How do I lay out picture molding boxes?

noone · 09-17-2011, 12:17 AM

I am having a hard time figuring out the best way to size up picture molding boxes I plan on putting underneath a chair rail in this home office. The room is irregularly shaped and has a few areas about 9 inches wide and 6" wide I am not sure if I should extend a box onto or what. I appreciate any ideas on how to lay out the boxes.

The solid black things in my chicken scratch drawing are floor to ceiling windows. The other thing on the bottom right is a door.

noone · 09-17-2011, 12:23 AM

......................

gregzoll · 09-17-2011, 12:35 AM

Treat it like a four sided box. What are the exact dimensions of the room (include the angles in the measurements. Also, can you possibly post a picture of the room, to get a better idea? You could try google sketch-up to allow you to do a cad type drawing. If it was me, I would get some poster board, or thin cardboard, and make a frame of the size you are going to use and do it that way, before committing to cutting material.

This is also a good project for the local neighbor kid that is good at math or geometry to help you figure out.

noone · 09-17-2011, 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregzoll

Treat it like a four sided box. What are the exact dimensions of the room (include the angles in the measurements. Also, can you possibly post a picture of the room, to get a better idea? You could try google sketch-up to allow you to do a cad type drawing. If it was me, I would get some poster board, or thin cardboard, and make a frame of the size you are going to use and do it that way, before committing to cutting material.

This is also a good project for the local neighbor kid that is good at math or geometry to help you figure out.

I thought my rough sketch would be good enough....

Those are 45 degree angles and the dimensions of the available wall space are scratched on my rudimentary drawing in inches.

I'm just looking for ideas on how to lay out the boxes. Do I stretch them out into the 9" and 6" wall spaces?

Ron6519 · 09-17-2011, 08:34 AM

I'd ignore the small spaces and treat the wall as if it were continuous. I'd make the boxes of a uniform size and wrap the walls, ignoring the little spaces.

noone · 09-17-2011, 08:59 AM

as requested, PICS-

gregzoll · 09-17-2011, 09:22 AM

It does to help lay out notes and for your own use, but to actually visualize what it would look like, you could do the cutouts or use Google Sketchup to see it how it would look like in a semi-real world aspect.

That room would look too busy with the chair rail and boxes. Showing it to my wife, both her & I said the same thing, and that would be to do two colors of paint. Darker shade on the bottom portion, lighter on the top portion. The reason that it would look too busy, is because of all of the windows the room has. As for that doorway that is in the second picture, I personally would have liked it a little larger, if it was me, due to it looks really narrow, but that could just be the angle of the picture. Now as for visualization of the upper portion around the ceiling, is it just flat up in that portion, or is it a tray ceiling?

bob22 · 09-17-2011, 09:24 AM

If the 6" and 9" are spaces between wall corner and a window edge then I wouldn't put anything there. A picture might help.
I've attached an Excel file I used to calculate the size of the pieces I needed to picture frame my walls. It may be useful to you or others.
It is a .zip file so it needs to be extracted with WinZip or 7-zip or other similar program.

noone · 09-17-2011, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregzoll

It does to help lay out notes and for your own use, but to actually visualize what it would look like, you could do the cutouts or use Google Sketchup to see it how it would look like in a semi-real world aspect.

That room would look too busy with the chair rail and boxes. Showing it to my wife, both her & I said the same thing, and that would be to do two colors of paint. Darker shade on the bottom portion, lighter on the top portion. The reason that it would look too busy, is because of all of the windows the room has. As for that doorway that is in the second picture, I personally would have liked it a little larger, if it was me, due to it looks really narrow, but that could just be the angle of the picture. Now as for visualization of the upper portion around the ceiling, is it just flat up in that portion, or is it a tray ceiling?

It's a flat ceiling with crown. Smooth ceiling. No texture.

gregzoll · 09-17-2011, 11:28 AM

Can you take a wider angle shot of the wall with the windows?

loneframer · 09-17-2011, 11:59 AM

I typically try to maintain an equal border on all the picture frames. The 6" areas next to the window, I would leave alone, as well as any other similar areas. On the adjacent walls, I would maintain the same measurement from the corner to start my picture frame.

There are some occasions that I will wrap a frame into an inside corner to try and keep symmetry.
Here's a job I did with that scenario. I wrapped the corner to balance the frame with the one to the left of the door and fill part of the short wall space.

I had nothing to do with the base trim on the staircase, only the chair rail and picture frames. I kept the same spacing between the frames all the way up.

The walls were painted white from the chair rail down, as well as the walls under the stairs to tie everything in and give the illusion of wood paneling.

**kwikfishron** · 09-17-2011, 12:34 PM

I knew those pictures were coming.

They look great though.

noone · 09-17-2011, 02:50 PM

maybe lay the boxes out in number like this, but all evenly spaced?

loneframer · 09-17-2011, 04:09 PM

Here's a link to the golden ratio calculator. Enjoy!

http://www.blocklayer.com/GoldenRatio.aspx

noone · 09-19-2011, 05:33 PM

Being a total wainscot/trim carpenter newbie, what am I looking for when buying picture molding? I have installed crown molding and shoe base molding previously.

http://mouldingandmillwork.com/pdf/I...file_Guide.pdf

I was thinking of either the 2 screen beads 1215 and 1217P on pg. 35, or are 'Base Caps' also used as picture molding, like on pg. 34, 163, 164 and 1201.

I'm overwhelmed on what I should buy and where to purchase it for the look i'm going for.

I really like the look of this, but i'm having a hard time of matching up what is in these pics, with what is in this catalog.....

Thanks for any help!