Almost any home can be enriched and enhanced with the installation of decorative moulding. New tract homes usually have a simple baseboard moulding along the floor and narrow casings around the windows and doors. Older homes often can be found with wider decorative mouldings, giving them character. A home can look more luxurious with the simple addition of wider casings, deeper baseboards, crown moulding, and a chair rail.
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| A deep base, crown and casing finishes this home. |
The most common moldings used in homes today are:
- Baseboard This is installed at the bottom of a wall against the flooring to cover the gap between the two surfaces. A typical home uses baseboards from 2" to 8" deep from top to bottom.
- Casing Used to fill the gap between a window and wall or door and wall. A typical home has casings between 1" to 4" wide.
- Crown Placed at the gap between a wall and the ceiling. Crown moldings can measure from 1 1/2" to 15" or 20" depending on the size of the room, the height of the ceiling, and the grandness of the space. A typical home uses crown moldings of about 4" to 5".
- Chair Railing This runs horizontal to the floor, from 30- 44" from the floor. It used to be exclusively to protect the wall from chairs bumping but is more often used for decorative purposes.
Other decorative moldings are used in different situations. These include a banister (the cap on a stair railing), newel post (the central post or column which provides support for a staircase), and spindles (the vertical posts lining the open sides of a railing), as a railing up a stairs. Beautiful decorative molding of different configurations and sizes are used to define a fireplace, providing a mantel and side frame.
Here are some of our tips on choosing, measuring, and buying the right decorative moldings for your home.
- Consider the style of your home. Choose a style that coordinates with the style of your home. You may love deep crown molding and a center medallion on the ceiling, but this would probably not work in a modern style home. There, simpler moldings with little detail are best. Traditional homes look wonderful with deep baseboards and wide casings. Elegant period style homes are enhanced with very detailed decorative moldings.
- Determine the size of crown molding to buy. Crown moldings should enrich the look of a room, not overpower it. Select the width of crown molding based on the height of the ceiling, usually 1" of depth for each foot of ceiling height. This rule works well for large rooms where a room with 10' ceilings would have 10" crown moldings. For smaller rooms and lower ceilings, the dimensions might be too wide and you would need to cut back on the width. Tape a piece of paper or cardboard to test different sizes.
- Buy more than you think you need. Baseboards, casing, and crown moldings are sold in long pieces, usually 8', 10', and 12' lengths. Draw a floor and wall plan and measure carefully. For longer walls, you'll need to join two or more strips together. Determine the perfect lengths for your job to minimize waste. You might need 3- 12' pieces and 1- 8' piece for your space. Buy what you need, and then a little more for joints and miter corner cuts.
- Let the pieces of molding "rest" where they'll be installed. Wood and MDF are vulnerable to changes in temperature and humidity, so bring the molding pieces into the room about ten days before installation.
- Prime, stain, or paint the molding strips before you install them. You'll save lots of time and effort if you paint the strips of mounding before they're installed in the room. Line the pieces up spanning sawhorses or chairs and the work will be a breeze. After cutting and installation, you'll probably have to do some final touch-ups. Be sure to finish both the right and underside of the molding to prevent warping. Let the finish dry thoroughly before installing.
- Add a special finishing glaze for extra interest. For texture and depth of color, add a colored glaze. Paint it on the molding carefully, then wipe off with an old rag in the direction of the grain or long side of the board. The glaze will fill gaps and cracks, showing off the details of the decorative molding, whether it's fancy or plain.
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| A more modern room looks best with simpler crown and casing, |