Picture frame molding in dining room

[chris yount]

I have a friend who wants me to install picture frame molding below the chair rail in her dining room.The actuall installation will not be a problem my biggest concern is to scale the size of these to be appealing without either over crowding the wall or having to much open space.I know I will need to please her tastes first but I was wondering if anyone had a good rule of thumb for sizing these.The room is about 12' x 12' or so.
Thanks,
chris

[Joe Chritz]

Do a google or a search here on Golden rule, Phi rule or mean rule.

It is a formula that is nearly always aesthetically pleasing. Roughly .618 to 1 scale.

Assuming a 8' ceiling and 12' long walls. Try a 19.75" tall x 12.25 wide rectangle 7.5" apart adjusted to the actual wall length.

Just for giggles I did a rough (ok really rough) sketch up mock up. You should grab some blue tape the size of you moulding and do the same on the wall and have her sign off.

Joe

[chris yount]

I was going to make 6" spacers to go bellow the chair rail and above the baseboard.this would be close to 20" tall.I was going to work the width out to give me about 6" between them to have the boarders even on all sides,but still work around outlets and such.so my thinking was pretty close to what you suggested.I have seen so much varition in sizing these I wasn't quite sure
thanks for your help
chris

[Tim Lynch]

Sometimes it's hard to avoid the outlets, but they can be dealt with. I fashioned a simple block and used a box extender to bring the outlet out a bit. It wasn't hard to do, and I think it looks pretty good, all things considered.

I assembled all my frames on a bench with glue and brads, primed, then glued and tacked them to the sheetrock with PL Premium glue (caulking tube) and brads. Hit a stud when I could, but they really didn't seem to need it.

On sizing, I used the golden rectangle idea in wide open spaces, but like you see here, some odd spaces required compromises.