Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Decorating Tip: Beef-up Your Architecture

An Eastlake Style Cornice
Rooms are more than just walls, floors and ceilings. A space is really defined by the architecture of the room. Whether your home is sleek and modern or overflowing with gingerbread, the character of your décor comes from the prevalent moldings and architectural details.


An easy and inexpensive way to change the look of a room is to add some decorative molding. The addition of crown molding gives a room a more finished look and radiates a comfortable sense of tradition. If you already have crown molding, adding a “picture rail” (a narrower strip of molding), four or five inches below the crown, will bring grandeur and height to the room. Picture rails were originally used, as the name would suggest, as a means of suspending pictures from the molding so that the delicate plaster of the walls would not be marred by holes.

Creating a cornice or a pediment above a door or window gives the opening more importance and also serves to make your room appear taller. Similarly, adding a chair rail or wainscoting gives weight to the room and can make it seem larger.

If the idea of using a miter box and a saw to cut molding seems a little overwhelming, you can always achieve the same effect with paint. Using painters’ tape and some creativity, you can create the look of paneling, cornices, and other decorative moldings very inexpensively. Use your imagination. Any room in your home can emulate your favorite style of architecture.

2 comments:

On My Soapbox said...

Ah, those red walls of yours! From photos you posted on RT some years ago, you inspired me to paint my living room and adjoining dining room red with white trim. I love, love, LOVE those walls! (My second favorite room in the house is my laundry room, which is bright yellow -- you almost need sunglasses walking into it, lol, but it makes me smile while enduring the drudgery of laundry.) You inspired me to take chances with color, Joseph, and I thank you for that! And I do love the architectural details in your photos as well.... Hmmm.... I feel more inspiration coming on.... :D

Joseph Crisalli said...

My laundry room is yellow, too! It makes the task seem cheerier. I'm glad to hear you've taken some color risks. The worst that can happen is that you have to paint it over again. Thank you so much for your kind words!