Hampering my wallpaper quest is a common dilemma found with interior decorating – tall walls. My entry has very high ceilings, which provides for a definite design challenge. Just what should you cover them with? Family photos? Artwork?

I have settled on the wallpaper route (for now)…but an added issue is that it can be quite costly to cover all of that bare square footage. My DDF Shelly (that would be Dear Designer Friend) came up with a great suggestion for my interior-decorating-tall-walls dilemma…visually breaking up the space with molding. I will only have to spend about 1/2 as much on the labor, and will require approximately 1/2 the amount of wallpaper I would have otherwise. Brilliant!

In the meantime, however, I have been contemplating other options:

(Photo courtesy of Fox News)

Since I am drawn to the Mid-Century Modern style, I guess it should come as no surprise that this molding treatment was found in the Brady house. The clean lines produce a definite statement, without being too overwhelming. It would be easy to replicate this as a DIY project. For the more adventurous, the molding could be painted a contrasting color so that it pops rather than blending in. I also think this would look cool on just one accent wall.

Here is a computer rendition to show what the entire wall might look like:


(Photo courtesy of Flikr)

These framed moldings are somewhat reminiscent of the wallpaper panels I showed in an earlier post:

Adding the paper takes the whole concept to another level. It also provides the opportunity to “wallpaper” without the cost of doing the entire space.

I also like this idea for displaying artwork and family photos:



(Photo courtesy of Traditional Home, October 2004)

(Note how the molding is used to break up the massive wall space…just like Shelly was suggesting!)

So…now that I have shared one of my dilemmas with interior decorating – tall walls – what’s yours?