Can you post a pic of the LR/DR? I think beadboard is more "traditional" too, not "modern", but Chair rail/ picture frame (molding? To look like paneled wainscot? Is that what you mean?) is more formal.

Beadboard is more informal, but still traditional rather than modern. I'd think twice about mixing the level of formality from your front hall to your LR. The entry is the introduction to your whole house, and it's nice to have it serve as a preview of things to come, rather than a place to do something different.

Yes, I was planning for the Chair rail/pic frame to look like wainscot for FR. I cant get the pic of LR/DR right now as I am at work, but its pretty standard molding, somthing that looks like the below pic. The FR walls are huge(2 levels) so thought of filling up atleast the bottom part with molding so they dont look that huge and empty. Or may be I should just leave them alone.

{{!gwi}}

Below are some of my FR pics

bronwynsmom - Our foyer area also has some chair-rail/pic frames, that too done recently right after the LR/DR.

The walls look huge and empty because your artwork is way, way, way too small, which only empasizes the gaping spaces between them. Consider getting some BIG, gutsy artwork with lots of color in it for these huge walls (novica.com has some great textile wall hangings that would look fantastic in a modern space, and you support artists in developing countries by purchasing there) and move these little bits to a room with normal height ceilings where you can tighten up the arrangement some. The leather furniture being nearly the same color of the walls doesn't help to break up the vast wall space either. Think about things like furniture arrangement and use of color before something like wainscoting.

(You didn't ask this so feel free to tell me to go pound sand, but the pinch pleat drapes do not really fit all that well with your plans for a contemporary style. If you truly adore them, move the rod up so the top of the drape is above the window opening. No light should shine through at the top of a window treatment. Inverted pleats, large grommets, sewn-on rings or even just plain rod-pocket panels in a more substantial fabric would work better IMO.)

johnmari - OMG!! I was dreading to post those pics in here, and now I know why LOL !!!! For a moment it felt like I posted those pics in RateMySpace. But honestly(No, I'm not saying go pound sand), thank you for your suggestions.

And honestly, I haven't started working on that room yet.. this was just the beginning(you ain't seen nothing yet, lol!!). Every thing in that room is old, none of the art work is something I bought, they are my paintings(animals on the stairs and the 2 sceneries) or some gifts from people and I put them there just as place holders until I buy huge ones. And you made a very good point about the curtians, DH never liked them anyway, so I'm not sure what I'll do with those as of now. But I have lot of things to do there. I hope I can do that soon.

So coming back to my real problem, you suggest not doing anything to the walls?

I think what you need is a master plan for the room.
The biggest mistake people make is to begin doing things to a room one by one, without a coherent plan...a discussion about the main functions of the room, who will use it, what it should feel like, how it will work with the rest of the house, an overall design idea, a color scheme, a furniture plan, and a budget. Lots of time and money gets spent, and the result is usually a little or a lot unsatisfying.
I think that is where you should start. The wall decision is part of the overall design idea phase, so it's not the best place to begin.

bronwynsmom - I hear what you are saying. The intent of doing something to the FR walls came up because we are doing molding work for the entire rest of the house, like
- crown molding for all the bed rooms,
- chair rail-pic frames in the DR/LR, foyer & front entry stairs,
- chair rail in the upstairs hall way,
- bead board paneling in the study room.

So I was thinking if I could do anything to the FR from molding perspective. If there is anything that can be done, I thought I would get it over with while everything else is being done.

I really like this combo:

Jim

Oh Jim, that's pretty.

vc, you might want to try something like Kenneth Brown did in this room.

Jim, I love the picture you posted and hope it's okay with you if it eventually turns up in our gallery.

Vcheethi, all of those treatments you mentioned are traditional; none are modern. They all endure, so we see them in with modern design. A more modern look is plain walls, though. Bronwyn's mom made some good suggestions. I would like to further suggest you look in our gallery at the room threads and maybe pick out some inspiration pictures. If you see the completed look and love it, and then go for it, you should be happy. Plus, it can save you a ton of money by preventing mistakes.

I am very sorry if I made you feel stomped-on - I didn't really mean to. I must have been tired, but that's still not a good excuse. :-( (Man, it's embarrassing to be compared to the vultures on on Rate My Space. Ow. I am rebuked.)

Yes, I did mean that I suggest not doing anything with the walls except hanging some properly scaled artworks on them. (And maybe painting them a different color, but that's just me. LOL) Shopping for art is so much fun too! I think once you do that, bringing in some color and "oomph", you will feel differently about the room as a whole. At least wait to make these kinds of permanent, harder-to-reverse changes while you are refining your style and plans for the room and your other "stuff", anyway, as Bronwynsmom says. And after all, you're going to need artwork anyway even if you do do this molding job, so why not look for something you love that can serve as an inspiration piece for the rest of the room? You do not have to do everything at once, although I know all too well the desire to just get it over with. :-) I have made expensive mistakes before when trying to rush things together without having an overall "vision", and if that can save someone else from throwing their hard-earned money away it's not quite so much of a waste...

Hmm, this might help. Over on the kitchen forum they have something called "The Sweeby Test". This page I've linked has her (I think Sweeby's a her) original post on the subject of writing a "Mission Statement" for a room the same way you would if you were starting a business or a charity. Her post is about choosing things for kitchens, but I think it applies to every room in the house. I have found it VERY helpful.

No, don't take me wrong, I've never posted anything in RateMySpace so I dont know how vulturish they are, I just know that they provide comments on the room as a whole.

Anyway, coming back to the point. My original plan was painting the house, but DH brought this whole molding project prior to that. Molding is about to be done, so I'm excited about painting now.

And I've decided not to do anything to FR walls for now, except for a slight face lift to the fireplace. Then comes painting and flooring and finally comes the furniture, art work, etc. Thats the plan for now.

Thanks for the link, I will go through that now.

I would not install chair rail/picture frame molding or beadboard paneling in a room that I wanted to look modern.

In particular, I think of beadboard as often being used in more cottagy-looking homes, and anachronistic in a modern interior.

"Then comes painting and flooring and finally comes the furniture, art work, etc. Thats the plan for now."

FWIW, it's often easier to do the painting after you've chosen furniture, art, window dressing, etc. because it is harder to match those to a paint color than the other way around. If you have a general idea of a wall color you'd like to use, like an olive green (just to pull a color out of midair), you can look for things that incorporate olive green and then use those to nail down the exact paint color. Getting the wrong undertones between items can be a real pain, throwing off the whole arrangement. Just sayin'. :-)