Large in our range means 100×140 cm, and framing at that size is a different activity from framing anything else. The picture decisions are the easy part. What actually needs planning is weight, glass, the route from the front door to the wall, and what the wall is made of. Get those wrong and the frame either does not go up or does not stay up.
The geometry, which explains most of it
| Measure | 50×70 | 70×100 | 100×140 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Area | 0.35 m² | 0.70 m² | 1.40 m² |
| Times the area of 50×70 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Perimeter of moulding | 240 cm | 340 cm | 480 cm |
| Diagonal | 86 cm | 122 cm | 172 cm |
| People needed to hang it | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Two rows do the work here. The area row is the weight story: glazing weight scales with area, so a 100×140 carries four times the glass of a 50×70 in a frame that is only twice as long on each side. The diagonal row is the logistics story — 172 cm is the space the frame sweeps when you tilt it round a corner, which makes a tight stairwell turn the real obstacle, not the wall.
Why two people, not one strong one
It is not mainly about lifting. A frame this size cannot be held and adjusted at the same time: the moulding flexes across 140 cm, and a one-handed grab at the corner puts all the load into a mitre joint.
- Mark and drill first, taking the measurements from the frame on the floor, not from memory.
- One person takes the weight at the bottom edge with both hands. The second guides the hanging fitting onto the fixings.
- Lift with the frame vertical, never flat — a large sheet of glass carried horizontally is being asked to support itself across its own span.
- Do not rest a corner on a hard floor; stand it on the packaging.
Solid oak frame 21x30 cm
Black wooden frame 50x70 cm
Black wooden frame 30x42 cm
Black wooden frame 21x30 cm
Solid oak frame 30x42 cm
Solid oak frame 50x70 cm
Fixings: plasterboard versus masonry
This decision is settled by knocking on the wall: a hollow, drummy sound is plasterboard, a dull one is brick, block or concrete.
| Wall | What holds | What does not |
|---|---|---|
| Plasterboard, no stud | A proper cavity anchor rated well above the frame weight, two of them | Picture pins, hooks with small nails, screws straight into the board |
| Plasterboard with a stud behind | A screw into the stud — the strongest option in a light wall | Guesswork; find the stud before drilling |
| Brick or concrete | Drilled and plugged, one plug per fixing | Masonry pins at this size |
| Any wall | Two fixings, level with each other | Adhesive strips, whatever the packet claims |
Use two fixings roughly 50 cm apart rather than one central hook. Two points stop a wide frame drifting out of level, and they halve the load per anchor. Check the frame's stated weight against the anchor's rating rather than assuming; the only accessory we make is a single wall hook, in the accessories, and it is not the answer at this size.
If drilling is genuinely not possible, lean it. A 100×140 standing on the floor against the wall, bottom edge on the skirting, is a legitimate arrangement and removes the problem entirely. It also changes the height: the centre lands around 70 cm rather than the usual 145 cm described in the hanging height guide, which suits a room you sit in.
Why only oak and black
The coloured finishes — white, dark brown, blue, green, red, yellow, pink — stop at 50×70. Above that the choice is oak or black in both 70×100 and 100×140, and that is the end of the range rather than a temporary gap.
It is also the right answer aesthetically. At 1.4 m² the moulding is a thin edge around a very large image, so its colour is a boundary rather than a design element. A pink border 4 cm wide around 1.4 square metres of picture reads as an accident. Oak keeps a warm image warm; black gives a graphic image a hard edge. Both run through every size in the frame range, the prints made at this scale are in the XL selection, and the exact dimensions are in the size guide.