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SF Good Questions: Creative Baseboard Moulding Ideas?

4-23-moulding.jpgHello AT:SF! My husband and I just replaced our former linoleum kitchen floor with Marmoleum tiles, which we love. The next step is baseboard moulding of some sort, and we're looking for creative ideas...

 
 

...We were hoping to create our own moulding with all of the leftover Marmoleum tiles, but some of the gaps between the floor and the wall are wider than the thickness of the tile. Any ideas? Thank you so much.

-Chris in Seattle

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Comments (5)

I wouldnt use the tile as a moulding.

I'd get MDF in 6" flat strips, paint it white and install - Where you have rises or depressions, you'd need to scribe to the floor.

posted by bepsf on 2008-04-23 14:10:51
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same idea as above to hide your gaps but instead of painting the 6" mdf white, clad the strips w/ your leftover tile: match it up to the color of the tile as it hits the wall and you'll actually make the space look larger by visually 'stretching' the floor.

time consuming, but a neat finish.

posted by foog on 2008-04-23 14:40:53
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We are using hardboard 'strips from Home Depot stained to match our floor - but they could just as easy been painted. It gives a clean minimalist look -- and the price is right!

posted by phaedrus on 2008-04-23 15:08:57
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please, no mdf, especially in a kitchen that will be mopped alot.

I worked for a tile setter for a while, and sometimes we ran ceramic tiles right up the toe kick under kitchen cabinets, so the cabinets looked like they were floating. Sometimes it looked great, sometimes...eh. But we always kept the pattern straight, when we went vertical. (Australian vogue living, nov/dec'07 pg. 253 has a pic of this in a kitchen, i have the mag, but no scanner now, damn.)

But when you go vertical w/ ceramic, grout and caulk can cover many sins in the transition. With marmoleum I think you could get a pretty tight seam on the toe kick, bit never over drywall, unless you used some sort of backerboard, as suggested by foog above. Then you'd have the transition from backerboard to wall to deal with... maybe a piece of cove moulding on top?...still...eh

IMO, I'd try tiling the toe kicks (test on that cabinet behind the chair, so you can see how an outside corner looks), but do the real walls in real wood baseboard, and a baseshoe if needed. Good luck!

posted by southof290 on 2008-04-23 16:02:32
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Thank you so much! These are great ideas. I would never have known not to use MDF. We have a giant, drooly dog, so mopping is a necessity.

posted by Chris in Seattle on 2008-04-23 16:30:51
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