The golden ratio, also known as the divine proportion, golden mean, or golden section is a basic aesthetic proportion tha is proven to have a neurophysiological basis behind the sense that the golden mean is a pleasant proportion. The ratio used in decor is thought to be pleasing to the eye because is mimics that of the proportion of the human face and form. It is why some furniture groupings can seem "off" and we do not know 'why'.

The mathematics of the golden ratio is used in architecture. Google for Fibonacci. It is such interesting reading.

Hi Barb5,

No, I am not a carpenter--I'm a technology specialist at an elementary school.

I started with the Golden Triangle but ended up making some very small adjustments. On the stairwell, the margins are equal above, below, and inbetween. I used a 3x5 notecard as a spacer and drew everything out on the wall. The moulding is from Lowes--the chair rail is actually two pieces--a flat piece that has two grooves near each edge and another piece that has a curvy profile--they are pine and are pre-primed. The boxes are made of picture frame moulding that I must admit are pvc because it was so light and easy to cut.

Here is the dining room. The chair rail is similar, but I added a smaller piece of moulding that the book referred to as a subrail. Again, I used a 3x5 card as a spacer. I started off trying to employ the Golden Triangle but all four walls are different in length from each other so the "boxes" vary in size on each wall--I don't think anyone would notice it unless I pointed it out! Under the windows, the boxes are the same width each window with a tall skinny one inbetween. If you need a close up of the dining room or stairs, let me know and I can take a couple more pictures. In both pictures, they look really white but is painted BM Cloud White which is a pretty creamy white that looks beautiful in candlelight!

I am redoing a bathroom and think about adding crown moulding--this is something I haven't attempted yet!

Nancy

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Nancy,

Thanks so much for your picture. Your dining room looks just beautiful! I also like your art!

I thought your chair rail looked built up beyond stock molding. I already have a small chair rail up, and can't decide whether to leave it, or take it down. I think I am going to have to redo the base molding, as what it there looks pretty flimsy.

After spending 2 days drawing elevations on graph paper, and trying to fit the frames with the golden triangle proportions, I have given up. Today I went out to get painter's tape and will try to mock up on the wall what looks good. I love your subrail, and like you, I am going to do horizontal frames.

I am going to try for the whole tripartite wall thing, and that means crown molding. But I'm going to do that last and get my feet wet on the simple miters of the frames.

I can't believe you did that stairwell in 3 weekends. I am afraid that I am still going to be working on this for many months!

I just want to say that it delights me to hear when folks incorporate the Golden Mean into their design. It's right up my alley, & I have little art touches that incorporate it.

If I ever get to build a house from scratch (not likely in this lifetime, but I can dream lol) I will definitely employ an architect who respects the natural order of growth & balance :)

Okay, how does one incorporate the Golden Mean into wainscotting? Or into anything else for that matter? I'm baffled.

Nancy, both your staircase and your DR look just beautiful.

Jay Silber's book goes into this a bit. Basically, the concept is that the eye finds the shape of a rectangle more pleasing than a square, and the most pleasing rectangle of all has one side a little over 1.5 times the length of the adjacent side.

I found this very difficult to plot out on an actual wall, while trying to figure out the distance between each frame. When the time comes, after the baseboard, chair rail and subrail is on, I am going to use painter's tape to mock up the frames, trying to use the golden rectangle proportions as much as I can.

If anyone has a way of doing this differently, I would love to know it.

Barb5,
I think I ended up deciding the distance each rectangle would be from the chair rail and the base moulding first--in the dining room I used a 3x5 or 4x6 notecard as a template. Now that I think back, I think I used a scrap piece of the curvy moulding that was layered on top of the flat chair rail for the stairwell project. I went up the stairs and around the dining room perimeter and marked the top and bottom of each rectangle using the scrap piece (one continuous line). I used the same piece to determine that distance between and as a spacer once I figured out how long each rectangle would be.

I tried to use the "golden" rule when figuring the length of each triangle but they are certainly not perfect when you take into acct. the length of the staircase and the fact that each dining room wall had different measurements due to doors and windows. I sketched it on graph paper a couple of times and also a couple of times on the wall using colored pencils as I had to make adjustments here and there. Actually sketching it out on the wall made it much easier because you can judge with your eye what looks good and it committed me to finish because the wall was all marked up!

I hope this helps! Email me if you have anymore questions!
Nancy

Does anyone know the subrail make and # that Jay used on the cover of his book and several photos throughout? I am looking for something similar that is about 1" wide and projectsion about 3/4".
thanks