Chair Rails

Hi Christine-

I was doing a search for chair rail moulding and found your blog. I am enjoying looking through the different posts on decorating and gleaning many ideas from your posts.

I am currently in the process of redoing the baseboards in my living room. I have always hated the chair rail and want to redo it as well, but I am having trouble finding something that is beefy enough for my tall ceilings, yet still elegant and simple. (You can't tell from the photos, but my ceilings are vaulted. The short end is 11 feet tall and the peak is 15 feet tall.) All the prefab molding is about 3 inches thick and I want something closer to 5 inches thick, therefore I will probably have to combine moldings to get this look. I read your post on chair rails and how wimpy you think most are, so I would like your ideas on different options to make my room look proportioned right. I am including photos of my living room with the old baseboards. The new boards are 7-1/4 inches tall with a slight curvature at the top. I am including a photo of the unfinished boards for reference. I am not interested in doing wainscoting.

I will have the entire room repainted when I am done with the trim work. The paint color I am planning is a lightened Graham Cracker from Benjamin Moore. I kept some black and red out of the mix. This color matches well with the color in my entryway. I am planning on it being painted above and below the chair rail. I have a lot of different textures and colors visible from the entryway so I don't want to do too much color in this room. But I am willing to consider any suggestions you may have. I am also including a photo of my stairwell so you can get the overall picture.

Thank you in advance for your time and input,
Teri

Dear Teri,

I feel a little like you just asked me for a good sweet potato recipe. (BTW I don't like sweet potatoes.) I say that because I so rarely think that a chair rail is a good solution in a room. First of all, you mentioned that your ceilings are vaulted. If you have a fifteen foot ceiling and add a chair rail at 36 inches... That is never going to be a good proportion- even if you have a 7 inch chair rail. Do you have a crown molding? Frequently rooms with vaulted ceilings do not- how about adding a crown molding instead- at eight feet - like the photo above? The crown molding does not have to be at the highest part of the ceiling- nor does it have to follow the line of the ceiling. Consider a crown molding instead.

If you still go with the chair rail- a couple of things to consider. Without wainscot- have your darker color on the bottom- like the photo above- or have it all the same color. (I think I would paint it all the same color to minimize the entire look.) Whatever you do- do not paint the bottom lighter. It would be visually disturbing.

Layer your chair rail to make it larger than what you find in the big box stores- or find a generous one at a molding specialty source- not a hardware store. This would be your best bet- to keep it simple- and not look too ornate for your baseboard. With a baseboard as simple as yours- you could go with a simple craftsman style that would not be hard to make- (OK- I couldn't make it- but any contractor could.) Remember that your baseboard should coordinate with all of your trim in style and scale.

I hope I didn't come off too harsh. I hope I didn't hurt feelings... I like people to like me....

Thanks to House Beautiful for the photos.

Diana's High Ceiling

Hi Christine,

I stumbled on your blog, and am amazed at all the transformations you provide at no cost. What a wonderful and inspirational blog you have! I am looking for help with my living area. I need to add some spark and interest to this area. I have a very large wall that peaks at 18' at one point!

Yes- let's start with this wall. It is crazy tall!! In some cases this is wonderful- in yours, I want to lower it. Let me tell you how. First- take some crown molding and install it on the wall with the door and window. Carry it around to the other walls- level at that height. Then- change the paint color to a darker color above the crown- not too dark- but darker.

There you go. You have defined the space in your living area to have a more workable scale- this will make it easier to have wall decor in scale to the wall itself.

It spans the living and dining area. I need a way to separate the two rooms, but make the wall interesting at the same time. I also think that the paint I have on this wall looks too yellow, although it looks great on the other walls. I would like more color and pattern than the gold and spots of red that I have.

Yeahh- you are working with a lot of taupe furniture there, huh? Two solutions for you- area rug- and drapes.- The fabric above is from Beacon Hill, and the rug at the top of the post is from homedecorator.com. I don't think you need more colors just more color.

Of course, I am open to any tips you have for the room as a whole.

Try to avoid two case pieces next to one another- like your entertainment center next to this console table. They never seem to look quite right when you do that. Move this table to a different location in your home- and lower the picture closer to the table when you do. I also don't know what to do with the wall that has a chair and mirror.

Your mirror is way too small- and your chair should not be against the wall. Angle the chair toward the sectional- and get a large oversized mirror- the one at the bottom of this post is 90 inches in height- perfect. Much better scale.

The wall was meant for a fireplace, but, as you see, we don't have one. Thank you for your fantastic advice!

Diana

You need a larger entertainment center- much larger.

Do you like my Sharpie drapes? ;) They go the floor- of course. Continue the same drapes in the dining room. Add some woven wood Roman shades under the drapes- and on the other higher windows. I also added a Sharpie footprint of where I would move your chair.. The large mirror makes a big difference- doesn't it?

Here I added your crown molding. See how it will be even with the lowest wall?

Replace your mirror with something much larger. The one below is from Uttermost. Replace the entertainment center with a larger one- the piece at the top of the post is from Bernhardt.

Did you want a paint color?- I like Restrained Gold from Sherwin Williams for the bottom- and Mannered Gold for your upper wall. Always get sample quarts. I can't really select paint from pictures.

On an unrelated note- do I know you? Your name (which I won't say on the blog) sounded totally familiar. If I don't know you- I know someone else with your same name. BYU? LA? Sorry for the bad memory...

xoxox

Christine

Carol's Kitchen Crown

Dear Christine,
I have a 17' x 20' kitchen with 6" painted baseboards and 3 1/2" painted casings on the openings. There's a 4 1/2" crown with the same profile attached to the top of my cherry cabinets with about 15" above that to the ceiling. DR has 5 1/4" crown built over molding extending 3" below. Bathroom has 4 1/2" crown. Same size crown in the kitchen, or bigger?Carol

Dear Carol,

If your dining room is very near, I might do the exact same molding to have a good "flow" in your home. Try to avoid having different styles of crown in an open area of your home. A different crown in a bedroom or bathroom is fine.

With the second molding added on- I bet your dining room crown looks like a nice size- continue the same in your kitchen.

I posted a couple of kitchens for you to show you a larger vs smaller crown molding (both from Kitchen Trends vol 21). They are both beautiful, clearly professionally deigned kitchens, but I think the kitchen at the top of the post would look much richer with a larger crown. I see the kitchen and think, "Ooohh- beautiful kitchen- too bad the crown molding is so small." What do you think everyone? Is it just me?

No such thing as too rich, too delicious, or too large a crown molding....

I'm in pink today.

Christine,

I'm thrilled to have just found your site. We are having our kids' rooms painted and we're also going to add crown molding and chair rail.

My first question: Our ceilings are 10 ft, the options our wood guy gave us for the crown were all at least 6 inches in length. First of all - I would never leave my options up to a wood guy that only had one option. I would tell him that if that's all he's got, to bid the job as labor only - I'll find my own. But my husband hates that about me - He thinks I make things too complicated... I think I make things pretty. :) Now, I went next door and saw the same size crown in my neighbor's home (same home) and I think it looks great. My husband, who normally has better fashion/design sense than me, says the crown looks too big. Honestly, I can't imagine doing smaller after seeing the neighbor's home. So that is my first question, in a kids room - is a 6 inch crown too much? I'll attach a photo of the crown. No - if anything- I would say that 6 inch crown is too small. I firmly believe that 90% of the time people install molding - they install too small. Have you ever seen a crown molding installed and thought to yourself, "it is too large..." I honestly don't think I have. Keep in mind they look larger uninstalled than they do installed. For a ten foot ceiling - if you go smaller than 6 inches it will look ridiculous.

Second: Where to put the chair rail. I'm hearing 36-40 inches, which is all fine except we have a window with a lower molding that is distracting me from choosing the "right" height. I'll attach a photo of the window, along with the chair rail we picked. You have a few options:

1. Traditional chair rail height is 1/3 up your wall. With a ten foot ceiling - that is 40 inches. Do not go LESS than 1/3 up. With that said, there is some flexibility - if that hits your window at an awkward spot - go a few inches taller - not lower. Remember - minimum of 1/3.


2. Never cut your room in half. So - with ten foot ceilings - keep the chair rail away from the five foot mark.


3. Go down from the top instead of up from the bottom. I included a picture from San Diego Moldings showing this option - I like this in a child's room especially because it does not get hidden by furniture, and it gives you a smaller scale area for wall decor - which can be easier to work with.

Third: an option to get past the window would be to do the crown and then the accent color and then the chair rail - not sure how far apart, but maybe 12 inches or so?

No - a little more than that - I think you are are referring to my option #3 - go at least two feet with 10 foot ceilings.

Lastly - if you can see the detail in the crown, can you tell me which way is up or does it matter?
The more decorative part should be down - see the blue example at the top of the post. The more decorative part is visually heavier and "feels" better at the bottom of the crown.
Sorry if the pictures aren't very good.

Let me know if you need more information to answer my questions. Thank you in advance for any help you are able to provide!

Michele

Chair rail coming down from the top-

this would be my choice in most children's rooms, if I were dong a chair rail.

Chair rail gets lost behind furniture at the three foot mark -

it's hardly worth the work.

This chair rail is too small - and has the light paint color on the bottom-

a no no - as explained in this post.

This chair rail is too close to the middle of the room - cutting the room in half. Remember the rule of thirds - thirds are pleasing to the eye - cutting the room in half is just wrong. This would look 100 times better if the chair rail were 2/3 up the window. Again - not HALF way up. We don't want to cut the wall in half - or the window. It gets a little easy to do it wrong - one more reason people should read my blog - because it really is simple to do it correctly.

Cut in half again... Don't do this!! Also be sure to not have it land right at the same height as your headboard or other large furniture. That's not good either. OK - got it down Michele?

I hate to give credit for the photos when I said negative things about them - so I will not say where I got them - (it is a popular website). Is that the right thing to do?

The Chair Rail Snob

Today- I interject in green. :)

Ok Christine,
Here's my dilemma.... I am trying to paint my dining room. I have picked out two colors Valspar - Khaki and Valspar - natural (both beige tones). I also have a white chair rail. If I want the room to look large, which color needs to go on the top?

Always always always the lighter color should go on the top. Not to make the room look larger- but it will- but otherwise the room will look off balance. Your dinner guests will feel unsettled- which cannot be good....Is it the Khaki which is darker or the natural which is lighter? Or do I need to ditch the chair rail all together and go with one color?
Thanks,
Heidi

Let me tell you what I think about chair rails. Heidi didn't submit a picture- so I am dissing strangers' rooms that I randomly found on the Internet today. The top three photos- I don't like any of them. The chair rail is chintzy and cheesy- and a pathetic excuse for woodwork. The rooms would look better without a chair rail in all of these rooms. Heidi- if yours looks like this- take it off.

The next two pictures, however, I like... What is the difference, you ask? It is hard for me to even tell- exactly- but this is consistent- the overall scale is better of the woodwork to the wall- including baseboard, trim and crown moulding. The very top picture is not terrible- they just really should have chosen larger pieces. The second and third are totally weak. Compare those to the photo below. This looks nice, huh? Can you see the difference? The difference is in size ands scale. Notice too, Heidi, how the darker shade is on the bottom. I find this Wedgwood bathroom charming. Again- nice scale to the trim.

What about a picture frame moulding? Same thing- the photo above- weak- bad-- take it off! The photo below- it looks like they still used small trim, but painted it to make it look larger- good move- it is not perfect- the crown moulding is still WAY too small- but it is markedly better than the photo above.

What do I prefer in a chair rail? A wainscot, of course.

This is much nicer isn't it? So- anyway- back to your dining room. Light colors, and mirrors will make it look larger- but if you happen to have a hutch and buffet in there that doesn't fit very well- take it out and it will look MUCH larger! You have to ask yourself, why you want it to look larger... perhaps it is actually furniture that is the wrong scale for the room. There- ask for a new set for Christmas.