Want to feel good about yourself and your home? Then set your sights on interior home improvement projects. According to the 2019 Remodeling Impact Report*, after completing a remodeling project, 74 percent of home owners had a greater desire to be in their homes — and 77 percent have a deep feeling of accomplishment.
Gaining a feeling of satisfaction doesn’t mean you have to tear up your entire home. Smaller projects, like upgrading insulation, adding millwork and changing stairway systems won’t bust the budget or cause too much chaos in the home.
The experts at Ornamental Moulding and Millwork recommend five easy-to-accomplish projects that can immediately enhance your living space.
Project #1 – Decorative Stair Risers – Make stepping up on your stairway more elegant with Reversible Risers that feature a shiplap and beaded planking version and an oak and primed smooth version. Primed and ready to install, the risers can be painted or stained and then glued on over existing risers to give a stairway a new look.
Project #2 – Fashionable Mouldings – Say farewell to boring mouldings. Replace them with fashionable Haute 2-in-1 Mouldings available in two-tone crown, baseboard and chair rail. Available with either a gold rope or silver pyramid removable wood insert, the mouldings come primed and ready to paint.
Project #3 – Floating Shelves/Mantels – Easy-to-install Ambrosia Maple Rustic Mantel Shelves can be used above a fireplace or as a floating shelf in any room of the home. Select from various lengths along with the option of having a black wrought iron decorative trim as a focal feature in the shelf or mantel.
Project #4 – Ceiling Beams – Look up around your home at the ceilings. You can transform a boring room into a warm gathering spot with either Ambrosia Maple or Prefinished Gray ceiling beams. The hollow, eight-foot-long beams are easy to install and come with mounting plates and hardware for installation. Whether you add one beam down a ceiling to designate different rooms or create a criss-cross pattern, the U-shaped beams install quickly and add elegance to the home.
Project #5 – Rustic Mouldings – Add richness to any room with casing, crown, base and chair rail mouldings that feature an insert replicating a hammered wrought iron appearance. The Ambrosia Maple wood used for the mouldings includes distinctive hued bores that run with the grain to help set apart the black wrought iron insert. Designed to blend with any design style from contemporary to farmhouse to mid-century modern, the mouldings can be used together in a room or individually as accent pieces.
“These are projects that homeowners can tackle themselves to enhance different rooms throughout the home,” says Keith Early, vice president of marketing and new product development at Ornamental Mouldings & Millwork. “The level of satisfaction achieved in one afternoon can be quite remarkable when embracing any of these DIY projects.”
Simply Stunning Staircase Changes
When thinking about home improvement projects, consider the stairway. Often a focal point of a home interior, the stairway system can benefit from an update in many homes.
“There’s a definite trend underway of people mixing irons and woods on stair systems and throughout the home,” says Kelly Miller, director of market development for L.J. Smith Stair Systems. “Rather than completely take down an existing wood stair system, many people are turning to the easy DIY project of replacing wood balusters with iron balusters. Then they’re leaving the wood hand rails and newel posts. This creates a stylish, upgraded look to the stair system.”
Miller cites the easy-to-install IronPro™ system that will allow homeowners to simply “swap out” wooden balusters for designer iron balusters. After carefully removing older wooden balusters, IronPro pivoting fasteners are attached to the handrail. Iron balusters are then inserted, pivoted and swung into the vertical position. Alignment is completed and screws are tightened to secure the baluster.
“If you can use a tape measure, a drill and a few other common tools, you can swap out dated wooden balusters for trendy iron balusters in just an afternoon,” says Miller.
Two different IronPro kits in Satin Black are available from L.J. Smith. For an open tread stairway, the IronPro Level Kit includes a ball adaptor, round and rectangular sockets, a base collar, a threaded disk and centering plugs. For a kneewall stairway, the IronPro Kneewall Kit includes a ball adaptor, threaded ball adaptor, round and rectangular sockets and centering plugs.
One IronPro kit is needed for each baluster replacement in a stairway system. L.J. Smith offers 35 different ½” solid and hollow iron baluster styles as replacement options when using the IronPro kit.
Ornamental Mouldings & Millwork manufactures a wide array of decorative wood mouldings and accessories. L.J. Smith products — including wooden and ornamental iron balusters, stainless steel cable and tube infills, metal panels, newel posts, hand rails and accessories — are all defined by their unique designs, uncompromised durability and good looks. Both companies are owned by NOVO Building Products, the industry’s leading manufacturer and distributor of mouldings, stair parts, doors and specialty millwork. For more information, visit www.ornamental.com and www.ljsmith.com.