It’s no secret that we love us some moldings around here. Trim work is such a great way to add a feeling of richness to your home and it’s actually deceptively inexpensive and easy if you use basic hardware store pieces combined together to create the look you want. We’ve shared some fun and inexpensive molding ideas in the past, like when we were just finishing up with Jack’s room, and of course we had to tell you our trick for figuring out weird angles when you’re doing your trim work, but today we thought we’d share just a few more ideas to get you feeling inspired. You’ll give your home a polished look and end up with rooms that look much more custom and expensive too!
1. Update plain cabinets – To avoid expense in low traffic areas we often end up with plain cabinet doors in laundry rooms or pantries or on a children’s bookshelf. Adding strip (or two) of thin moulding is a great way to spice up these drab doors in minutes for often less than $1 per foot. All you need is glue and and mitre box or saw. Here’s a video that’ll show you how easy it is!
2. Entry Doors – Just like the cabinet update, the addition of a thin strip of moulding will also liven up an uninteresting door for a fraction of the the total replacement cost. If you can get creative and make the right choices, the unique look will bring greater value than just the cost savings.
3. Add a chair rail – Adding a chair rail is the quickest, easiest way to add classy or traditional looks to any area in your home. A chair rail also brings the joy of new creative options as it adds the opportunity to combine colours and textures on individual walls. The family handyman will show you just how to go about doing this!
4. Get creative using build ups – If you were able to read through all the way to the end of the chair rail tutorial, you would have seen the concept of a ‘build up’ mentioned. This is my personal favorite way to class-up a room without breaking the bank with custom molding or hiring a plaster molding specialist.
5. Wall frames – Walls frames are a great addition in combination with the chair rail. Simple squares in your entryway or dining room can have a dramatic impact. Don’t be afraid to modify the shapes to match unique walls or the area under the stairs.
6. Add a window apron – Update the look of your windows without changing your windows by building up a sill on the interior side. If your home was built with plain, uninteresting trim, you can update the entire window at the same time. Just pull off the existing trim and it’s like beginning from scratch with a newly installed window. This video outlines the full process on a newly installed window.
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.