Chair Rail Ideas

Traditionally, chair rails were put up to provide protection to the plaster walls of the house. As you can guess from the name itself, the main purpose of chair rails was to prevent those damages on the wall surface which occur when the backs of the chairs hit the walls. Today, chair rails are mostly used to improve the visual appeal of the interior walls. It divides a large wall into two different sections and gives it an interesting look. Moreover, the wall surface that lies just below it is usually covered with wood panels.

How to Install Chair Rail

First of all, take the measurements of the walls where you want to install the chair rail. This is important because it will give you an idea about the length of the chair rail molding for each wall. Take the measurements properly as any mistake will leave behind gaps in between two rails which looks ugly.

The materials commonly used for making chair rails are fiberboard, wood, vinyl or metal. Cut the moldings of the chair rails with the help of a coping saw according to the measurements taken. While trimming, keep it in mind that the length of the rail should be equal to the length of the wall. Thus you can ensure minimum number of joints on the walls. However, if the stretch of the room is too long, then it cannot be covered by a single railing and you have to join two pieces of railings together. The edges of both the ends of the railings should be angled at 90°. Then those ends of the railings where two railings are joined, should be cut at 45° to create a smooth miter joint. The molding at the corners of the room also require mitered edges.

Mark on the wall the height at which you wish to mount the moldings. The standard chair rail height is in the range of 28 to 36 inches from the floor. However, this rule can be changed depending upon your choice and the height of the wall. Now, install the railings on the wall. Place each molding along the marked line and secure it with the help of nails. Finally, use the nail set to sink all the nails that you have fixed on the chair rails.

Chair Rail Styles

Chair rails add an extraordinary effect to the walls and the interiors of a room. Some unique chair rail ideas can be created by using paint colors in the right way. When you have a bold wall color, a neutral colored chair rail looks nice on it. As the wall gets divided, paint its two sections with two different colors, or paint one part and put up wallpaper on the other. The chair rail strip in between these colors helps to make the changeover look beautiful. It is good particularly when the railing is installed at one-third height of the wall.

The multi-level chair rails can be painted with multiple paint colors to get a Victorian style. For this, the choice of colors for the narrow bands of the rail should be of darker shades with more emphasis on shades of golden brown. When you want a rustic look, earth tones combined with natural wood finish will work the best. If the wall has a lot of intricacies and curves on it, attention can be drawn towards them by painting the chair rails with the right color. Apply one color on the entire background wall and paint the strip with a contrast color. In this case, you can just stain the chair rails. This style is also suitable where the wall decorations include a number of art objects.

Chair rails blend well with wall frames and moldings. Therefore, in a small room, it can serve as a border of the picture frames. In this way, the wall surface get highlighted. Another interesting idea is to install it at a height slightly above the usual one, say at the height of the eye level. In this case, keep the width of the rail slightly more than usual so that it can act as a shelf to put different pictures for decoration.

Hope you liked the chair rail ideas that are given in this article. Just keep one thing in mind, that the chair rail style that you choose for your home should be such that it merges well with the interior designing of the house. It is not at all essential to install them only inside a living room or dining room. Instead of hand rails, you can put it up on the wall of your staircase too. If you are installing the railings on the kitchen wall, then put them up at the top of the kitchen counter.