Sunday, March 28, 2010

A few Interesting Chair Rail Ideas and Functions

Chair rail ideas can certainly cover a wide range of designing goals. Whether searching for classic or kits, chair rail gives a effective horizontal aspect to room styles, as well as supplying a excellent strategy to help preserve the condition of the wall a chair rail molding is attached on.

The primary and most basic choice is the size of your chair rail. Don't forget that if your rail might be to perform a practical, protective aspect it shouldn't be so narrow that it fails to safeguard the wall from chair backs. Outside of that, however, chair rail ideas may easily incorporate many widths of molding.

Be sure to keep the size in proportion to the room as well as the additional decorative elements, though: a wide molding in a small room filled with fine, dainty furnishings will appear gawky and awkward. Too slender a rail in a larger room decorated with grand set pieces of furniture could look too insignificant and frail for the setting it is placed in. All the chair rail ideas you think about should take into consideration the design of the home where they will be seen.

Generally chair rail is basically molding that has plain rounded edges, although more complex routed moldings perform just as adequately. Just as the sophisticated curves and fancy routed molding can enhance your chair rail, so can embossed moldings or pressed wood or resin moldings. Any of these versions of molding provides an aspect of depth to what is otherwise a fairly plain horizontal line around the middle of a room.

Color and design could bring yet an additional dimension to ones own chair rail. Chair rails are frequently painted white against a contrasting background, or are colored a light shade against a white or ecru colored background. In some examples, though, a deep, bold color can easily spark up the individuality of a room.

Likewise a selection of a subtle, pale tint, tone or shade of the primary color of the wall may produce a beautiful impression when the same color is picked up by accents in the room. Thus a medium blue wall might have a smooth, soft gray-blue chair rail, with corresponding gray-blue cushions on the sofa and runners on the incidental table.

While looking for chair rail ideas anyone may also turn to other modes of designing. A flat, uncomplicated chair rail could be elevated by simply the add-on of a decorative band of wall paper. These border strips are generally applied at the top of a wall, however , if selected carefully may be used for a wide chair rail also. Be careful: most of the time you may wish to use either a ceiling high border or a band for the chair rail, however not both. Too much decoration is no longer a beautiful element, but mere clutter.

If you are preparing a baby's room or play room, think about devoting one wall or part of a wall to pegged molding. In a child’s room such pegs could substitute closets, or allow a wide range of packs, bags, and looped toys to be hung up out of the way. Keep in mind that chair rail could include practical attributes such as this.

For simple modification look into pairing a narrow chair rail with two interesting moldings, one top and one at the bottom. By implementing three pieces of pre-shaped wood you can actually come up with complex chair rail without having to do your own routing.

For more chair rail information go to www.finishcarpentryhelp.com.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pat:

I have done chair rails in the past. They really dresses up a room. I have included it in my dining room as well as my son bedroom.

The one tool that comes to mind is a laser level for this application. This is a must have for this application, especially if one is to install it on their own.

Anonymous said...

Pat:

I have done chair rails in the past. They really dresses up a room. I have included it in my dining room as well as my son bedroom.

The one tool that comes to mind is a laser level for this application. This is a must have for this application, especially if one is to install it on their own.

Pat@finishcarpentryhelp.com said...

Hi,
Yes, I totally agree a laser level would work great for this and would also save time.
Thanks for the comment!
Pat