Instant Architecture: Add Your Own Molding

There are definite benefits to living in a well-made newly constructed home — flush walls, new plumbing, high-performance heating and cooling systems — but there's also a tendency for new homes to feel a little bland. Details that were once common to interior architecture (like crown molding and the occasional ceiling medallion) aren't usually included in new construction.

This lack of millwork can make a home feel like it's missing something, especially if you're not a modernist whose furniture fits in with the 'white box' aesthetic. For those who want their homes to have a little more character, custom or off-the-shelf molding can offer the architectural detail they seek without huge costs.

Big box stores like Home Depot and Lowe's sell crown molding and medallions, but there are also specialty retailers, like Outwater, that have an extensive inventory of decorative molding and millwork. In case you're considering going this route, we've rounded up five examples of Apartment Therapy house tours, all of which feature molding added by the homeowners. Click through the links for a deeper look into each home.

SHOWN ABOVE

A FEW SOURCES FOR MOLDING
• Outwater
• Balmer Architectural Moldings
• MouldingAndMillwork.com

Photos: John Woodcock, Jon Crawford-Phillips, Evan Thomas, Rachael Grad, Mackenzie

Comments (13)

I have been meaning to do this to my bedroom for years, hopefully this will get me started!

The Designer Insider

i love the vibrance and eclectic (yet not over-the-top) feel of the third room.

are those file cabinets used as side tables? nice!

I love this post, and hope I can use this idea in either our bedroom or the dining room of our rental (we have a great landlord who lets us improve the place).

I also love the starburst mirror on the first image, but it really is messing with me that it is going OVER the molding. I keep staring at it like I could move it to a more centered spot. I love asymmetrical balance and all, but that is driving me nuts!

I bet this type of project often goes horribly wrong.

I covet mouldings - Been pondering adding them to my flat-front kitchen cabinets.

Say, Karen, what's that blog address again? :)

For those not in North America these mouldings are known as cornices (between ceiling and wall) and ceiling roses, and you might also refer to architraves (around doors and windows, usually of wood), skirtings (again wood, between wall and floor) and picture or chair rails (high and low rails on the walls).

Is this something that renters can do too or does it do too much damage to the surface?

I really, really like the wallpaper panel in #3 - so often, I find the wallpaper featured here to be beautiful but overpowering. This is a great way to do just a dose of wallpaper - and it would be so economical too! Fantastic.

@melgeo - i'm renting my place and i recently had mouldings added to my walls. we nailed the mouldings against wooden pegs, which we inserted into the cement walls.

Since no adhesives were used, they can be easily taken out and the holes simply covered by body filler. :)

I LOVE #2, the white with the molding and the lighting. I'm wondering what kind of paint was used -- semigloss vs glossy vs matte and where?

Gorgeeooouuuuusssssss.

I love moldings, too! That was one of the requirements when we were looking for places to buy. I found them! I have a blog about my current renovations and design at http://lalasapt.blogspot.com

A few comments on this:

1) I've designed hundreds of kitchens and baths for newly-constructed homes -- even custom ones. Their walls are rarely square/plumb either!

2) I've seen great examples of modern decor with traditional architecture. (In fact, my folks have both in their San Francisco Victorian.)

3) There's a terrific trade resource AT readers will really love for completely customized architectural woodcarvings. I blogged about it today:

http://jgkitchens.blogspot.com/2011/02/molten-gold-artistic-merit.html