Painting an Interior Room

Installing Chair Railing when Painting an Interior Room

Chair railing is an excellent way to break up the monotony of walls and to give rooms a multicolored, multi-textured wainscoting effect. Originally intended to protect walls from chairs, chair railing has become an effective and attractive decorative accent without the expense and time of wainscoting. If you are considering painting an interior room or hallway, I highly recommend that you consider adding this easy and inexpensive accent.

If a room is going to be painted, the paint should be applied before the chair railing. This will allow for a tolerance area equal to the width of the railing where paint does not have to meet in a perfect line and will also eliminate the possibility of wall paint dripping onto the railing. This method will save an extensive amount of time by reducing or eliminating the need for taping and cutting in.

To start, you will need to draw a line around the room (or just the walls being painted and railed if not painting the entire room). An easy way to get the line onto the wall is to snap a chalk line- have a helper hold one and of the line, use a level to make sure the chalk line is level and then snap. A method I prefer is to use a 4 foot level and a pencil instead of chalk. Pick a starting point and at the height of the center of the chair rail draw a line, using the bubble of the level to ensure you have a level line. Then move the level to the end of the line and extend the line using the same procedure. Continue until you have gone around the entire room. The final extension of the line should match up exactly with where you started the line. If not, then you have gotten off-level somewhere and should do it again. This sometimes happens, which is why it is important to use pencil to mark your line- erase or wash the previous line before starting over.

If the room is to be painted, the painting should be done at this point in the process. Remember, you have a ‘fudge factor’ equal to or smaller than the width of the chair rail. There is no need to use a brush; roll the paint right up to the line you have drawn, but try not to go beyond the line. You don’t want to mix paint if you are using two different colors and the completed half has not yet dried. You will also need to paint (prime beforehand if needed) your chair rail and give it its final finish before installing it. This will also save time with taping and will give a perfect edge where the chair railing paint meets the wall paint.

Once your line is drawn and the walls have been painted, find the studs using a stud finder or drill. Mark the location of the studs right on the line itself. Get a length of chair rail and hold it in its final position and make a small mark on the rail showing the location of the studs. Pre-drill the chair rail at the stud locations using a bit equal to or slightly smaller than the diameter of the finish nails you will use to attach the railing (6d nails work best). Put the railing back up on the wall and nail down in two places, do not sink the nails yet. Check your work to make sure that any paint errors do not show and that the rail is level. If it looks good, finish nailing the rail and sink the nails using a nail set. Fill in the nail holes using a very small dab of putty or caulk, then wipe with a damp cloth. Some people prefer to use liquid nails. I find that this tends to be somewhat messy, depending on one’s experience, and makes it more difficult to remove the railing should you ever decide to change the décor of the room.

Chair railing comes in wood or polyurethane. The procedure outlined above will work for either. Make sure that if you use wood (my preference) you use a good painting primer before painting.