Good thing there wasn’t anyone else in the shop or customers would have been shopping on my table! Ha!
After looking at many combinations, I picked what I thought worked the best and left the shop knowing I was going to love the work! And when it was delivered a few weeks later, it was even better than I could have anticipated.
The prices are in keeping with what you might expect to pay at any higher end frame shop. Parking is a bit of a challenge here so know before you go if you are picking up a piece, they have a back entrance which makes it easy for them to put things in your car. Otherwise you might get lucky and grab some street parking out front.
Also know that the front door may be locked during open hours. Seems like some people who really aren’t interested in framing wander in from time to time so they lock the door, so be sure to ring the bell or knock and they will let you in very quickly.
April 7’s really did a nice job on my prints. But then with all the great reviews here on Unilocal.I expected nothing else. Now, if only I could remember the name!

These guys have helped my photo business my getting my clients the framing they needed in a timely manner.

Great experience at April 7s Custom Framing! I had two old and fragile pictures that were family heirlooms — one charcoal drawing of relatives from generations past, one landscape in pastels. All kinds of problems with them — chipped and destroyed moulding, broken frames with loose nails and no structural integrity, dirty old glass that had absorbed the images, wires on the backs that I can’t believe held them up for half a century in my grandparents’ house, and plenty more.
I took them to April 7s and Alex, a manager there, knew exactly what to do with them right away. He examined them closely and pointed out details that I hadn’t even noticed before, and laid out clear plans to fix and refresh every issue they had. He also was able to give me a little more background about how they were made, which I found fascinating. Also, the price he quoted me was amazing — I almost couldn’t believe it. Huge bargain.
They were done in a couple short weeks, and when we went to pick them up I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. Wow! First, the backs were all totally new and redone, and as secure and sturdy as I could hope for. Nice new wires and good hooks for the walls. The glass was new too, and good preservation quality with buffers to keep the panes away from the art. The landscape was brighter, more vivid than I’d ever seen it. The frames themselves were still the same material, but strengthened and reinforced, and all the cracks and fractures in the intricate woodwork and claywork were touched up, corrected, and painted to match. They look incredible on my walls.
I’d highly recommend April 7s, great experience, great price, great product, great employees too. Thanks for making my family heirlooms last many more generations!

This store is amazing! They really walked me through the process and I am thrilled with the results. I had three things framed, each very different, and they are awesome. Each person was very patient and very professional. Cannot recommend this place enough!

Very professional, courteous and knowledgeable. I bought three of their Unilocal vouchers and have been very happy with all six items I’ve framed. Highly recommend!

Great people who create a wonderful experience. If you like your art to be taken care of with the best service and solutions then this is the place to go.

This is the second time I have been here. This time, worked with Martin’s wife, her name escapes me. Brought in 4 pieces. Ended up doing 3 pieces due to budget constraints. Was looking for something imaginative to make the pieces stand out for the new office I was decorating. Was shown several options that would compliment the frame and give me the look I was looking for.
Prices are pretty much on par with other frame shops. Michaels charges just about the same if you use their ‘custom frames’ or custom framing services. Difference, in my opinion, is the artistic talent they share with you to help you design the frame and come up with ideas. If you have pictures that just need a standard frame, you would probably save money going elsewhere like target.
Great place to go if you are looking for quality framing work done, to be creative with your frame, and/​or want the frame to really showcase the art.

Just as the other reviewers have said: Martin is incredibly knowledgeable and helpful in providing options. Work quality was fantastic! (you get what you pay for!)

Amazing service and frames! Not cheap but you do get what you pay for. Very high quality! Now I can finally hang my artwork that was hidden away for years.

You get what you pay for. And here you pay for high-​quality custom framing and get pleasantly surprised by the results. These guys were incredibly friendly and knowledgeable about how best to preserve and present my items. Their excellent service was matched by the quality of the work they completed in a timely fashion. I would recommend April 7s to anyone with a valuable item they want beautifully displayed who is okay with paying for high-​quality work from a local small business. And they have a friendly dog.

I am so happy with the work that April 7s had done for my custom framing project. I had bought some artwork from Etsy that was unique and important to me– We worked with Alex who was awesome and very flexible. We had changed our idea a few times and he worked with us. The price was a lot higher than I had expected, but his work was very much worth it. I hated putting a time pressure on them, but they were able to complete this complicated project in a weeks time. I hope to have these pieces forever! I will be back for our next project.

We recently acquired our first piece of real grown up art — an oversized photograph that needed a custom frame. Based on Unilocal reviews, we went to April 7s. When we went in, we had no idea what we wanted, we just knew that it needed to be exactly right to be a proper showcase for this piece. We worked with Martin, who came up with several different ideas. Ultimately, the one we liked the best was the most expensive (of course), primarily because it had a larger frame with a thinner frame trimming the inner rim. Martin worked with us on price, and while it was NOT cheap (is custom framing ever cheap?), it came out absolutely amazing and I don’t regret the extra $ 200 we spent on the trim. It’s perfect, they treated our piece well, and were great to work with. I’d absolutely recommend April 7s for custom framing.

What do you mean it normally takes more than 24 hours to custom frame a picture?
I’m sorry I forgot the guys name, but he could not have been more helpful. Knowing he had to turn it around quickly using stuff they have in the shop already, he spent a full hour with me digging up different options for mattes and frames. He gave great suggestions and assisted while I putzed around taking my time deciding which frame to use. Could not have been a better customer service experience.
I was tempted to give one less star just because the price seemed high, but you know what, I have no idea what custom framing costs. I think it costs more than I want it to cost. Maybe if I had framing done frequently, I might be wise to shop around for a good deal. But since I have something framed about once every ten years or so, this was a pretty wise choice.

We worked with Martin and got amazing service. He picked out several frames for us after hearing what we were looking for. He also gave us a variety of options with those frames to find the best price for us.
This is the first frame store I’ve been to, but after visiting, we will not go anywhere else. It’s great to be able to support local businesses and also get great customer service.

When my daughter was born I bought an adorable picture frame that documented all her month bdays for the first year. I searched forever to find one that wasn’t overly cheesy and found the perfect one on RedEnvelope.
After 12 months I put Baby R’s very last picture into my beloved frame… and was so excited to have a frame documenting her entire first year. A few days later it fell off the bookcase and shattered into a bunch of pieces. Ahhhh! My first thought was to reorder it from RedEnvelope and was devastated to see it had been discontinued. Apparently I was the only one buying it for myself and gifts. I tried to find a similar frame, but couldn’t find anything I liked nearly as much. And sooo I turned to Unilocal to find a frame store to help me.
I came across April 7s Custom Framing and took my shattered frame over to Marty. He was very sympathetic and promised to help me fix it. I can’t remember how much paid, but believed it was around $ 50…and said he would charge me the rest later (he thought it would be another $ 50 – 75, but said it would depend on if he had to build it again from scratch). And he said it would be ready in a few weeks.
Three months later I was still waiting for the finished product and hadn’t heard from April 7s because a voicemail after 3 weeks saying they’d need a bit more time. I called Marty and asked what the deal was. He was extremely apologetic, promised to have it ready by that weekend and said he wouldn’t charge me anymore than my initial payment.
Marty was true to his word this time and did have it ready by the weekend. And when I picked it up I was excited to see that it looked even better than it initially looked. I’m pretty sure it would now withstand a fall off a bookcase, but then again I don’t plan on trying it. And he also didn’t charge me more than my initial payment even though he did end up having to completely rebuild it.
Three months of waiting for something would usually result in a negative Unilocal review, but Marty was such a pleasure to deal with that I actually still had a good experience. And I would actually even consider going back to him for other framing needs… he assured me that regular projects typically go much faster.