Crown Molding! The Decorative Benefit

One of my biggest pet peeves in newer home construction is the lack of detail in the design of the interior. More often than not there is no crown molding, baseboard, base shoe, or even a simple chair rail throughout the home.

It is something that I have overlooked, as it was a common feature in my home. I never really appreciated it until I had the experience of seeing so many homes that lacked this character. For those of you who live in homes that lack this woodwork, charm, and dose of character, read on to learn how simple it can be to install!

Why bother? What will it do for you? It will never have a structural impact – only decorative. Most of your friends and family probably won’t even notice it, but it will give you a sense of completion. You’ll be left with well appointed rooms that introduce a sense of charm and help make your house a home. Today’s crown molding can be traced to the late Renaissance, when designers adapted elements of Greek and Roman architecture to ornamental plaster and wood cornices used to disguise and beautify the juncture of ceiling and wall.

Installing crown is only slightly more complicated than running baseboard. The variety of different joints and saw cuts, including a coped corner joint, an outside miter, a square cut, and a scarf joint, are best done with a coping saw and power miter saw. With practice, you should be able to make tight, long-lasting joints. Start measuring.

1. Determine how much molding to buy, measure each wall, round up to the next foot, and mark those measurements on a plain-view sketch of the room you’re working in. If one wall measures within a few inches of the length of a full piece of crown, buy the next longer length.
2. You will want to find a Miter board – or make it (ask about this at your hardware store). You will begin to get into some geometry and this tool will help save you time and a lot of unnecessary cuts when you are trying to fill a corner of a room.
3. The first piece will be square-cut on each end. Each piece will typically have one end that is square cut and another end that is coped or mitered. In some cases, the end opposite the cope will have to be mitered to help make an outside corner. When a length of molding is coped on one end, cut the coped end first. When you find that the coped end fits tightly, mark and cut the opposite end (whether it’s a miter or a square cut). Think of it as cutting an angle on a pretty piece of ribbon – what is left on the roll is now an exact mirror image of the piece that you just cut. This is exactly what will happen to your wood.
4. Place a length of crown upside down on the miter saw so that the molding’s bottom edge (the edge that will sit on the wall) rests against the fence, and the top edge (the one that goes on the ceiling) rests against the table.
5. To create a snug-fitting joint, hold a coping saw at a 5-degree angle away from the face of the molding and carefully cut along the pencil-marked edge. Check for a tight fit by bringing the molding to the wall and sliding it into place. To measure a coped piece of molding that ends at an outside corner, make a mock-up of the corner from two 12-inch-long molding scraps.
6. Repeat this process for the second scrap piece, but rotate the saw blade to the opposite 45-degree angle.
7. Glue and nail the pieces ends together.
8. Hold the mock-up in place and mark the ceiling where the two pieces of molding come together. Then measure for and cut the butt end.
9. Align the piece on the wall, spread glue on the surfaces of the miter, and nail the molding into place.
10. If the ceiling height changes and the molding must end in the middle of a wall, cap it with a return.

It is a great idea to sort of mock up the pieces and join at least two sides creating a corner together before you attempt to hang them. It will help in the frustration department. Trust me.

If this isn’t for you, make sure you hire a professional. Try to find someone in a local lumbar yard. They will probably know someone, if not themselves, to help you.

Do you have a crown molding? Are you a do-it-yourselfer? Tell us your story!

What Role Do Associations Play With Our Preferences?

Ever wonder why you may veer away from a piece of art immediately without even analyzing it? Or maybe it is a simple task like driving down a road and making a judgment about an ugly building without much thought? Perhaps the art is pleasing, but why? What makes a building pleasing to your eye? Is there a feeling that runs through you when you see the color green? Would you feel differently if you were surrounded in a grassy green verses a pea green? Maybe one green makes you think of a summer picnic while the other reminds you of a night you spent in a hospital as a sick child.

This is all based on the history of color theory and the impact that color has on our lives.

Here is an example. Over the weekend my husband and I decided to go out for brunch with some friends. As we searched for parking near our destination, we noticed another small ‘Mom and Pop’ diner that struck our attention and almost wanted to change our initial reservation to the new location up the street.

Why you ask? We were in the same neighborhood, with a similar little sidewalk patio and inside we knew that we would be faced with similar breakfast food. What was it that drew us in?

My theory was that the front windows were adorned with red and white buffalo check café curtains and the exterior façade coordinated with red shutters. It even had a blackboard easel sat with the morning specials next to the front door. The name of the restaurant was one simple word written in cursive in bright red bold letters across the white awnings.

Thinking back in time, I recall my childhood breakfast room designed in a similar fashion. My mother had a red and white checkered tablecloth. The banquette was finished in coordinating red vinyl and the paneling was pickled white below. On the wall hung a chalkboard where we could create our own artworks. This restaurant we found was a time capsule that was going to take me back to my mother’s home cooked meals!

No, I am not a nut job, only in a sense of something seeming familiar…

Have you ever found yourself drawn to something because it reminded you of past memories? Do you feel there is a connection between memories and preferences?

A New Look For Baby Rooms

It’s a boy; I must use blue and white…. It’s a girl; I must use pink and white…. Are you tired of feeling trapped in what society views your baby’s room should look like? Well, here are some thoughts for bringing a new look for our future generations.

Light pink is generally used for little girls. But what about taking it up a notch to a darker brighter pink? Pairing it with a lime green and/or a bright dark yellow can bring a phenomenal pop to a room for your little girl. Is this a little bit too much out of the norm for you? Try mixing a dark chocolate brown with the standard light pink. How about adding light green or blue? Just because it’s a girl doesn’t mean she can’t have blue!

Baby Blue is often used for little boys, but what boy is going to want that light of a color once he gets a little older? Why not start off with a brighter blue or navy? Try pairing it with red for a pop! Did you know that red is often the first color a baby can see? Other color combinations for your little baby boy might be lime green and white, black and yellow, or light green and brown.

Now you may be saying, I really like the idea of doing something different but where am I going to find the bedding? The standard baby chain stores typically have the same themed bedding. Try going to a baby boutique in a trendy urban downtown, have custom bedding made or you could even make it yourself! I guarantee the local fabric store will have plenty of what you need. If you have something more specific in mind, I would recommend spending some time shopping on the internet. I bet you can find it somewhere in the world! As for the furniture, try pieces that are painted white, black of even smoky gray. This will provide a sharp contrast against the wall paint you have chosen.

Several other ideas to bring a change to the old fashion baby room would be to hang a trendy baby quilt on the wall. Have their name stitched on it with some fun patterns. Might I recommend animals or sailboats? Don’t forget to bring in the fun colors with the fabrics! As for other artwork, keep with one theme. Trying to add too many can end up giving you a room that looks like mass chaos. As for the typical baby rocker, try modernizing it with a rocker-recliner. In some instances you may even be able to pick a fun fabric to coordinate with the room. Why not be comfortable while rocking you baby to sleep? You are going to be spending a lot of time in that chair, might as well invest some money in it.

Just take a minute to think about this. If you stay away from the typical baby colors, your child may not ask you to paint their room a different color for years. Well, one can at least hope!

Finding a Focal Point

Imagine entering into a room and plopping down on a sofa and staring at a blank wall across from you. Now imagine plopping down on that same sofa and looking at a fireplace or an armoire or a beautiful painting. Every seating area in a room should have a focal point that a person is drawn to. In a living room, most commonly the formal room in a home, may have many functions. It is often the place for holiday gatherings, Christmas trees, a decorated fireplace, a Hanukah menorah, decorated for Easter with spring floral arrangements and baskets, etc. In any case, it can be a busy place that is ever changing seasonally and it may be difficult to define a focal point at all times.

By creating your own focal point, you may have an easier time if there happens to be a fireplace or a great big window with a beautiful window treatment. However, some rooms may be architecturally challenged and the focus may be left out of structural components. In this case, you can make up for it with your own creativity.

Use color and scale – large items like bookshelves, art, and mirrors can become a focal point for a gathering of a seating arrangement. Introduce vibrant colors to grab the eye towards a main feature. Focal points may or may not involve furniture; define a conversation area with a beautiful rug or a sideboard to separate seating areas from one another. Enhance the sideboard with a decorative urn full of flowers; turn the rug on an angle for an interesting impact. All of the little unexpected things that you can do creatively will add emphasis and could impact the room largely enough to become the focal point.

Bedrooms may also be challenging, but consider the obvious….the bed. Use interesting layers of patterns or textures in you bedding. Add a euro sham or two to give the headboard area a big punch. Instead of a footboard, consider a storage trunk. Apply the general rule of “looking for the obvious” and enhancing it as a way to define the focal point in every room in your home. I am sure that you will find it easier that you may have anticipated.

Have a great focal point idea?  Send it our way!  And include pictures if you have any!

Residential Wallcoverings – Strippable vs. Peelable

Before we even get into how to prep a wall to apply our residential wallcoverings, we need to decide if we want peelable or strippable wallcoverings. When we get tired of the wallcovering, and no matter how much we love it in the beginning, the wallcovering will fade or become worn looking or we just tire of the pattern and color, we will have to remove it from the wall.

Peelable wallcoverings mean that you can peel the top layer (the decorative layer) off the wall. This leaves the backing on the wall. Now, this can be a great thing if the wall you have under this paper is in bad condition and further water and scrubbing could mean replacing the drywall or require a great deal of spackling and sanding. The backing layer acts as a liner and assists in masking imperfections in the wall.

You will want to have the edges of the new wallcovering begin and end in the middle of the backing wallcovering, not match the existing joints. Peelable wallcovering backing must be removed. If you are going to paint the wall, you will typically apply water and scrap off the backing. Peelable wallcoverings were a saving grace in my old farm home. However, the peelable wallcovering became a much larger project when my energetic assistant went a little too deep with the scrapper when we decided to paint instead of paper.

Strippable wallcoverings mean that you are supposed to be able to pull the entire wallcovering off the wall, leaving a minimum of the adhesive on the wall surface. The adhesive would then need to be scrubbed with a detergent solution and rinsed clean. Strippable wallcoverings are as easy to come off as they went on. They work as a unit – the backer and decorative layers are not supposed to separate.

What is your experience with peelable and strippable wallcoverings?  Which would you suggest?

Furnishings: What works in your home?

A choice in furniture and the way we use it, arrange it, and enhance it is what makes our houses into homes. It has meaning and defines the way we express ourselves. It becomes an extension of how we entertain, what our hobbies are, places that we have traveled, our children, our faith, encompassing bits and pieces of our identity.

The choice of furniture and the way that it is arranged can have a dramatic effect on the space in the room. When I work with clients on a “blank canvas,” I often ask a plethora of questions which helps us decide on the style of the room as well as how it fits their personality and lifestyles. I stress importance in practicality, finding that the cost of goods isn’t always the most desirable element for my clients – meaning that they would just as soon invest in an inexpensive lamp or coffee table in order to afford the expensive fabric for their sofa. To others, having the big ticket item as the focal point in their foyer is far more important than finding anything more than a synthetic woven runner for the staircase behind.

To me, it all makes sense. My job is to help my clients find the importance in what they VALUE and how to relay that in a message in the canvas of their home. This may sound simple, knowing that we all have a sense for what “feels good.” Rarely do we ever get to start a room from scratch and it is important to decide on pieces that you will really love and what to do with the leftovers.

Here are a few tips:

• Give yourself some basic rules to follow.

• All of your furniture has to have a use. Functional/decorative. Don’t buy furniture that doesn’t make you feel good or happy when you look at it.

• Don’t try to buy everything at once. It is overwhelming. When I work with my clients, we devise a plan for the room, more often than not, all of the items cannot be purchased at once. But because there is a plan in place, all of the specified pieces can be purchased over time as their budget allows.

• If you find that you like the big oversized comfy sofa and you also like the sheik modern chrome lounge chair…what is your style? Well, the good news is that a different style can be used in different rooms in the same space, managed by careful balance; this is not something to be afraid of.