Future projects – Foyer and staircase chair rail

One of the projects on my eventual to-do list is to install a chair rail in the foyer and running up the stairs, and crown molding in the foyer.

Our foyer has a serious case of the blah’s.  The flooring is blah, the walls are blah, and the carpet on the stairs (and the flimsy newel posts and banister) aspire to blah, but fall short.  We’ve already upgraded the light fixture, but the space still needs a little more attention.

So, I’d like to install crown molding in the foyer to match the adjacent living room, and a chair rail in the foyer space and running up the stairs.

A lot of people have told me that, since the (necessary to keep) banister runs up the wall, that a chair rail alongside it is a bad idea.  And I get it, really I do.  It may not visually add much up the stairs, and runs the risk of looking a little odd.  But I think I want to do it anyway for a couple of reasons.

1.  It’s really difficult to paint the staircase wall, floor to 2nd story ceiling.  Adding a chair rail will give us an artificial line on the wall that will allow us to put a new coat of paint on the most abused portion of the wall (by the dog, by luggage, by kids’ hands) as needed without having to break out the ladders and paint boards.

2.  I think the foyer would look much better with a chair rail… and if you don’t go up the stairs, where/how do you stop the chair rail on the wall that you see through the living room without it looking choppy and unfinished?  I don’t have a good answer.

So I think we’re going to go ahead with it.

We’ve already bought and cut the crown molding pieces (which were less controversial), and I’m pretty sure I want to do the chair rail too.  I think a little white paint on the molding, and a little contrasting color below the chair rail will give that space a little help.

Plus, I hunted out a few inspiration photos on the web, and really don’t think it’ll be bad to have both a banister and a chair rail on the wall.  We are, at a minimum, not the first to have done it:

   

Examples by Treehouse Woodworking

Initially I was thinking of using the leftover paint from our bedroom for below the chair rail, because we have half a gallon or so, and I really like the color:

But I think I might like something just a little more gray, and with just a little more contrast:

The banister itself might find itself painted… black?  I’m afraid a white banister would be a handprint disaster.

In any event, it may be a while until we get around to the project, so I have time to decide.

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