Block Paneling

[Todd Burch]

I'm building out a client's study in cherry - base cabinets, bookcases, countertops, lateral file cabinets, chair rail, crown mouldings, ceiling beams and block paneling. About the only thing in the room that is not cherry will be the panels on the ceiling that are formed by the beams I am adding, and the bottom, inside corners of the fur-downs. These will be painted.

I would like to ask your opinions on the scale for the components that make up the paneling.

Floor: cherry patterned floor with a walnut border.
South Wall: 17' of cabinets, 30" tall, with cherry countertops.
East Wall: Mostly windows, some block paneling.
North wall: 7' feet of 36" cabinets, mostly lateral file drawers.
West wall: All block paneling.
Ceilings: tic-tac-toe grid of ceiling beams. (3 square by 3 squares)

There will be a 6" tall (by 1.5" thick) chair rail on the west wall and parts of the north wall, and little sections on the east wall, between the windows and on either side. The top of the chair rail will be 36" high.

I am making a custom baseboard that is 6" tall that will wrap the room.

The panels for the block paneling will be flat (1/4" cherry ply). The rails and stiles will be proud (3/4" ply), with a cherry panel moulding tieing the two surfaces together. So far, I have scaled the stiles at 4½" wide. I've included a concept drawing of the west wall. The bottom rail, as shown, is about 9" tall. The custom baseboard will take up 6" of this, so 3" will be showing. I show the rail behind the chair rail to be about 11½" tall. I think I need to narrow this up a bit. The mid rail, between the chair rail and top rail, I show at about 3 13/16" wide. The top rail I show at almost 10" tall, however the crown moulding will hide the upper 5 3/8" of that.

Are there any rules of thumb for widths of rails or stiles?

The center large panel will be made of 4 pieces of 1/4" ply - "picture frame" style, and the center picture I've included represents what will be a big family portrait later on, with the future picture frame scaled to fit the "wall frame" panel so the miters all line up (and it looks "hugely" framed).

So, with all this info, what are your opinions on the widths for the rails and stiles? Any other comments? Suggestions?

(Oh, and sorry for the quality of the drawing - Corel Draw from a few months ago. Stated another way, 6 months B.C. Sketchup!)

Thanks, Todd

[Chris Padilla]

Whew! A lot of numbers and looks at the pic to figure out WTH you are talking about but I got it now. :)

Basically, you are putting moldings over plywood and so you need to be careful with the amount you are revealing of the plywood...the reveal.

I would make the reveals equal among all the rails (top, bottom, and mid) so that things flow a bit better and the eye isn't bothered with having to size up different reveal widths...it could be too busy. If they are all equal, you will have better flow.

I would set in stone the dimensions of all the moldings (crown, chair, base, and panel) and then adjust the rail and panel dimensions such that placement of all the moldings causes the same amount of reveal. Put this in a drawing and see what you think. THEN, futz with the stile dimensions until it looks right to you.

I have a feeling that you will want to match the reveal of the rails to the stiles. With your current 4.5" stile width, you'll want all your reveals to also be 4.5". Looking at the pic, this may be too much stile and rail and not enough panel--especially between the chair and base moldings since it is pretty height limited. The rail reveal on the crown molding looks about matching to the stile width as does the lower rail reveal on the chair molding.

As I am writing this I have just figured out that the tiny upper rail reveal on the chair molding is bothering me. Needs more reveal.

Too bad the block panel aren't raised panels but then you are talking major work and major wood dollars!

[Alan Turner]

I don't have enough experience to offer any meaningful comment. But, there is a book on building an eighteenth centry room that you might find helpful.
I can't recall the author or publisher, maybe Shiffer?

[Glenn Clabo]

Hey Todd,
Looks interesting. I've been playing with a ton of designs and ideas for our library so I've found what's used to size muntins, stiles and rails...in the design phase. The golden ratio is used.

Check out Feb 2004 FWW. It's a pretty good explanation. American Router also has one...but I think FWW is good.

If you can't get it...yell.