How to Install Picture Molding on Stairs

Hello! Today I am jumping into week three of my stair renovation that I am doing for the One Room Challenge. The first week I shared my plans. The second week I painted the stairs white. This week I will show how to install picture molding on stairs. Here is where we started before I put up the molding:

I knew the molding would be tricky because I was going to be working with hard to figure out angles- not just 45 degrees like I’m used to. Here is my plan:

The beauty of this project is that you get to choose where to place the squares and how large they should be based on your home. I planned it so that it nicely frames the TV when you are looking from the living room. Here is my inspiration:

Guys, let’s be honest. I put off this project because I was scared to figure out the angles (and to put up the high molding). One morning, I decided to face my fears and figure it out! I tried all sorts of things, but here is what worked for me. First, I drew on the wall the angle I wanted:

I then put the line on an actual piece of trim

Since I am using trim with a top and bottom, I made sure both variations of the angle were translated on a piece of trim

I then cut the trim with my miter saw. This was tricky because this angle was bigger than the 45 degrees my saw can go. I just had to eyeball it and cut on the line instead of using the guides.I was thrilled that it actually worked! I had successfully figured out the angle situation! I then realized that I needed to use they Pythagorean theorem to figure out how long to cut my angled pieces. My geometry teacher would be so proud! Well, maybe not because I googled it instead of having to take the square root of anything…

Now that I had all of my math figured out, I cut all of my pieces and started installation. I started with the chair molding. One annoying part of this project is that I figured out that that wall is very sloped and the chair molding really highlights it! Side note, thank you to my dad for letting me borrow his ladder!

Next, I started putting up the easy squares

I also put the large triangle up on the right side of the stairs.

Again, I like to be honest and say that I was scared to be on the top of the ladder with the nail gun so my husband did the hardest parts. Don no longer will sleep through the nail gun going off, so he needs to be up while doing this project. So I watched Don while my husband did the installation.

I put up the last angled piece after this picture was taken. I messed up on cutting that piece. But I figure messing one out of 20+ pieces is pretty good. I did the not so fun task of caulking and painting the trim later. Already people come over and say how much bigger our home feels! I LOVE the trim! I didn’t want to do it in the stairs (I thought it would be a waste). But my husband said it would look silly without it. I am so glad I listened to him! Check back next week for selecting and installing the art.p.s. want a free course on how to style your accessories to look amazing? Click below to get your free ecourse!