Lisa's Hallway Makeover

Christine,
I'm in need of your help. As you can tell by the pictures my front hallway, stairs and my hallway upstairs, are in need of a serious makeover! We do plan on putting a carpet runner down the stairs, they're a bit of a death trap. I do live in Ontario, Canada so mats are needed at the front. My main concerns are paint colour, seeing as how everything including the floor and doors are painted the same colour. It's my New Year's resolution to get this sorted out, we've lived in the house for 3 years and don't plan on moving anytime soon. Thanks for your time, looking forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Lisa

Hi Lisa,
I see that your first concern is paint color- but as I have said many times- paint is the very last selection. So- I will not start there- and neither should you. ;)

Your bench is too large. Move it to a better location in your home. If you want a bench here- that's great- but I'd get a smaller one.

I would remove the chair rail. You have some terrific moldings - great size base and window trim- but the chair rail is first of all- installed too high, and secondly- too small. Look at the size of the chair rail next to the window trim- it is smaller than the window trim. (All of you should now be appalled- and gasping for air.)

Add some wallpaper. What a perfect place for wallpaper. You can add style and interest and personalization and color and pattern and texture- all with one selection. Wallpaper. I selected a toile for you- trying to find something that coordinated with your trim color. However- if changing the trim color is part of your plan- select whatever wallpaper you'd like to- than select paint colors from there. Get wallaper samples - make sure they match your trim color. Get a style that is consistent in color and style with the decorating in the rest of the home. You don't want to create a disconnect by falling in love with a contemporary paper if your home is decorated in a traditional style.

Your floor should be a different color than your trim. I would paint it a shade of brown- again- wallpaper selection first- then use the colors there to make the perfect paint selection.

I love your door panel style. I can tell that you have a charming older home. The new California tract homes that I live in don't begin to have such great style in their doors and knobs.

I liked this toile from York.
For your stairs- I would go with a sisal runner. Simple and classic- a bit more modern than the paper- keeping the look current and fresh- while at the same time traditional and charming. Remove your wall decor- add a cool mirror like the one from Uttermost at the top of the post. I don't have a great shot of your wall space in the hall itself- but if you have a good location- add a sconce or two. Can you see it? I can and it looks terrific. A true makeover for your hallway. If you don't want to do wallpaper- do it anyway- you will thank me later. ;)

Happy New Year everyone! Anyone else have home improvement New Year's Resolutions?

For more hallway posts click here.

Paint for Susan

Hi Christine,
I was so pleased to find your blog and see that you love mouldings. I would love to receive your advice on the colour scheme for the dining room in our English house from 1900. You'll see from the attached picture that it has a picture rail, a cornice around the ceiling and some curved mouldings on the corners of the wall and the corner between the wall and lower section of ceiling. The previous owners chose the carpet and colour scheme. In the long term I would like to replace the windows, lay a wooden floor and buy a table which fits the room, but my priority now is to paint over the lilac and blue with beige/brown heritage paints. I would like to paint the walls fairly pale and use a slightly darker shade to pick out features, but I am struggling with the area between the picture rail and cornice. Should it match the walls, the ceiling or have its own shade? I am not sure I want the cornice to be the only place I use the darker shade, so I am also tempted to paint the picture rail and mouldings in the darker shade, but I don't think all the woodwork should be dark, as white (or toning off-white) window frames help to disguise the unattractive white plastic windows. I feel like I would like subtle changes of several different toning shades over the walls, picture rail, upper section of the walls and cornice. I would really appreciate your help on which should be palest and darkest.
Thank you,
Susan

Dear Susan,
Let me start by letting you know my theory on paint colors. Fist of all- I would never go to a room like this and select a paint pallet first. For example, I am involved in a project currently where I just finished making all of the selections. The project has been in the works for months. Today- with all of the selections nailed down- I ordered paint samples. Even when you plan on keeping everything a light neutral- a better decision on paint is made after the other decisions are made.

Secondly, I feel that in most cases the paint should be a beautiful background- not a focal point. From your description of what you are considering, it looks like that is your plan. Look at the paint colors in the photos I included in the post. They are great backgrounds. They provide a nice contrast with the trim work, but in no way overpower the room.

With that said- here is what I would do:

I would have all wood trim in a white that matches the white in the windows.

I would then have two or three shades of the neutral paint that you select.

Put the darkest shade between the picture molding and the crown molding. OR- you can use only two shades- and have this area the same color as the lower portion of the wall.

Put the medium shade on the area of the wall below the picture molding.

Put the lightest shade on the ceiling. I have said this before- but I really like the ceiling of a room with crown molding to not be the same color as the crown molding. Your trim stands out so much more when there is contrast. With that said, I would keep it quite pale.

I really like your idea of keeping the paint colors light. Do that. For those of you who are just now getting up the courage to paint your walls dark- stop- you are behind a few years- the trend has gone back to light. (yes- of course there are exceptions to everything. :)

Console Sinks and Cased Windows

Today's post is a follow-up on this post.

Christine,

Wow! A lot to think about and learn! I told my husband about the white kitchen cabinets and he's not a fan---he's worried they'll always be dirty or be high maintenance to keep clean---can you tell me if this is true? White cabinets will not get any dirtier than dark wood cabinets. However- when you get your kitchen cabinets dirty- as you will- you will actually see it on the white cabinets and clean it- whereas with dark wood you might live in denial longer. But no- they are not cleaner- in the end- as you never clean the dark ones- and consistently clean the white ones- the white ones be much cleaner. If, however- you want to live in a filthy state of denial- that is a great reason to get dark cabinets. And would they look okay with black kitchen appliances? I don't like white or stainless steel. Sure- you can use black appliances. I would go stainless if it were me- but I noticed you didn't ask me that question... White appliances and white cabinets can actually be a really hard match to make. Black is a piece of cake.

Also, what do you mean about having the windows "framed out?" See the examples at the bottom of the post of framed windows. I don't know if Utah builders usually trim the windows or not. Anyone know? What I mean by that is that they have a sill, an apron, and wood trim around the interior of the window. Some windows have just the sill and apron- and others have none of it- just drywall. That look has its place in very modern architecture- but most of the time I think builders are just lazy and cheap- and homeowners don't know better to ask for it.

And what is a "console sink" like you recommended? All of the bath photos in the post today have console sinks. They are similar to pedestal sinks- but are attached to the wall in the back and have legs in the front- sometimes the legs are metal- sometimes ceramic- I have seen them also in wood- but less frequently. they are easy to find- right at your local big hardware store- starting in the $300 range- and going up from there. They are probably less expensive than a wood cabinet base- adding on a counter top- and they have a lot more style. You can get them with a shelf if you need storage. I consider this sink a great choice for powder baths where larger amounts of storage is really a non-issue- or in a bathroom like the one below where other storage is available. And how expensive is it to do those beautiful beams on the ceiling? Just a few of the thousand questions I have and will have :) The beamed ceilings? I don't know what to tell you on the price. Any readers out there have them added- or know what they would cost? Usually they are just wrapped into the price of a home. I had a contractor recently add them on one of my jobs- but I never heard what the price was... Like all prices- I am sure the price varies quite a bit- from real to faux, wrapped to solid- stain grade to paint grade- etc.

Love your blog and your tell-it-like-it is attitude---and no you didn't make me cry--yet :)

I love the casings around these windows- really nice.

A little terminology lesson...

Now imagine the room below without cased windows- does anyone out there see what a huge difference they make?

They can be "curvy" and more formal like the photos above- or you can have them done in a cleaner line like below. The style of your molding is an extension of your architecture- and should be consistent in style with the style of your home. You can show me the front elevation of your home- and I can tell you what your moldings should look like.

Thanks,
Christine

P.S. Does anyone else love that bathroom at the top of the post? Love the ceiling. Love the lighting, love the tile, love the trim work. Love it.

Photos from Country Living. (Except some random trim photos that I found online. I tried to find a photo of an untrimmed window and couldn't find one. Those windows are simply not worth photographing.)

See some untrimmed windows in this post thanks for the comment All My Monkeys! I should have thought to check my own blog for photos!

Chair Rail Advice

Christine,
Hi, I had sent pictures of my kitchen a while back. You responded by your blog post titled The Good Triangle. I had asked if the chair rail in the eat in area was too wimpy. You told to send pics so that is what I'm doing. It is hard to see in the picture because the walls were primed once the wallpaper was taken off. The char rail measures at 2 1/4 inches.

Thanks,
Elizabeth

Hi Elizabeth,

Thank you for the pictures. Yes- I'd say it's too small. 3 1/2 inches would be a minimum- or even larger like the one photographed below. (Notice the chair rail in the photo below is nearly the same height as the basboard....) An inch and a quarter might not seem like a lot- but in moldings it is a huge difference. :) Keep in mind that you have simple lines to your existing moldings- don't select a new chair rail that is too decorative- and if going as large as I suggest makes the chair rail thicker than the window and door trim- don't do it. Just take it down altogether, keep shopping, or replace everything. ;)

Thanks for writing in!

Christine

To read more about my chair rail advice- click here.

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?