Moulding and Trims, hmm, where to start. I guess it was last
on the list because it was not the first thing I thought of. I don’t know if it
is the first thing anyone thinks of when it comes to design. I know it is generally the last thing to be
installed, once the flooring is done and the walls are painted and the budget
is all gone. Then we are often left with “standard” in stock “builder’s grade”
mouldings for these beautiful spaces we have created that are anything but “standard”.
When you’re going out for a night on the town, do you just
throw on whatever shoes are by the front door? Maybe, sometimes. But trim is
like the shoes to our design and something that should never be overlooked.
When I went to school we were taught all about “scale”. Scale
and proportions are some of the main principles of design. And scale is used in
many ways in design. Draw to scale, design to scale, where is your scale ruler?
Scale can refer to many things. Maybe it is because this was drilled into my
head for 4 years I now know how to perfectly pack a car trunk with 72 bags of
purchases from a day across the border ;)
I never paid much attention to the scale of trims and mouldings
until I moved into a fairly large scale apartment with 10 ft ceilings. It was a
heritage building with beautiful plaster walls, floor to ceiling windows cased
in the thickest trim I have ever seen.
You see, the space was so grand, that “standard” 3 inch high pre primed mdf
baseboard and door trims just would not do. I’m not sure how long those mouldings
had been there, the 100 layers of paint made it hard to tell, but I loved them.
I started paying more attention to trim and mouldings. I
could point them out anywhere. And I was now looking at ways to build or stack
mouldings for my “dream house”. There are many tricks of the trade when it
comes to mouldings and trims and what one can do with them, really the
possibilities are endless. After all
picture frames are just different types of molding cut on a 45 and nailed
together. Add some glass and voila! The same goes for mirrors, furniture doors,
trays...
Once I started looking into different moulding and trims, I
could see that the cost can get pretty high. Whether you go with traditional
plaster mouldings, solid wood stained mouldings, or the paintable mdf, there
are a few things to consider. And a few tips to take minimal to the max!
A great way to get high trims without paying high price is
to install the base board, then a few inches up install a small trim. Then
paint the 2 trims and the space in between the same colour. That way they look like one large piece of moulding.
You can trim out the walls in a dining room and paint it all
out to look like a custom job.
Add some trim to the
side of stairs to beef them up.
Chair rails and plate rails can be added to separate paint
and wall paper.
Trim can be painted to look like wood, painted to blend in
with a space, or painted an accent colour to add some interest to a space.
The same can be done to windows and doors, the possibilities
really are endless.
A great product that we deal with at work is Alexandria Moulding
www.alexmo.com .Their website has a lot of
great tips to achieve a lot of what I spoke of above.
As long as moulding and trim aren’t left as the last thing
on your renovation list you too can have great mouldings for an even greater space.
Come back soon, and I'll share some more ways to apply Design on a Dime to your space!
-AR
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