How to Choose Interior Molding This Old House general contractor Tom Silva discusses some of the many options available for trimming out the interior of a room In this video, This Old House general contractor Tom Silva discusses some of the many options available for trimming out the interior of a room. 1. Clear hardwood moldings are expensive and used when you wish to apply a stain and varnish or just varnish. 2. Clear pine molding has no knots and is suitable for staining and varnishing, or just varnishing. 3. Clear, primed moldings are finger-jointed together from shorter pieces of wood, and are intended to be painted. 4. Moldings made from MDF (medium-density fiberboard) are economical and come primed and ready for paint. 5. Polymer molding has an attractive wood-grain finish, but can be stained or painted. 6. Crown molding comes in a variety of sizes and styles and is installed at the top of the wall up against the ceiling. 7. Baseboard moldings, which run along the bottom of walls, can be made from a flat board topped with a narrow base cap, or bought as a single piece with the top edge routed with a decorative profile.

8. Baseboard is available primed for painting, or clear for staining and varnishing, or just varnishing.wedding chairs for sale bulk 9. Shoe molding or quarter-round molding is used at the seam between the baseboard and the flooring.bean bag chair gone flat 10. Chair rail goes flat against wall at about 30 to 36 inches high.ikea deck chairs for sale 11. Beadboard is used to create wainscoting along the lower portion of walls.buy ramp for wheelchair 12. Beadboard is typically topped with rabbetted piece of decorative trim.school desk chair pocket backpack

13. Colonial trim is often used for casings around windows and doors; installation typically requires mitered corners.la z boy occasional chairs 14. To avoid cutting miters, square-cut the casings and install rosette blocks at the corners.modern wingback chair australiaWe’re finishing up a big dining room renovation, and I can’t wait to show you everything because I LOVE it!bean bag chairs under 40 dollars One thing I have always wanted in my house was crown molding. deck chairs for sale irelandI think it finishes a room and makes it look so much nicer! I thought it would be really expensive or difficult to install, or need a ton of fancy tools, but it isn’t.

With some patience, a few basic skills, and a few tools you probably already have, you can install crown molding yourself- without a fancy nailgun- and make it look professional- in a few hours! This way does require a few extra steps (a nail gun would eliminate all the work I am detailing below, minus the caulking, but we couldn’t get our hands on one, and the work around is actually REALLY EASY. First off, you need to measure your space, and buy molding. I went for unpainted (whats up major savings… I can paint myself for $5 less a yard!), and bought twice the amount I thought I needed. Which was super helpful unless you want a zillion seams, because mess-ups happen. Both Home Depot and Lowes have a fabulous selection of crown molding- both painted and unpainted. First, I painted the trim with some killz to prime it. I then painted it with Clark & Kensington’s “Antique White” from Ace Hardware- that PERFECTLY matches our house’s white- and since we need to repair our dining room ceiling anyways (meaning repainting), I went for the same color on the trim so it can all be done at once.

I am into lazy solutions like that. My dad then cut the molding for me since I am a tad awful at measuring. He cut at an angle on our mitre saw- if you don’t have one, you could ask the hardware store to pre-cut for you if you know your wall’s measurements.We did have one seam in between strips of molding per wall. The seams blend in perfectly after you caulk and paint over them, so don’t worry if you can’t find a single strip of molding long enough. My dad actually measured, cut, measured, cut, and measured each strip again. Each piece took him about 3-4 cuts to get it exactly perfect- but it is much better to cut a few times to get it right than to overcut. Take your time and measure carefully when cutting your molding, or you will have a ton of seams and four letter words! Start off by finding studs in your walls. Then hold up the molding on your walls where you would like it to go and drill a hole through them into the studs. We were lucky that our walls had a stud running along the top of the wall, so we didn’t have to worry too much about using the studfinder the whole time (what an awesome discovery THAT was!!).

Next, using long finishing nails, nail your trim in place (lined up with the holes you previously drilled). It is crucial to have someone hold the trim in place for you and keep it taut with the wall- especially if you have uneven ceilings (or walls) like I do so it is flush against them. You don’t want any gaping bits (if we didnt watch, the molding would easily have been crooked. A lot of new construction houses have uneven ceilings!) Don’t nail all the way in- just into the stud enough so the trim can hang, unsupported. You dont want to come too close with your hammer or you could smash, nick r ding your beautiful molding! You’ll grab your finishing tool next (they are like under $5 at hardware stores- be sure to grab one with a tip that is larger than your nail heads, or it will be harder to control. Hold the finishing tool in one hand, and line it up with your nail. With your other hand, hammer the end of the finishing tool to drive your nail into the trim- nick free.