Architectural Touches and Room Redesign

If you’re considering redesigning your home, one way to derive more from each room without expanding its footprint is to add certain architectural touches to enhance appearance. Such touches add “personality” to a room and can also increase your home’s value. Let’s take a look at several room design enhancements you can add on your own or with the help of renovation contractor.

Moldings — Wall trim can bring any room to life, with various moldings useful in helping homeowners achieve a distinguished look for a family room, living area, kitchen or bedroom. Molding, placed along the top of walls along the ceiling line are popular in more expensive homes, but can be an attractive touch in most any home. Seven types of moldings are often used: torus, reeding, fillet and fascia, beak, conge, scotia and cavetto.

Archways — A grand entrance to any room can be enhanced by the use of archways, an inviting design found in entrances from hallways. Half-round, segment and elliptical arch types are common with pedal base, column leg, pilaster leg and continuous molding your choices. Archways are commonly found in older homes leading from the living area to the dining room and are used in many modern homes of distinction.

Ornamental Plaster — Adding a unique touch to any room can also include making use of ornamental plaster, found on ceilings and sometimes on walls. Ornamental plasters are also used on home facades and gables, offering a distinguished and unique look for your home. Specialized designs including dingles, rosettas, ceiling medallions, brackets, scrolls and squares can give be a part of your project. Many home improvement stores supply what you need for your do it yourself project. Homeowners will sometimes turn to a professional who can handle the intricacies of this job for them instead.

Stepped Ceilings — Easy to construct, stepped ceilings create a “false ceiling” made from plasterboard, featuring a rectangle or square in the middle of your true ceiling. Stepped ceilings are favored by homeowners who want to use contrasting colors to emphasize the ceiling, often with an eye toward helping a lighting fixture to stand out. They’re perfect for most rooms, but especially prized in dining rooms and living areas. Bedrooms will sometimes feature stepped ceilings too as a way of drawing attention to a skylight.

Curved Walls – Flat walls are common to most homes, but a curved wall adds a special look, one offering an appeal for displaying fine artwork or simply mixing up a predictable wall space. Walls can be made of plaster or you can choose solid serpentine glass blocks to offer a fitting room divider and a way to welcome in natural lighting.

Decorative molding on a wall can be one way to highlight artwork or draw attention to an elegant lighting fixture. You can also take existing ends to counters and add in a customized counter cap to give a kitchen a special look. The possibilities are endless when considering special architectural touches; you’re only as limited as your imagination or perhaps by your budget.

Resources

Daily Herald; Architectural Touches Set Homes From the 1920s Apart; Deborah Donovan; Sept. 2010

Sheffield School of Interior Design: It’s the Little Things Crown Moulding