You know the end is in sight when you are renovating your home, and you start thinking about trim or molding. It’s not the last thing you’ll install, but it does come into play near the end of your project. Interior house trim is one of the finishing touches that makes your home look finished!
Are you ready to think about your options? Continue reading to learn about many types of interior trim, from crown molding to baseboards, what the common wisdom is for using each type, and how to break the “rules” and make your home your own.
What is Interior Trim?
The term “interior trim,” also referred to as molding (or moulding to the true craftsmen)refers to a piece of material that goes along the wall, near the ceiling, near the floor, around doors and windows, or around the center of the wall. It can be functional, decorative, or both!
When molding is produced from a wood mill, it is traditionally called millwork. That said, interior house trim does not always have to be made from wood. Trim can be made of a variety of materials, including wood, tile, MDF, or PVC.
Before you make a decision on the type of trim you want to use in your home, you should understand the pros and cons of each of these types of material.
Wood Trim
- This type of trim is often considered the best in terms of both quality and versatility
- It can withstand moisture for a short time
- Wood is sustainable and eco-friendly
- It is paintable
- Wood trim is probably the most beautiful option
- It can be an expensive choice
- It can be difficult to install if your walls aren’t perfectly straight
Tile
- Tile is used almost exclusively for baseboards–not usually other types of trim
- It gives a luxurious and ornate look to your room
- Tile is durable and waterproof–great for bathrooms
- It can be expensive to purchase and install
- Tile can be difficult to repair if it gets damaged
MDF
- MDF, or medium-density fiberboard is made of compressed sawdust
- It is inexpensive and easy to install
- MDF is easy to paint
- MDF does not crack when attached with nails
- It is not very durable and tends to warp or bubble when exposed to moisture
- You can’t get MDF in a natural or stained wood look–only painted
PVC
- PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, is a fairly inexpensive choice
- It’s great for rooms that get a lot of moisture
- It’s durable, except when exposed to large temperature swings, which can cause it to expand and contract
- It’s insect-resistant
- PVC is easy to paint
Interior House Trim: Top to Bottom
There are many types of interior trim that you may want to install in your home. All of them add interest to the interior walls, and the attention to detail that trim can convey makes your home feel curated and carefully designed.
The Top of the Walls
Both crown and cove moulding go along the top of the wall, covering the joint between the wall and ceiling. Crown moulding is more decorative and usually has an intricate design, whereas cove molding has a concave shape and a minimalistic appearance.
Both types of trim add architectural interest to your home and make it feel more luxurious. The wider the trim, the more dramatic it will look.
The Middle of the Walls
You may not think of trim being installed onto the walls, but it’s actually a popular option. One type of middle-of-the-wall trim is wainscoting. Wainscoting is a type of wood paneling trim made of vertical panels that extend from the floor to halfway up the wall.
You have likely seen this trim in bathrooms, dining rooms, and foyers. It adds interest to the room because it breaks up the blank wall and adds texture to the bottom half.
Sometimes wainscoting is topped with a chair rail. Chair rails are generally thicker pieces of trim that run around the center of the wall, parallel to the floor. They are practical because they prevent chairs from bumping into and damaging the walls, but they can also be beautiful.
Chair rails are often used to divide two types of wall coverings: paint on the top and wallpaper on the bottom, or wallpaper on the top and wainscoting on the bottom, for example.
Picture frame trim is a less common type of interior trim that gives you a lot of decorating impact. Picture frame trim is installed in a large square or rectangle shape–like a big picture frame. You can repeat it around the perimeter of the room, or only use it once as a focal point. Artwork is often hung inside the square.
Around the Windows and Doors
The type of trim that goes around windows and doors is called casing. Window casing and door casing are used to hide the joint where the wall meets the door or window frame. Casing can be a variety of widths, and generally, the wider the casing, the more dramatic it looks.
For more ornate door or window trim, you can add rosettes (square pieces of trim with a flat or floral design in the center) at the top corners of the casing, and plinths (rectangular blocks of decorative wood) at the bottoms.
Baseboards
Perhaps the most well-known and commonly used type of trim is baseboards. They run around the bottoms of walls, hiding the joint where the wall meets the floor. Baseboard trim is used to make a room look finished, but also to protect the walls from scuffs and dings.
They are usually three to five inches wide, and often relatively plain since they’re often hidden by furniture. Usually, quarter round is used over baseboards for a decorative touch.
You’ve Got to Know the Rules…
…so you can break them. One of the best parts about renovating your home is that you get to make it truly yours. Your preferences, your favorite styles and colors–you get to orient your house toward meeting the needs and desires of you and your family specifically. Interior trim is no different. But from a design standpoint, it’s very helpful to know the rules–the generally agreed-upon standards of function and aesthetics–before you break them.
Crown and Cove Moulding
If your room has eight-foot ceilings, you will generally want to go with smaller crown molding: 2.5 to 6- inches tall. In rooms with ten-foot ceilings, This top-of-room molding is generally around 4 inches wide in casual spaces, and a minimum of 9 inches wide in formal spaces.
It makes a dramatic statement at its largest size, up to 24 inches. But of course, these are rules you can break. If you love the look of wide crown molding and your ceiling isn’t “tall enough,” give it a try anyway. You may love it.
Wainscoting, Chair Rails, and Picture Frame Trim
The rule of thumb for wainscoting is that it should go a third of the way up your walls. Do you want it to go higher? Try jumping to the two-thirds mark. This usually looks better than having it exactly at the halfway mark, or another random point.
But again, rules are made to be broken. Some people prefer their wainscoting to match the height of their windowsills. Others use the windowsill as a measure so they can make sure their trim is a good distance higher or lower. It’s up to you!
For chair rails, a similar basic rule applies. Most people say that a chair rail should go a third of the way up the wall. But others believe a quarter of the way up is better. If in doubt about what’s best for your room, it’s generally better to err on the lower side, because a chair rail placed high can make the room look shorter. But again, do what you like!
Picture frame trim probably has the fewest rules of any type of trim we’re discussing here. It can be hung in squares or rectangles of any size, in a repeating pattern, or just a single shape.
If you have a specific piece of art in mind that you want to frame with picture frame trim, that will help you determine the size and placement of your trim. Be careful of placing the squares too close together or too far apart. Do what looks good to your eye in your specific room.
Casing
Casing is the molding or trim that runs vertically in a room. It should be narrower than the horizontal trim, such as baseboards and crown molding. A good rule of thumb for casing is that it should be about half the width of the baseboards.
The narrower you go, often the more modern the look. But again, while some people love the look of traditional casing, others would prefer very wide or very narrow. You decide what looks best in your home and what captures your vision for your renovated space.
Baseboards
Conventional wisdom says that baseboards should be about 3-5 inches wide for a room with 8-foot ceilings, and 5-7 inches wide for a room with 10-foot ceilings. Again, many designers believe that thinner baseboards look more modern while wider ones are more traditional.
Some people (myself included)love the dramatic look of extra tall baseboards. In my home, I installed 10-inch baseboards with a 2.5-inch cap and quarter-round, and I love them. They’re perfect in my space.
Summary
In this post, we shared the different types of interior house trim from crown molding to baseboards. We also shared the rules for interior trim. As a reminder, while it’s helpful to know the “rules” of interior trim, sometimes thinking of them as a starting place is beneficial. The more you learn the rules and thoughtfully break them, the more you’ll gain confidence in your decorating decisions, and the more your renovated home will capture your individual style.
