All Different Types of Trim for Your Home Design and Renovation
Designing or remodeling your home is a project that exposes you to all different types of trim. Trim helps to define the character and atmosphere of your home, giving a unique aesthetic to each room. And there are a variety of trim styles, materials, and designs from which you can choose.
Learn everything you need to know about different trim types for remodeling and designing your home. Find out all how trim works to give style and character to a home, and where each type of trim goes. And, learn about the different types of materials used to manufacture trim and other custom millwork.
Total Guide to Different Types of Trim for Designing and Remodeling
All different types of trim are examples of millwork, which uses wood as a primary manufacturing material. Thanks to modern techniques of manufacturing, however, millwork now comes in a variety of materials, like PVC, plaster, Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF), and polyurethane. But, no matter the material – every type of trim has a unique and specific purpose.
Wall Frame Molding – Large Rooms, Closets, Hallways, and Stairwells
Wall frame molding is typically featured in regal victorian, neoclassical, and Georgian style homes. This type of trim resembles a large picture frame and goes on the walls of the living room, dining room, stairways, hallways, and other rooms with excess wall space. These pieces of trim highlight expert millwork craftsmanship, each piece featuring delicate and precise artisanship.
Wainscoting Trim – Dining Rooms, Stairwells, Foyers, and Bathrooms
Wainscoting trim paneling goes from the floor to about halfway up the wall, or where chair rail trim goes. Unlike chair rail trim, wainscoting fills the space, from floor to mid-wall, with vertical pieces of wood paneling. The effect is a beautiful mixture of earthy wood separating that which lies above.
Crown Molding or Cornice Molding – Corners Where Wall and Ceiling Meet
One of the most popular types of trim for adding a decorative touch to any room is crown molding or cornice molding. This type of trim goes in the corner, where your wall meets your ceiling, and extends the length of your walls. The striking and intricate part of crown molding is the craftsmanship necessary to create a seamless corner, where the crown molding meets at two diverging angles.
Anyone who has tried to DIY their own crown molding can attest to the difficulty it presents if you don’t know what you’re doing. This type of trim is best left to the professionals to manufacture and install. Custom crown molding helps to increase the value of your home, and – when crafted and installed by experts – it can last longer than you.
Picture Rail Trim – Extends the Length of a Wall
Picture rail trim is a wonderful type of trim that is used far too seldom in modern design. It provides, both a practical purpose and an aesthetically pleasing characteristic to the design of any room. Picture rail trim sits about 8 to 10 feet up, running the length of a wall, and is secured to the studs to take the weight of framed pictures.
A picture rail saves your walls from the holes that come with mounting pictures. Instead, the framed pictures on your wall look clean and intentional, like an art gallery. A picture rail is also the perfect solution for walls that do not lend themselves to easily hanging pictures, anyway, like brick, stone, or wood paneling.
Chair Rail Trim – Sitting Rooms, Dining Rooms, and More
A chair rail horizontally extends across the length of a wall, about 4 feet up from the ground. Chair rail trim serves the very practical purpose of preventing damage to your walls from chairs. It also serves an aesthetic function of creating a separation between your upper-walls and lower-walls.
Baseboard Molding – Where the Floor Meets the Wall
Baseboard exists for an aesthetic and functional purpose. This type of trim offers a similar decorative value, as crown molding, however, baseboard molding also serves to protect the bottoms of your walls from damage. Baseboard molding is a type of trim that covers the gaps between your walls and floors, preventing dirt and dust from building up and causing degradation.
Casing Trim or Casework – Around Windows and Doors
The casing is a decorative and functional type of trim for your home’s windows and doors. It serves to seal the unfinished gaps between your windows and doors and the walls they are attached to. Casework comes in as many design varieties as you can fathom, and can work to define the character of your home from classic victorian, to post-modern contemporary.
Plate Rail – Shelf Running the Length of the Wall Near the Ceiling
A plate rail is a piece of millwork designed as a decorative shelf that sits about 8 to 10 feet up from the floor. A picture rail is the perfect type of trim to place directly beneath your plate rail trim, as to display, both, above and below your trim piece. A plate rail is a perfect place to display family heirlooms, fine china, and any other artifact you want.
When you are ready to order your custom millwork, the best material is always wood trim. Hardwood trim of any kind will outlast any other manufactured material – and it raises the value of your home. Talk to a millwork expert today to see specific examples of the different types of trim you want in your home.