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Remodeling Design Dilemma

Baseboard to complement existing door casing

2 years ago

Hello,

We are remodeling our house and need some help to decide which baseboard style to use that would best complement our existing door & window casing.

I have included some pictures for reference:

Current door, window casing are 2.5 inch 3-step like this https://www.elandelwoodproducts.com/products/110MUL
Would like to use ~ 5 1/2" baseboard that are contemporary looking and somewhat easy to clean
Color: our floor tiles will be 24*48 grey cement-like tiles (I have included a picture) should I go with dark color paint for the baseboard (like the door trims) or white color that blends into the wall?

Thanks in advance for your inputs!

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Comments (3)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
2 years ago
Plain 1x4 " MDF painted to match the casing That curve will be tricky . Have you though about no baseboard? It will require a perfectionist fllooring installer and maybe a tiny bit of trim that can bend around that curve. then just painted like the walls
Jenny Huang
Original Author
2 years ago
Hi Patricia, Interesting inputs thanks!

I was thinking to use the matching (whatever we choose for the rest of the house) flexible molding (flextrim?) for the curved area but the idea of no baseboard or tiny trim is intriguing.

For the rest of the house, I think we do need to have some baseboard/trim to hide the imperfection of the floor leveling and walls...
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Our ceilings are also 8', walls are gray/taupe, trim is a shade of white. Last year while installing wood flooring, we replaced the original 2-3" baseboards with new baseboards that are MDF and 6-1/2". We left the original door casings alone. -Laurie
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I'd also never heard of using plinths with mitred casings until Casey mentioned it (done differently) in the first response. But I am also not sure it would look so hot. What exactly is making you want to add a base shoe? It seems to me it's creating a whole lot of huge trouble, and I wonder if there isn't an easier way to solve the problem that the base shoe is meant to address. Before you sacrifice every doorway in the house, look at the original problem again and see if there isn't another solution. I'm not a fan of base shoe moulding at all anyway, it makes furniture sit too far from the wall. KarinL
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JDS - Why is MDF not a good choice with the sharp edges? This stuff feels pretty solid to me. I know that MDF and water don't mix well but I'm not putting it anywhere that it will be exposed to water. Wood mouldings are about triple the price and I can't find the same style in wood. Copying this design would have to be custom made and that will cost even more. Sombreuil - I don't know what you mean by exposing end grain. I assume that doesn't apply to MDF since there is no grain? But what about wood baseboards and casings? At the dawn of carpentry they probably couldn't manufacture or cut baseboards and casings as precisely as is possible today. If I were to use wood, is there any reason not to make the baseboard and casing the same thickness?
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When I moved into my current place, I had the same problem set. I actually did choose to replace all of my base molding throughout (yes, even in the closets), but kept all my original door casing. I have a variety of ceiling heights throughout the space and, while a crown treatment wasn't an option given my rooflines, I wanted to make sure that my base treatment created harmony throughout all the spaces and flowed without distraction. It gives the same level of finish and polish everywhere, which is a uniformity I wanted. I just made sure that it would coordinate well with my existing door casing (and my windows also have just an under-sill treatment like yours - no casing around the sides or across the top). It was one of the first projects I did, and I've really loved how it turned out. I did the 5.25" flat-sided ogee-top profile and it's worked out great as my style has filled in other parts of the plan around it.
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Steve Grimes
2 years ago
You can buy flex trim in several profiles, you'll just have to make sure that the flex trim matches a profile that is installed on the straight walls. You could consider holding the flex trim up from the floor so that the tile slides in underneath. Baseboard is usually held up a small distance to accomodate tile or carpet, this depends on the height you need for the entire area.

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