Simple yet elegant mouldings 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 mouldings.
Begin by looking at pictures of rooms that are decorated with crown mouldings, deep baseboards, window trim and door details. A great site to visit is metrie.com. Metrie has introduced its Then and Now finishing collections, which include five styles that blend past and present architectural styles, which make them both modern and timeless.
Each element in a collection has been carefully designed to match the other pieces — trim matches baseboard — mouldings 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.
Their dining room features the “Pretty Simple” collection. Panels and a chair rail located in the lower third elongate the walls. Continuity is achieved by using tone-on-tone, oak-stained pieces, from the 19-centimetre baseboards to the crown moulding. You can use casings to trim mirrors as well as windows and doors. The elegant fireplace surround and mantel is built using stan- dard pieces, oak crown and casings, a flat, square edged oak board and the corners finished with 15-centimetre icons. Trim has also been used creatively to decorate the ceiling.
The octagonal shapes are centred 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 centrepiece for the dining room using mouldings and doors from their Collections.
There are many of my favourite DIY projects featured on the site. The Then and Now collections include 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. Debbie Travis’ House to Home column is produced by Debbie Travis and Barbara Dingle. Please email your questions to house2home@debbietravis.com. You can follow Debbie on Twitter at @Debbie_Travis and visit Debbie’s new website, debbietravis.com.