I live in Boston, MA and alot of people are approaching me about work in condos and apartments in the city that have ceilings as low as 7ft and some room sizes of 130sq ft. or so(I’m not talking basements with suspended ceilings but regular apartments with sheetrock ceilings). I get the question of whether any type of moldings would be appropriate to the small spaces? I always say we can start with doing better moldings than the clamshell baseboard and door casing but is any type of chair rail appropriate? Any ceiling trim other than crown(which is obviously too large) that can still be considered classy?
-Ray
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A small bedmold for the ceiling, Brosco 8017
Small colonial base Brosco 1024 or 8712
Matching Case stock 1266, 8753, or 8753A
Instead of chair rail, I would try to use wallpapper or colours and vertical lines or orientation to give optical ilusion of higher ceiling. The horizontal chair rail will bring the top down and feel cramped, except when it caps a beaded board in the lower wall section. That will give vertical lines, historical detailing, and a touch of class to a crowded room.
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I think its up to the individual thats living there but,,,,,for one, I'd be sure to paint the ceilings white and the walls an off white to give the room an illusion of being taller.
I see no problem with chair rail at all as long as its painted below and papered above giving more detail to the room.
Personally I wouldn't use any ceiling molding because why bring attention to a low ceiling.
Far as base molding...I'd go with a three part base molding to keep ones attention below rather than to the low ceilings
BE well
andy
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I've been using chair rail ripped down for celing moulding for quite a while. It's got more detail than cove, and easier to install. It's a b***h to cove, so consider miters.
I usually rip the top off just where the radius starts to come back. A 20-25 degree angle on the cut allows it to butt up against popcorn celings. I usually take a 3/4" dulled chisel and scrape along the celing to remove uneven areas before installation.