Molding Before & Afters

When my mom and dad asked if I’d like to paint their small, tasteful bungalow, I couldn’t resist adding a few moldings at the same time. Mom, a talented seamstress, was going to throw away her old fabric window valances…

Early 70’s ranch homes were fashioned after the post-modern architectural ideals of the time. Lucky for us that means they’ve left us with millions of rooms so ill-defined of any kind of style that now you and I can come…

[This is part of Our Kitchen Molding Makeover series] Jennifer thought she’d like the frieze painted the same blue as the kitchen walls, and the ornate onlay painted white.  So I painted them for her. Which one do you like…

A kitchen with high ceilings like this needs a crown molding that doesn’t look wimpy. The reaction you want when people look up is, “Wow, look at the crown molding!” not “Hmm, crown molding.” I think we achieved the wow-factor…

Everything you put in your niche — flower, statues, found-art objects — will look prettier when they are framed with moldings! They are so easy to decorate with some simple moldings from your local lumber yard, and are especially suited…

This was the first and last stain-grade molding project I ever installed — oak wainscoting on a split-level staircase. All of the these pictures show the wainscoting I installed before it was stained and sealed by some very talented painters. …

The contractor who installed these double French doors leading to the patio did an awful job installing the simple door trim around it. The fit and finish of the trim was the worst I’d ever seen in my life.  So…

This living room and foyer have ten foot high ceilings, and we gave them a total molding makeover and a high-resolution paint job that helped show off that height. All of the molding patterns were based on designs I’d seen…

In the picture below I’ve installed, primed and caulked, a whole bunch of moldings in this tall room.  If I still had the before picture of this room, you’d see just a big box with tiny trim and a whole…