HALBE-Rahmen
With moving into my new apartment came many challenges which seem really trivial, for example how do I envision it, what furniture does fit etc.
One of these question was choosing a new set of picture frames, which again seems really trivial you might say just go to the nearest hardware store and buy some or buy some of the IKEA frames that you used before, which is true...
But not this time, in this new apartment my goal was to choose furniture which really draws me in, stuff that I like and where I can really stand behind, even better if it comes from a more local source and is not something made in a massive scale like the IKEA stuff.
On my way down the rabbit hole, I came across HALBE-Rahmen which offers to build you any frame that you want, in any dimension with a wide range of profiles and or selection for the glass / plexiglass now first things first, the frames that I ordered came in the format of 50x70 with plexiglass and cost around €90 this is a stark contrast to the €14 IKEA frames, but the build quality is worlds apart!
If you ever had an IKEA frame in your hands, you know what I mean and dot get me wrong, of course an IKEA frame for €14 cant be as good as something for €90 and I used those IKEA ones in my old apartment because they were fine, not good but fine for my old run-down apartment, but now I need something that not only displays artworks nicely but fells good and sturdy something which alone becomes a part of the living room not just a necessity.
Small nitpick but important for some people that do not like drilling into the walls of their apartment, these frames are heavy, one of them weighs around 5 kg, so please forget about mounting them with tesa powerstrips or Command Strips you will need anchors for fastening.
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With that out of the way, here are the anchros and angle hooks, that i ordered with the frames.
These will nicely fit into the predetermine holes already in the frame, for these overall not that big frames I will only use the mounting location in the middle.
Now with some measuring and utilizing a level I managed to hang my first picture frame above the kitchen island, a small tip here if you find that the picture is hanging slightly off center, and you can't correct it enough without it slowly going back into the crooked position, use some tesa powerstrips on one of the corners just to keep it fixed in the perfect position here it is not supposed to hold the weight of the frame it is just supposed to keep it level.
I just noticed that I forgot to mention a feature that makes HALBE-Rahmen unique or better said something that separates them for other frame manufactures, with these frames you insert the image from the front and everything is held together with magnets, I really like what they are doing here it may seem like an unnecessary change, but I like the concept and even more I like the fact that somebody said ... hey let's do this differently, of course if you don't change pictures often this is a gimmick but I like gimmicks and even more I like the out-of-the-box thinking they incorporated into their frames.
This is just the beginning I still need more frames and ordered the first two as a test case, they managed to fully convince me, and now I just need to find a good layout of positions for my room, and then I will be ordering a new batch, for my bedroom I'm thinking of going a bit bigger, so there will still be a bit of experimenting on my side.
I can wholeheartedly recommend these frames, but for full transparency I have to include that they offer a reward of €50 for every blog post that links to their website, of course this gave me lazy bugger enough motivation to write something about their frames, I think this is a topic that otherwise does not get much attention outside very niche groups and is also hard to convey... many people I think would call me crazy for buying frames that expensive and even this is not even close as expensive you can go.
As with everything in life, people attribute different values to things, for me alone it is enough to support a smaller German company that makes it worth it, sometimes I feel like we lost the appreciation of many things, and I'm willing to pay a fair price for good craftsmanship if and where I can afford it.
Enough of the philosophy, go and buy some nice frames!
Link to the official "Halbe Rahmen" Store