This may just be a personal thing, but I love to install molding! I just LOVE the look of moldings- shout it from the highest mountain! What about you? When it comes to giving your home architectural interest, the easiest way to do it is add moldings For those of us that live in a cookie cutter home, they often lack the character of trim and custom millwork. So, if architectural detail and visual interest are what you crave, let me give you some ideas of how to get what you’ve been wanting!
{Image Credit}
Putting up crown molding or installing board and batten wainscoting, may sound intimidating. But you can do it! Let me give you a few ideas for how and where to use moldings… Let’s count it out… 1,2,3,4,5! You’re right this is another 5 step approach to using moldings in your house. (if you haven’t seen my other posts go here for ideas on how to pick colors for your home, increase storage, and using inspiration photos)
1. Base Moldings!
Okay, well my guess is that you have base moldings in your home. They act as a way to hide the seam between floor and wall, so they are sort of necessary with out a lot of custom work. That said, unless, you choose them, live in an historic home, or have since replaced them, I am betting they dinky and small. I hear you I have been there in 3 of my homes!
There are a few options for making your moldings look bigger without replacing them.
First you can remove them and add a “high heal..” This is something we have been doing in our home. We carefully remove the molding, and add a small piece of MDF below and then re attach them. This gives it a 3-5 inch base with the detail at the top that mimics the large versions you can buy at the store:
Here is our version (obviously before paint!)
We did this is the stairwell of our first house by adding a new molding over the stair skirt. It really made the space amazing!
You can also add a small molding a few inches above your molding (the backward version of the crown update, so see below!)
2. Crown Molding
When it comes to crown, if you don’t have some… let me suggest it. Crown can do so much to any room. And no, it will not make it feel shorter, it will bring your eye up and help create the illusion of height (if that is what you are lacking!)
Crown is one of those things that can be used on furniture and cabinetry as well. Adding crown to your kitchen will make a boring kitchen feel glamorous!
(My Uncommon slice of Suburbia)
If you already have crown but it is too small, you can easily make it look bigger. Just add a small molding a few inches below your crown. Then you paint both moldings and the wall space between the same color. We did this in our first master bedroom remodel in college! (seen below)
3. Wainscoting/Wall treatments
This is one of my favorite things, and I guess it is all the rage, because I see it everywhere now! But it is a great way to bring interest to a plain room and can be done on the cheap! Adding a wainscoting is also a great way to visually give interest without having to have a lot of furniture and clutter.
If you want some instruction check out these posts for a picture molding wainscoting, and board and batten.
4. Updating Cabinet Doors
If you have plain old cabinet doors, I would suggest molding! (big surprise right?!) But this is a great way to update existing blah cabinets, without all your hard earned cash. And the results can be incredible, check out this for example, and see the instructions here.
Also, if you are wary of all the work it would take to do your whole kitchen, why not a small bathroom, a small job for a huge impact!
5. Frames
Use moldings to create a custom look anywhere. On a mirror, in your bathroom, around some art you created, whatever you can think of. You don’t have to nail this in place, just use some construction adhesive, see this tutorial for instructions!
By adding these custom details. Your space will have so much more character! And will be that much more you! Also keep in mind that most if these updates if done right will increase the value of your home. That is enough of an excuse for me! Lets get working! Good luck and if you do any of these projects please let me know!
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Please come back for the next posts in the series!
Step 1. Five Easy Steps to The Perfect Color Pallet In Your Home
Step 2. Creating Needed Storage in Your Home
Step 3. How to use Inspiration Photos to Create Your Look
Step 4. Working with Moldings to Add Interest to Your Home
Please be sure to check out the accompanying post on Remodelaholic! To see an example of how I broke down an inspiration image!
Remodelaholic is written by Cassity and Justin. Cassity has a degree in interior design and Justin is a landscape architect, so we adore everything that makes up a HOME! We love to share home remodeling ideas and projects were working on. From huge kitchen renovation ideas to small bathroom remodels, there isnt anything we wont try to tackle (at least once!). We are in the midst of our third whole home renovation, (check out house 1 and house 2 as well, so there should be a lot more inspiration coming your way). We hope that you will stop by often for home design inspiration, tutorials, interior design tips, delicious recipes and what going on in our family life.
This is very helpful to us! We did the wainscoting, but I never thought of the baseboard trick. I think we’d like to put some crown molding around our ceilings too. Thanks so much!
This is a fabulous inspiration post! Awesome! Now, I feel like I can do this! Thanks for the much needed kick in the butt! Have a happy week!
We are about to add new cabinets in our kitchen with crown molding and I can’t wait!
I love beadboard cabinets and doors! We have a new construction home and it came with base molding but no crown molding! My kitchen cabinets do have the molding though. There is some cheap name for molding (not wood)- I can’t think of it- it’s an acronym I think? but we plan to install that before we sell our home in a few years.
We’re slowing turning my daughter’s room into a “princess” room and we plan on putting crown molding in there to give it a more regal look. I just think it looks so sophisticated. I wish I could do it in my kitchen but my cabinets literally reach the ceiling (it’s a low ceiling in my kitchen). But I do like the ideas for the cabinet doors! I think we might try that. I think it would add so much!