How to Install a Chair Rail

Chair rails were initially installed in order to protect the internal wall paints from getting scrapped down by the chairs and other furniture articles. Later on, apart from serving their main purpose, installation of chair rail became an inseparable part of interior decoration. For the sake of the protection of the paints and wallpapers, the chair rails were typically made of wood and other hard materials, which cannot be easily scrapped off. Hence apart from wood, the prominently used material for making chair rails includes fiberboard, metal and vinyl. Chair rail installation is one project that you can do by taking some simple steps and with help of a simple tools as well.

Material Required

• A miter saw + miter box
• A hammer
• A stud finder
• A box of five penny stainless nails
• Measuring tape
• Caulk gun
• Painter's caulk

Instructions

A correctly installed chair rail can play a vital role in enhancing the aesthetic value of any home decorating project. However, you don't really need to be a genius of carpentry or interior designing to install the chair rail on your own. The only perfection that you need is about taking the measurements and using the home improvement equipment like the miter saw and the back saw. For accurate measurements, individually measure the lengths of each wall and add 3 ½ inch to 4 inch into it. It is the margin that you need to leave for the miter cuts. Now equal all the wall measurements that you took and buy the required amount of chair rail molding. Now, measure 32 inch distance on the wall from the floor and create marks on each wall at 3 feet intervals. These measurements would serve as the chair rail height, from the floor. Then connect all these points horizontally with a pencil. The pencil line that you draw, will serve as the location for your chair rail.

Now, with help of the stud finder, locate the studs behind the walls and make "X" mark on every third point along the line that you drew. These marks will serve as the nailing points of the chair rail. This is the most important step in learning how to install a chair rail. After that, cut a 45 degree angle on the opposite end of the first chair rail and position that end on the inside corner, along the pencil line. Now, observe and mark the stud points on the chair rail as well. Now pilot holes through the rail with a 1/6 inch bit, at each stud point. Continue nailing the rail to the stud points till its end. Now, measure the distance between the end of the first rail and the opposite corner of the wall. Now, cut 45 degree angle on the new piece of rail and start nesting it from the trailing end of the installed rail.

Continue the same proceedings with all the walls and don't forget to seal the gaps between the top side of the chair rails and the walls, with help of the painter's caulk. Once you are done with the chair rail installation, then you can implement various interesting chair rail ideas to make them look more attractive.

Chair Rail Ideas

Now you can decorate it with your own ideas and creativity. Chair rails can give a definitive touch to the walls and enhancing their look, will automatically increase the beauty of your interiors. The best thing that you can do is to use the chair rail as the "color divider" of wall. For instance, you can try a unique wall decoration idea with two contrasting colors. While the chair rail will bear the upper wall color. You can also accentuate a unicolor wall with a stunning variation given to the chair rail. For instance, a bright red wall or an olive green wall with stark white chair rail! You can also enhance the beauty of the often neglected part of the wall - the lower part of the chair rail, with various tiles, a collage of stones, marble, porcelain tiles, venetian plaster, crushed sand and stones, etc. Don't forget the flooring while decorating the walls. The key is to not to overwhelm the flooring by the glossy walls.

The ideas for decorating the chair rail are endless and there is no limit to their execution as well. Now that you know how to install a chair rail, I think you should start right over, with this DIY project!