Little Architectural Details

Sometimes it's the small little details that can make the difference in a home. I love older homes & even though we don't live in an older home, we have some pretty decent moldings & trim. Of course, I'd love more of those, so to add a little pizazz here and there, I've found little ways to add some extra special details around this place. My dad built this old pine cabinet that is now in my laundryroom a LONG time ago. I spotted it outside under his carport one time and even though it was really hideous looking after he took it down from his utility room, I had him add some crown molding to the top of it. I knew I could make it pretty & it would be a perfect cabinet for my laundryroom makeover last year. I went to Lowes & picked up the small rope trim, mitered it & added it to the front of the door. Really makes a difference in sprucing up an old ugly cabinet. A new coat of paint & it changes the whole look of it.

When we moved in this house, the previous owner had tiled the countertops & backsplash in the kitchen with tumbled marble tile. This little area had always bugged me, as the tile on top was left unfinished, so I went back to Lowes & picked up this stone rope edging & added it by glueing it on with Liquid Nails. I still need to find some grout & add that in the crevices too, but it already looks much better.

You've seen a pic of this before, but this is a very fine piece of crown molding that I picked up several years ago. Fell in love with it & brought it with me to this house & it found a home above one of the doorways into the hall. I just love the extra little detail it adds to the doorway. I stained & layered the colors on it to bring out all the details.

This is one of a pair of corbels I added in the Diningroom doorway & it also adds some extra special architectural interest. These are actually resin, but I glued them in place with Liquid Nails. Painted them the same color as the trim & did a glaze over them.

This is a little shelf that's above the sink where I display my green Bordallo dishes. It also had a straight plain edge & I used an extra piece of rope molding that was left from the laundryroom cabinet project to finish it off. Again, just a simple thing can make a difference. I glued it on with woodglue. I just measured that white bookcase I found last weekend at the yardsale & I'll be adding some rope molding down the sides of it too. That will make it look great, I think!

This is the area right above that shelf & I've also added some simple wood appliques to this portion of the cabinets. These are so easy to add & put a little glaze on to bring out the pretty detail.

The fireplace too was just plain in the front, so I added this wooden applique, painted & glazed.

Here's one of my kitchen chairs that I painted black & also added some wooden appliques on those. It was fun to spruce up the backs of these chairs. I got a lot of my ideas from my friend, Donna, at The Decorated House. She's a master at all of this stuff, from faux painting to adding lots of architectural details. If you haven't visited her blog, you need to. She's been very generous over the years to share her knowledge & she's a great artist with such an eye for detail.

One small thing that can make a huge difference, the electrical plates stood out like a sore thumb when we moved in...can you imagine about 8 of these around the backsplash all in white? It was very distracting, not to mention ugly, so I took out my craft paints & matched them up to the backsplash & faux painted these. It's SO much better!

Another simple architectural small shell detail on the curtain rod in our master bedroom. I think I used wire on the back of this to hold it in place. I love how elegant it looks, yet simple.

And these iron pieces I picked up at Lakewood Antiques in Atlanta a few years ago. They are really heavy & I put them up with some screws. They highlight the door & window in the greatroom.

These are just a few ideas on how to add a few interesting architectural details around your home too, even if you're not blessed with having a house with moldings in abundance. Just a few little things like this can make a huge difference, so look around and see if you have anywhere to add some of these! Hope you all have a great weekend. I'm going to get some painting done this weekend, at least that's the plan! That & watching Alabama football!