For James DeVaul of DeVaul’s Fine Framing, framing is more than a business, it’s a craft that has inspired decades of devotion. 

“If you have got something that is really important and you want it to be preserved properly and look beautifully displayed, that is why you choose a shop like us,” he said. 

DeVaul has been the owner of his eponymous business on Talmadge Road in West Toledo since 2009. For more than a decade before that he worked inside the Franklin Park Mall for the former Deck the Walls, a nationally franchised framing business. 

From his unique position of expertise, DeVaul, 58, has noticed some unique peaks and valleys of interest over the years in how people want to decorate. 

“I used to have 3,000 art prints in sleeves so people could come in and leaf through,” he said Monday, noting his business was initially called DeVaul’s Gallery and Framing. 

But the 2008 housing crisis affected this side of the business in an interesting way.  

“There’s a connection between new housing and framed art sales, and there is about a 2 year lag,” he said. “If there is a spike in new housing, about two years later there will be a spike in new art sales because it is typically the last thing [the homeowner] puts in place.” 

Through this, the custom framing projects, which involve specifically sizing materials and glass to a given art or memorabilia piece, have remained steady, even through the coronavirus pandemic, and are now DeVaul’s bread and butter. 

Today, well-done projects in this field can sometimes cost in the high hundreds of dollars, depending on the job. DeVaul thanks the coronavirus pandemic and accompanying supply chain issues that went along with it for that. 

“Five years ago, I would expect price increases annually,” he said. “After COVID, it started to be every six months. Now I have to run an adjustment every 15 days.” 

Though he owner noted, however, that he considers DeVaul’s prices to be more affordable than you might think because in the broad selection of materials from wood to aluminum he offers, there is usually always something that looks good for the right budget. 

Rachel Wilcox, owner of We’ll Frame It off of Dussel Drive in Maumee since 1995, agreed, saying that price fluctuations are just something that is part of the framing business, one that inherently involves the use of a lot of different materials. 

“The price of molding, the price of matboards, the price of glass ... everything goes up,” she said. 

But DeVaul said that if one has the right art piece that needs that little something extra, the high-quality craftsmanship that comes with a custom frame job is second to none.

He and his colleague David Poulson, a master framer, take pride in pushing boundaries and offering something that is “cool,” DeVaul said, citing a past project that involved a diamond plate-backing behind a pair of Mike Tyson boxing shorts that he was really pleased with.  

“When we design, it is all about framing to the artwork or the photo,” he said. “I want you to see the artwork and how it is being presented. We cut and join all of our frames, and do all of the work in house.

“You can get some nice looks at some places,” DeVaul said of readymade frames you can get at superstores like Target or Walmart. “If you have something that is important and you want something more beautiful I have readymade frames. But if you have something that needs preservation, we can put a protective glass on that for you. You aren’t going to get that when you go to a department store.”

On her part, Wilcox emphasized the uniqueness of the final product you get from a custom framer. 

“You’re getting a piece to put on your wall and no one has that combination of framing and matting,” she said. “It is more of a one of a kind piece, that is how I look at it. The combinations are endless for what you can do.”

DeVaul said that the items he sees brought in are just more personal now. 

“When I was in the mall it was common that people would come in and bring a pillow cover with them or a fabric sample,” he said. “They would say ‘Hey I am doing a living room and I just want art that coordinates with these colors.’ It wasn’t about looking for art that moved them.

“That has changed dramatically. What is brought in now has such personal value like a family heirloom. There is story behind just about everything that walks in.  

Wilcox noticed a similar trend toward the personal on her end. 

“When I first started we were framing a lot of prints by Van Gogh and Monet,” she said. “When people started to get digital cameras, that changed and we started doing more personal photography.” 

Wilcox, 55, cited the terrorist attacks of September 11 as a seachange behind a turn toward more personal and family oriented items. 

“It was people being more nostalgic about their families and their family history,” she said. “It woke something up inside of people,” 

The We’ll Frame It owner came to the industry as a lifelong creative looking for an outlet, and 30 years later she said that framing still has that creative pull for her.  

“I did think it would be interesting,” she said. “When I went college, my major was in film and video and photography. So I was naturally drawn to this. I wasn’t seeking it out, it just kind of appeared.” 

First Published February 23, 2025, 5:30 p.m.