I am redoing a dining room for my wife and she would like to use some chair railing along the 4 walls. She has chosen an art deco look (ie faux painting with picture frame molding on the bottom sections). What is a good height floor to bottom of the chair rail and can anyone suggest a type or look for the chair rail???????
Eric
Replies
What is the ceiling height of the dinning room? Is there an existing crown molding or picture molding? What type, size, is the base molding? I normally install chair rail at 36" AFF { above finished foor} for a 8' ceiling. Also what size nose and cove molding are you using to create your faux raised pannels. It is all relative. I hope my anwser does not have too many questions. Good luck with the project.
Doug
Heintz General Contracting,LLC
Most of the time I've placed it at 32" above the FF on 8' walls. I have also used 36"for 8' walls, and on 9' or talled I've gone as high as 42". It really depends upon your personal taste, and decor.
Good luck .
Charlie
You may be overlooking the obvious - how tall are your chairs?
The purpose of chairrail is to stop chairbacks from scraping the walls up.
In a lot of older places I work on when it's not a dining room i find that the more formal spaces tend to have a lower chair rail as low as 26" but the utilitarian places like butlers pantry and kitchen or bath it may go as high as 52".
IMO it is a matter of proportions and style that includes all the other details in a room. The only way to be sure is to do drawings or a mockup with tape or hotglue and cardboard or foam so you can step back to see how it feels.
Piffin's usuall atute observatins stated the obvious that everyone should heed - e.g. our church assy hall has 2 chair rails, one for seated chair height, the other for when the chairs are folded and leaned in stacks of 20 against the wall.
Edited 7/4/2002 10:14:35 PM ET by JUNKHOUND
I was going to say what Piffin said.....so..he already said it....thats the most natural and obviouus answer unless youre not being for real...unless its just decoration.....then its your own personal taste but IMHO I like doing things that are real....soooo measure your chair backs where it'll hit and scuff your walls.
BE well
Namaste'
Andy
It's not who's right, it's who's left ~ http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
You guys that are giving heights -
Is that to the bottom of the chair rail, or the top?
Or are you REALLY getting kinky, and that's the centerline?
A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.
I refuse to dignify that question with a comment!
LOL
Excellence is its own reward!
>> I refuse to dignify that question with a comment!
That seems a little harsh, after all the assurances we see on here that it's better to ask a stupid question than to make a stupid mistake.
Would it make any difference to know that there were at least two of us wondering about that?
Easy there Unk, I took Boss' question as a tongue in cheek thing, especially with the 'kinky' reference so I responded in kind - playfully - notice the LOL hint. Furthering the whole joke was the fact that my post was a comment in itself whiule stating that I would refuse to make a comment. I love a good paradox! And I admit that I have a selective kind of humour so sorry if it didn't come through. my wife accuses me of making jokes that need a textbook to interpret.
Excellence is its own reward!
OK, if the question was tongue in cheek, your response was perfectly appropriate. But it still leaves me wondering, with no tongue or cheek involved, whether you measure to the top edge, bottom edge, or center.
Mainly, it still depends mostly on the height of the chairs.
In a room without chairs, the whole wall should be drawn to scale elevation with crowns, base, wainscot etc roughly blocked on first to see if the proportions work. Some chairrails are 1-3/4" high while others are up to 4-1/4" - just like base can range from 3-1/4" up to about ten inches with cap. All these variables have to work together and the only way to apply mathematics is to spend a year or so studying A. Palladio.
Falling short of that, the best way is to use the old try it and see method with paper and eraser. The measurements I mentioned are to top of the chair rail but notice the wide span between them.
Excellence is its own reward!
I usually do the "slam the chair against the wall technigue" for chair rail, 36" is cool too.... there was this one time I remember, some one did hundred dollar a roll wall paper or something, and was 1 inch short on on the forth piece off each roll , lot's of waste, the interior designer dude had to buy like 4 more roll's, backordered, " tough luck" I said, piece it together.
my 2 cents on chair rail.
no turn left unstoned