Design your own custom multi-opening mat collage board

Create your very own custom multi-opening mat. When you are finished designing your mat below, hit 'Add to cart' to save your item. Please double-check your openings, measurements, and sizes before you buy. You can easily add a second mat layer to your collage board. Our designer shows the exact opening sizes for both the top mat and bottom mat layers. This makes it easy to see your exact spacing and borders as you design.

The multi-opening mat designer works on both mobile and desktop. On phones, tap "Show mat-designer controls" to open all design tools.

Frames By Mail
Overall mat size: " x " (w x h)
Opening Editor

Edit mat opening #1

*All units are inches.

*If you have a second mat layer enabled, left/right/top/bottom reflect distance from the outside of BOTH mat layer openings to the edge.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61

Generate a multi-opening collage mat

Turn the switch to 'on' to enable the auto-layout designer controls. The auto-layout controls allow you to automatically and instantly generate a uniform mat board.

*WARNING generating a new multi-opening collage mat will override any existing changes or designs you have made to your mat. After generating your design, you may still individually edit mat openings by clicking on the opening you wish to edit.

Design Custom Multi-Window Configurations Instantly

Welcome to our professional custom collage mat builder, an interactive online workshop designed to put total creative control right at your fingertips. Whether you are a professional photographer preparing a premium gallery exhibit, or a homeowner preserving a series of cherished family milestones, our multi-opening mat designer provides the precision tools required to visualize your project before you buy.

Instead of adjusting your precious photos or trimming historical prints to match generic, mass-produced frame layouts, our software reverses the process. You supply the exact measurements of your artwork, and our automated system builds a completely customized structural border around it. By manufacturing every layout factory-direct right here in the USA, we guarantee clean lines and crisp bevel cuts on every window opening.

How to Use the Custom Collage Mat Builder

Building a beautiful layout is simple and takes only a few minutes. Follow these five easy steps to configure and finalize your personalized display:

  1. Select Your Base Grid Pattern: Choose the initial arrangement that best fits your design goal. Our tool supports everything from simple side-by-side configurations to complex grids containing anywhere from 2 to over 100 individual openings.
  2. Input Window Sizing Dimensions: Enter the precise width and height for your pictures down to the nearest 1/16-inch increment. Our tool allows you to customize each individual opening separately, making it easy to combine horizontal and vertical photos within a single border.
  3. Customize Colors and Layers: Browse our extensive catalog of acid-free, archival mat boards. You can choose a clean single-layer look or select a double mat option. Adding a secondary layer introduces a vivid accent lip that draws the eye directly into your artwork.
  4. Upload Your Photos (Optional Collage Printing): Take advantage of our premium print and frame service by uploading your digital images directly into the mat window openings. We professionally print, mount, and align your photos for a polished, gallery-ready finish.
  5. Pair with a Frame and Finalize: Once your mat board and uploaded images look perfect, instantly test everything against our premium wood, metal, or ValuCore picture frame profiles. Preview your complete ready-to-hang design, review pricing, and add it directly to your cart.

Premium Material Specs and Exact Custom Sizing Limits

We believe that high-quality art preservation should be affordable. That is why every mat cut using our online designer uses premium, acid-free backing materials. These archival-grade fibers are explicitly engineered to resist yellowing, fading, and outgassing, ensuring your family photos, sports trading cards, and historical diplomas remain fully protected for decades.

Our precision cutting systems operate with incredible accuracy. You are never restricted to standard, pre-packaged retail options. You can customize the thickness of your top, bottom, and side margins to create an asymmetrical or balanced aesthetic. We highly recommend adding a small 1/8-inch overlap to your photo measurements (Example 8x10 photo 7 3/4" x 9 3/4"). This small adjustment ensures your prints sit securely behind the window opening without slipping or falling through.

Popular Multi-Opening Mat Layout Ideas

If you are looking for design inspiration, consider these classic configurations used by home decorators and framing professionals alike:

  • The Wedding Triptych (3 Openings): A classic horizontal layout featuring three side-by-side rectangular windows. It is the perfect way to display a central wedding portrait flanked beautifully by a ceremony snapshot and a reception memory.
  • The Family Generation Grid (4 to 6 Openings): An elegant square or rectangular grid designed to showcase vertical profile photos of children, grandparents, or family pets side-by-side in a unified style.
  • The Year-In-Review Collage (9+ Openings): A massive multi-window presentation grid that is highly popular for showcasing a baby's first year milestones, a complete travel vacation sequence, or school graduation portrait progressions.
  • Sports Memorabilia Layouts: A tailored configuration that groups a signed sports jersey or main team photograph together with trading cards and official ticket stubs.

Complete Your Presentation with Matching Framing Components

Our online designer is built to be a true one-stop resource. Once you have perfected your custom mat windows, you can round out your framing package without leaving the page. Upload your digital files directly to our integrated print and frame service to receive a finished product that is ready to hang straight out of the shipping box. Alternatively, you can browse our standalone framing components to order separate pieces of crystal-clear acrylic glass, heavy-duty mounting boards, and secure hanging hardware.

Multi-Opening Mat Designer FAQ

What are the minimum margins for multi-opening mat designs?

To keep your mat structurally sound, each opening must be at least 1 3/8" from the outside edges of the mat and at least 1/2" away from any neighboring opening.

Can I still create custom opening sizes and layouts?

Yes. You can freely set each opening's size and position, and also use the auto-layout controls to generate a uniform grid that you can continue editing.

Do these minimum spacing rules apply to both manual and auto-layout modes?

Yes. Whether you place openings manually or generate them with auto-layout, minimum spacing from the mat edges and between openings still applies.

Select a mat

Alpine Aqua Blue Bamboo Beige Black Blue Bottle Blue Brown Burnt Orange Colonial Green Crisp White Dark Chocolate Ecru Ember Flamingo Golden Granite Grape Hazelnut Hunter Green Ink Light Gray Maroon Navy Papyrus Pear Pine Pistachio Purple Rattan Red Scarlet Silver Metallic Foil Splash Spruce Tangerine White Yellow Black Black Core Bright White Black Core

Add a second mat layer

Add a bottom mat to your multi-opening mat board.

Bottom mat color

Alpine Aqua Blue Bamboo Beige Black Blue Bottle Blue Brown Burnt Orange Colonial Green Crisp White Dark Chocolate Ecru Ember Flamingo Golden Granite Grape Hazelnut Hunter Green Ink Light Gray Maroon Navy Papyrus Pear Pine Pistachio Purple Rattan Red Scarlet Silver Metallic Foil Splash Spruce Tangerine White Yellow Black Black Core Bright White Black Core

Add a new mat opening

Add a new mat opening by selecting the shape of your opening below. Once you add your opening, you can position it where ever you choose. Mat openings must be 1 and 3/8th of an inch from the edge of the mat, and 0.5 inches from other mat openings.

Control the mat designer grid options

The grid helps you design your mat and make sure everything is precisely sized, positioned and spaced. Turn the grid off for freely move and resize your mat openings. Turn the grid on and the mat openings will resize and move in increments of the scale you choose. For example, if you select 1/4 inch, your mat openings will move in increments of 1/4". The visible grid will always be 1" squares, even if the grid movements are 1/2, 1/4 or 1/8th inch.

Select the total size for your mat

Changing the size of your mat after adding openings may shift and reposition the all or some of the openings on your mat. After changing the value in the inputs, your mat will automatically change size, and you may close the window.