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Custom finishing Decorative molding adds a stylish touch to a room

3 min read
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Layer trim and molding with the same designs for a stunning mantel from Metrie.

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Simple yet elegant moldings elevate a dining room's style.

I am often asked for ideas that will customize a room – what details can be added to personalize a home and take it to the next level. One solution that works for all styles is to create interest with trims and moldings. Even the sparsest decor plans can accommodate some framing and a bit of trim. The challenge is how much trimwork will suit and what choices you have. Begin by looking at pictures of rooms that are decorated with crown moldings, deep baseboards, window trim and door details. The website www.metrie.com is a great site to visit. Metrie has introduced their Then and Now Finishing Collections, which includes five styles that blend past and present architectural styles, which makes them both modern and timeless. Each element in a collection has been carefully designed to match the other pieces – trim matches baseboard, moldings and even doors – so that all your decorating details flow together seamlessly. And the collections include elements in a range of sizes to complement the proportions of any room.

To help you visualize the impact of different styles and placements, Metrie shows five collections from which to choose: French Curves, True Craft, Very Square, Fashion Forward and Pretty Simple, which is the style shown here. Their dining room vignette features paneled walls with a chair rail located in the lower third to elongate the wall. Continuity is achieved by using tone-on-tone oak-stained pieces, from the 7-inch baseboards to the crown molding.

You can use casings to trim mirrors as well as windows and doors. The elegant fireplace surround and mantel are built using standard pieces: oak crown and casings, a flat, square edged oak board and the corners finished with 6-inch icons.

Trim has also been used creatively to decorate the ceiling. The octagonal shapes are centered around the chandelier. To add depth to the outer sections, chair rail is layered over baseboard. The ceiling trim is MDF, the ceiling painted flat white and the trim highlighted with semigloss paint.

The display cabinet was originally a hutch fitted into the wall with glass doors. You can find instructions on how Metrie transformed it to become a spectacular centerpiece for the dining room using moldings and doors from their collections.

There are many of my favorite DIY projects featured on the site. Folding screens have many uses, from hiding a work station or wall space you would rather not see to providing a movable partition so that you can define your own spaces. The Then and Now Finishing Collections includes doors designed for each style. Make a folding screen simply by hinging four doors together.

The fun part is painting the doors. Here’s an opportunity to try distressed paint effects, or tie into your Country or Folk Style with milk paint, or add wallpaper to the insets for a romantic mood.

Frames are a natural made from moldings. Finish with stain or paint. Dress up with gilded edges, or stay minimal with flat black paint. Think outside the box – you can frame anything, or nothing; hang an empty frame or two that you have finished brilliantly, a great conversation piece.

Email your questions to house2home@debbietravis.com.

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