Custom Trim Molding Ideas

• Custom Case Molding Ideas
• Custom Baseboard Molding Ideas
• Custom Chair Rail Ideas
• Building a Custom Crown Molding

Decorative trim molding can transform a room like nothing else. In a large room with high ceilings, for instance, wide trim moldings can be the difference between a cold, cavernous feel and a warm and inviting feeling. Interesting and decorative trim moldings were once the norm to make these and other rooms inviting and interesting but that has gone by the wayside with the cost oriented approach to home building today. Fortunately it's easy to add the moldings that were omitted by the builder.

This page contains some ideas for building custom wood trim moldings including crown molding, door and window cases, chair rails and baseboards. Using common molding profiles available at home centers and 1by finish lumber, there are many possibilities for building custom trim moldings that are decorative and easy to create.

Installing the Moldings

In some cases these moldings can be nailed together in place and the seams caulked or as with the chair rail below, glue can be used to build a more seamless molding profile. As a general rule inside corners on wall molding should be joined with a coped joint and outside corners with a miterer joint. Ceiling moldings should always be joined using a mitered joint since these pieces are completely visible all the time.

A little sanding may be necessary in some cases if the pre–cut molding pieces are thicker than the available space. Use 80 grit sandpaper and a sanding block on the backs of the molding pieces to remove enough wood to get a good fit. It may also be necessary in some cases to plane down the finish lumber to get the right fit. Or you can buy a piece of flat molding of the needed size. Different sizes of these moldings are usually available thru special order so if you need a certain size you can get it. It may also be possible to use short strips of leftover molding as spacers in place of solid pieces of finish lumber.

Custom Crown Moldings

In this example standard crown molding is embellished with stop bead on top and bottom. This same basic design can be used to build the crown molding lighting project here.

Other, more elaborate crown molding profiles are easy to create using one–piece baseboards and case moldings, different crown profiles and various small accent moldings.

To build this profile install the wall bead first using miter joints on outside corners and mitered or coped inside corners. Install the stop bead on the ceiling using miter joints and then install the crown molding using the surface of the wall bead as the reference point for measuring and cutting.

• More Custom Crown Molding Ideas
• One–Piece Crown Molding Profiles
• Building a Custom Crown Molding Profile

Custom Case Moldings

Build this custom door or window case as well as chair rails and ceiling trim using corner bead molding glued or nailed to a 1x4 or 1x6. Cut the moldings at 45° to form corners or use rosettes and butt joints to form the tops of casings. Cut the bottom of door casings square or a plinth block can be used at the floor.

Other custom door and window cases can be created using various common molding profiles. For instance, a standard baseboard profile can be embellished with a piece of back band molding to create two decorative edges. The moldings can be joined with miter joints or butt cuts and rosettes at the corners.

• More Custom Case Molding Ideas
• One–Piece Case Molding Profiles

Custom Chair Rail Moldings

Build this chair rail using a backer board, two pieces of stop bead and 3 pieces of half round molding. Nail the backer board to the framing and then assemble the stop bead and half–round molding using wood glue and nails. Inside corners may be mitered or coped and outside corners mitered.

• More Custom Chair Rail Ideas
• One–Piece Chair Rail Profiles

Custom Baseboard Moldings

It doesn't make much sense to decorate baseboards with a lot of ornate profiles, they are usually simply a flat board with a decorative edge on top and a bead of quarter round molding at the floor.

But you can get a little creative with the base cap profile if you want to. While you probably won't find much variety at a home store, if you go to a lumberyard or a millworks you will find several different and interesting base cap designs or you can create your own interesting base cap by stacking 2 or 3 small profiles.

Install the shoe and cap moldings using miters on outside corners and mitered or coped joints on inside corners. The flat piece, 1x4, 1x6 or 1x8, can be joined with butt joints on inside corners and miters on outside corners.

• More Custom Baseboard Molding Ideas
• One–Piece Baseboard Profiles