The frame takes A4. In the US most school and printer paper is letter, which is not the same size, and the difference is small enough to matter. Here are the actual numbers before you order.
The measurements
- Frame, outside: about 34 x 25 cm, roughly 13.4 x 9.8 in.
- Opening with the white mat in, as it ships: about 16.5 x 25 cm, roughly 6.5 x 9.8 in.
- Opening with the mat taken out: about 21 x 29.9 cm, roughly 8.3 x 11.8 in.
- A4 paper: 21 x 29.7 cm, 8.27 x 11.69 in.
- US letter paper: 21.6 x 27.9 cm, 8.5 x 11 in.
What that means for letter paper
Letter is about 6 mm wider than A4 and about 18 mm shorter. The length is not a problem. The width is the thing to know: a letter sheet is a quarter of an inch wider than the A4 opening, so it wants either a light trim down one long edge or it will sit with a gentle bow behind the mat. With the mat in, the mat border already covers about 2.5 cm of each long edge, so nothing of the drawing is lost either way, but a trimmed sheet lies flatter.
We would rather say this before you buy than explain it in a return email. If your child's paper is letter and you want it untouched, trim a quarter inch off one side or use A4 pads, which every stationer sells.
Mat in or mat out
The white bevelled mat makes any drawing look finished, and it is why a scribble on copier paper reads as a picture. Take it out when the drawing runs to the edges of the sheet and you want all of it, or when you are framing something bigger than the mat window. Put it back for everything else.
Portrait and landscape
The hanging hardware works both ways, so hang the frame the way the drawing was made. If you are hanging a row, keep one orientation across the row and let the drawings vary.
The stack behind
About fifty A4 sheets fit inside behind the mat, more if the paper is thin, held flat by two elastic bands on metal rotating plates. Thick sugar paper and card count for several sheets each, so a stack of paintings fills it faster than a stack of pencil drawings.
What does not fit
A3, sugar paper, anything on board, and anything folded. The frame is A4 and there is no version of it that is not.