Ouch! That's the sound I made when a heavy, gilt-framed mirror landed on my toe. I was trying to hang it above my head without a ladder in a spiral staircase area. Instead, it hung me up -- by breaking my toe. I ended up hiring a handyman to do the job while I encouraged him from about 10 yards away.

Those of you who are likewise installation-challenged will be glad to know help is at hand at Art & Mirror Hanging in Rockville, where owner Anthony Kurtz operates a one-stop shopping destination for the framing, installation, and crating and shipping of artwork and mirrors.

Many area galleries and frame shops offer combinations of these services, but few do all three. Kurtz has been at it for nearly 22 years. While still in high school, he started a packaging company in a building in Rockville that he still occupies. Now called the Art Warehouse, it also houses his frame shop.

Today, he and his seven employees -- all with some training in interior design -- help customers with framing choices in the showroom, advise them how and where to hang art and mirrors in their homes and businesses, and crate and ship art and antiques.

"We help them choose the best place to put a piece, or suggest the best way to frame it to work with the rest of the room's furniture or color," says Kurtz, a member of the American Society of Interior Designers and the International Furnishings and Design Association.

Depending on the size of the job and the difficulty of the site, Kurtz will dispatch a crew of one, two or even six. Teamwork is needed to hang large, heavy pieces -- often items that clients bring home from auctions and flea markets, then realize they cannot handle on their own. The cost: $XX per person for the first hour and $XX per person thereafter.

"Let's face it," says Kurtz. "Women don't want to be lugging and hoisting these things, and the men don't want to do it, either."

Or sometimes when people repaint and redecorate, they want to rearrange their framed pieces, so they call for help, says Kurtz.

The company takes on jobs involving framed mirrors of all sizes, grouped pieces, large-scale paintings and drawings, as well as tapestries and wall-mounted sculpture. It specializes in installing items in hard-to-reach places such as stairwells, great rooms and double-tiered foyers and lobbies. The crews are adept at hanging work on brick and marble surfaces, using the appropriate drills, screws and anchors for each material and frame weight. (There's an additional charge for specialty hanging that involves ladders or extra-heavy pieces more than 85 or 90 pounds).

If a client wants to protect paneling or stone walls, Kurtz's team can suspend the artwork from the ceiling or crown molding on extra-strength, clear filament. The company also offers "security hanging systems" akin to the back-clip mounts used in hotels. "That way the art doesn't 'walk off,' " Kurtz says.

Interior design training gives his employees an edge, Kurtz says, and they even are called in sometimes by other interior designers to help their clients. In one case, a team arrived to find the client with a stack of small pieces and no clue where they should go. The team walked her through the space, explaining how grouping them could show the art to best effect and enhance the overall look of the room as well.

Installers arrive at their clients' homes with all the necessary hardware and tools in the shop's psychedelic-painted Suburban -- a mix of the Partridge Family bus and Mondrian, says Kurtz. They can repair a damaged piece on the spot. Recently, a team was called to mount a 5-by-7-foot antique mirror in a house in Great Falls. The framed piece "was a shambles," Kurtz says. His crew strengthened it by adding diagonal cross members, reinforcing side strips and bracing and buttressing the corners.

The shop offers a range of framing services, from basic mounting and framing for posters, children's art and diplomas to top-of-the-line archival framing and matting of valuable art.

Archival framing uses acid-free materials to ensure that works on paper and textiles won't become brittle, spot and discolor when the artwork comes into contact with the back, mats or hinges used to fasten pieces in place. (Note: Any good frame job, archival or not, will use spacers to keep the artwork from touching the covering glass, to prevent rubbing, spotting or fraying.) Archival treatment could increase the price by about 15 percent. Kurtz has used this "museum treatment" on pieces for the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Phillips Collection and several Smithsonian museums.

Top-of-the-line frame jobs with multiple mats at Kurtz's shop run about $400 to $500: "After that, it's all overkill," he says, adding that a simpler treatment is often better for showcasing fine art.

The store offers a wide choice of frame styles, from basic black metal and smooth woods to five-inch-wide carved and gilded varieties.

The mats used to surround and set off an image inside the frame come in a variety if colors plus a full range of white tones -- preferred by high-end galleries and museums -- from cool blue-white to warm cream. Mats are available with or without thin borders called fillets, usually in black, silver or gold, to add a sense of depth and definition to the framed piece.

Kurtz's staff also creates shadow boxes, which are three-dimensional frames for displaying sculptures and other objects. Recently, he has fashioned such cases for a Medal of Freedom and a stuffed toy monkey.

No matter how much insurance you've taken out, if your treasure is trounced in transit, nothing will make up for its loss. That's why professional art shippers have devised intricate systems of slings, foam packs and other suspension and padding techniques to prevent even the smallest dings to valued antiques and artwork.

Good packing isn't cheap: A standard wooden crate with interior padding for a 4-by-5-foot painting or framed mirror runs about $125. And more complicated jobs cost considerably more.

For a Ming dynasty chest with its original marble top, Kurtz built a crate that braced the chest with foam and spacer blocks; the marble top was suspended above the chest in a nylon sling. That way, no shock during shipping would cause the marble and wood to collide. "That one," Kurtz says, "I lost sleep over."

Where to find it: Art & Mirror Hanging, 12015 Nebel St., Rockville. 301-770-5505. Monday though Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. www.kurtzcorp.com. 

Hints on Hang-Ups
Hints for Getting the Hang of It

June 21, 2001; Page H8
Section: Home
Word Count: 227

Anthony Kurtz's rules of thumb for hanging artwork and mirrors at home include:

Most artwork should be hung at eye level (for someone about 5 feet 9 inches). 

If it's going above a couch, make sure there's about a foot between the top of the couch and the bottom of the frame, to avoid knocking or damaging the piece.

Use good picture hooks that are scaled for the weight of the piece. Their angled entry into a wall provides extra security.

Don't use nails; they can pull out and leave an even bigger hole. Hanging into the wall stud is the ideal solution, but there are plenty of other options, such as molly bolts, toggles and anchors.

After the works are up and secured, they should stay in place indefinitely -- or until you decide to redecorate -- which brings Kurtz to the subject of leaning mirrors against a wall.

"I've framed a zillion of the new-style mirrors that people just stick against walls," he explains, "and I can't believe people put them up without securing the top."

Leaning mirrors are a real hazard to children, he points out. Don't create a booby trap for kids and pets. Mount that mirror securely on the wall.

Lee Fleming