Adding Elegance To Our Dining Room: Part I

Early on, John and I realized that our dining room wasn't quite as large as we remembered when we walked through the model back in July 2023. This posed one problem which was we needed to cut down on the amount of furniture in the room. We decided to keep it simple and include a dining table and chairs only to solve that problem. But then this proposed another challenge: how do we make sure this room doesn't feel empty?

We decided to add visual interest to the room by adding a coffered ceiling, picture frame molding, a darker paint color, and a new chandelier. In this post, the coffered ceiling and picture frame molding details will be shared, since both were the most time-consuming.

Coffered Ceiling

Prep time: 1 hour

Installation: 16 hours / 2 days

Cleanup time: 30 min

John found a great company called Tilton Coffered Ceilings, which sells coffered ceiling kits according to the exact ceiling dimensions in a room. This was the second coffered ceiling kit we ordered (the first was for John's office), and since it worked out so well in that room, we knew we wanted this for the dining room as well.

As much as we wanted to do the installation, the truth was that this was a three-person job. When the ceiling kit arrived, each panel weighed approximately 40 lbs, and I already knew that if I had to hold that panel above my head, I would be visiting the ER shortly afterward. There was no safe way for the two of us to do this in a reasonable amount of time, so we hired a handyman service to help with the job.

The three-man team that was hired took about two days to install the coffered ceiling frame, panels, and caulk the seams. If John and I had attempted it back in October, we would still be trying to finish it today.

Picture Frame Molding

Prep time: 1 hour

Cutting and Installation: 10 hours

Cleanup time: 1 hour

John and I did a lot of research on picture frame molding before we bought any of the materials. We did look into pre-built versions sold at hardware stores but realized that the pre-built versions wouldn't fit on the smallest walls. So we decided to go the custom route and put our math skills to work!

First, we measured. Not once. Not twice. I lost track of how many times I measured, but after I got the same numbers about three times, I trusted the numbers. John and I knew that we wanted to space each frame box 4 inches apart, so we first determined the width of each wall. Once we had the measurements of the wall, we decided on the number of frame boxes on each wall. On the very small walls where the windows are, we did one frame box each and then subtracted 4 inches from each end. Then we took the width of the wall and subtracted 8 inches to get the width of the picture frame box. On the largest wall, we knew we wanted 6 frame boxes, so we added all of the 4-inch spaces between the boxes and on each end to determine the size of each frame box. To ensure that all of the measurements looked correct, we even marked out a few boxes with painters tape on the walls.

Second, the molding was cut according to all of our measurements. This was the most time-consuming part, but I don't think John minded. He was able to use his new DeWalt Double Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw, which helped create the 45-degree angles that we needed for each piece of picture frame molding. The first day, we worked on one box at a time, but by the second day, we got smarter and created a list of the number of pieces needed for each box. That helped speed up the cutting time and installation on all walls.

The last step was the installation of the chair rail and picture frame boxes. John used a nail gun to install each piece and after, I caulked each nail hole. I enjoyed this step since it felt a little like an art project and using clay. If you embark on this project, be sure to give this job to a different person if you don't enjoy caulking. If you don't have another person to do this, put on some good music and take a few wine breaks!

I am very happy with the way the picture frame molding turned out. In the next post, I will go through the steps of painting and revealing the finished walls.