Planning for Installing Chair Railing

Hi Friends! I have convinced myself that I am handy enough to install my own chair railing and picture molding. Even though I have never done it before, I am going to attempt it and hope it looks beautiful. When we first bought our condo I sat in the living room and pictured how amazing picture molding would look and have been wanting to do it since then. So I’m taking the plunge and starting with chair molding! Here is how I am planning for installing chair railing:

-First off, I went price shopping. I went to Lowes and took pictures of all of the Chair molding. This was super helpful because now I have prices and know that they come in 8′ and 12′ lengths. I am not to picky on the profile, price is a bigger deal for me so I’ll probably go with the cheapest option ($7.46 for an 8′ length and $11.64 for a 12′ length)

-Next I measured my space. Measuring for chair molding is super easy as you just have to measure how long your walls are. I have 32′-6″ of wall to cover.

-Third, I read tutorials. Since I am a novice at this, I figured I better read some directions. These helped me with the technical parts- like you cut a 45 degree angle to put two pieces together or to join pieces at a corner. This tutorial was very helpful too!

– I needed to decide where to mount the chair molding. It is supposed to be 1/3 up the wall so somewhere between 32-36″ depending on your ceiling height. I actually had a chair leave a dent in my wall, so I found the patch and measured where that was- it ended up being exactly 36″ from the floor. I’ll probably mount the chair molding 37″ from the floor so it covers where a chair would hit my wall.

-I thought it would be helpful to draw myself a diagram for the cuts I would make. It helped me think through my plan and I figured it would be a good reference for the angle to cut. I obviously won’t use it for measurements.

-After that, I figured out how much chair molding to buy. I calculated that I can buy 3 of the 12′ lengths for $34.92 (which will give me 3′ excess for mistakes) or I can buy 5 of the 8′ lengths for $38.80 (which will give me 7′ of excess). Right now I am leaning towards buying the 8′ lengths, because although it’ll be more cuts, it’ll also be easier to maneuver by myself

-Last I made a shopping list based on the tutorials I read. I still need to go over this list with my husband to make sure I’m not buying anything he already has. Then tomorrow morning I am off to go shopping! Check back Friday for a sneak peek at the progress!