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How to Change the Look of a Dining Room with Molding

JasonScott | May 19, 2010 |

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If you want to dress up the look of any room in your house, you can achieve great style with molding. While you normally think of molding around windows, floors and doors, it offers so much more to a room. From crown molding, to chair rails, to wainscoting and panels, molding can add interest and definition to the walls in your dining room.

Crowning Glory

Adding crown molding to a dining room brings a finishing detail to the room that bespeaks of fine craftsmanship. Ornate crown molding can make a dining room look more formal, and simple crown molding can make it look more modern. However, either kind of crown molding makes a dining room look finished. You can paint your crown molding to match your ceiling, or you can paint it to match the woodwork in the room depending on the look that you want to create.

Pretend Panels

You can also use molding to make your walls look like they are covered with elegant wall panels. You can sketch out a pattern or design one directly on the wall with painter's tape. You can make your panel shapes as simple as several box shapes, or you may want to create a box within a box. You can then cut you molding strips and attach them to the wall. If you are planning to paint your strips in a contrasting color, you should paint the molding before mounting it to the wall. Then you can nail it to the wall and sink the finishing nails. Finish up with wood putty, a light sanding and some touch up paint. If you are going to paint your molding the same color as the wall, you can simply paint the molding and the wall together. Add designer flair with wall art and decor, like a metal wall art bamboo or original framed paintings.

Save the Walls

Another popular use of molding in the dining room is to add a chair rail to the walls. A chair rail is both attractive and functional. It protects the walls from being bumped by your dining room chairs. So if you are adding one to your dining room, use your chairs to measure the proper height for the chair rail. You can use wainscoting with a chair rail to add interest to the bottom half of the wall. You may also want to simulate wainscoting by hanging wallpaper on the bottom half of the wall or by simply painting it a little bit darker shade than the top half of the wall.

Creating Storage

You can add storage and interest to your dining room walls by adding a narrow shelf around the top of the room with molding. As a matter of fact you can create the shelf with crown molding and a narrow plank of wood for the shelf. Install your crown molding about eighteen inches from the ceiling, and you can use your shelf to display platters and china as well as for storage. Add matching baskets or tins to store everything from silverware to linens.