Why Choose Decorative Mouldings for your Home?

Why Choose Decorative Mouldings for your Home?

Looking for a quick and easy way to freshen up a room? Decorative or simple mouldings can add a visual presence to a room that can make a home feel elegant and classy. It’s a great way to enhance the beauty and design of your home’s interior and can even increase it’s value. Adding or replacing decorative moulding is an easy DIY project and you’ll be amazed how different a home can look with the simple addition of wider casings, deeper skirting boards, crown mouldings or a dado rail. One of the most commonly used types of decorative moulding is cornice moulding, which is typically installed at the top of the wall where the wall and ceiling meet. Other types of moulding include:

Skirting Board Moulding – Also called baseboard or base moulding, skirting is installed at the bottom of the wall to cover the joint between the floor and the wall. Most homes use skirting boards anywhere from 2 inches to 9  inches deep.

Casing – Casing is an ornate trim used around a window or door . The average size for casing is between 1 and 4 inches.

Dado Rail Moulding – Dado rail is installed horizontally around the perimeter of a room, usually about 30 inches from the floor. The purpose of a dado rail was initially to protect the walls from chairs bumping it, but more recently it is primarily used for decorative purposes.

When buying mouldings for your house, you need to consider the style of your home. There are a range of moulding styles widely available that will complement and enhance your individual style. Contemporary homes should stick to simple mouldings whilst period homes suit a more elaborately decorated moulding, adding to their character and charm.

Cornice mouldings are an architectural feature that can really add value to your home. They are available in lots of different sizes which means they can enrich the look of a room without overpowering it.

The higher the ceiling, the wider the moulding should be. Decorators and interior designers usually advise that you select the width of cornice moulding based on the height of the ceiling, normally 1 inch of depth for each foot of ceiling height.

For smaller rooms and lower ceilings, the dimensions might be too large and you would need to cut back on the depth.

To add texture and colour to your rooms, mouldings can be painted and stained to either support the style of your room or create a feature. Carefully apply a stain or a coloured glaze to the moulding, then wipe it off with a rag in the direction of the grain.

The glaze will fill gaps and cracks, showing off the details of the moulding, whether it's decorative or plain. Prime, stain, or paint your moulding before you install it to make the finishing process much faster and easier.

You don’t have to use the same moulding throughout your home, instead choose different styles to suit the décor and style of each room. Make sure you select high-quality moulding as the cheaper options won’t give you the same results.