How to Spruce Up Your HOA's Interior with Trim and Molding

So, if you wish to update your home’s look, you won’t have as much leeway under the purview of an HOA as you would otherwise. That said, every HOA is different, and you might be surprised by how much freedom you actually have when it comes to home improvements (especially interior renovations). More specifically, let’s go over how to approach sprucing up your Northern California HOA property’s interior with trim and molding.

How New Trim and Molding Help Your HOA Interior

Can You Update Your HOA Property’s Interior Trim and Molding?

The minutiae of a particular HOA’s CC&Rs can differ quite a bit from that of another HOA, but most CC&Rs contain similar broad provisions and restrictions. For instance, most HOAs require approval for most exterior changes to your property, such as roofing, exterior painting, front door renovations, exterior trim, and more. Approval is also usually needed for structural changes/additions, electrical work, and major interior renovations. 

That said, your Northern California HOA might not require approval for basic interior painting, minor updates to bath, sink, and shower fixtures, countertops and kitchen appliance upgrades, landscaping within a fenced yard, and other smaller duties. Included in this list of typical pre-approved improvements are interior trim and molding work. Again, it’s important to carefully read your HOA’s specific CC&Rs to make sure you don’t violate your terms when installing, replacing, and/or improving your trim and molding -- but generally speaking, you’re in the clear here.

Why Do Trim and Molding Matter?

Once you get the go-ahead to update your home’s trim and molding, the question becomes how exactly should you approach this project? First, it helps to understand what trim and moldings do for an interior. These installations conceal gaps between walls, floors, and ceiling, provide visual accents that make a room more dynamic, and protect surfaces from impact and scuffs. In other words, trim is both functional and fashionable, giving a room a more finished look when properly installed and carefully painted. With all that in mind, here are some ways to spruce up your interior using trim and molding.

Adorn Your Doorways and Windows

The frames around your interior doors and windows can become eye-popping pieces with the right adjustments. For instance, you might opt for thicker frames and install crown molding above your doors that approaches the ceiling.

Divide Your Interior Walls

Interior trim isn’t limited to baseboards, crown molding, and frames -- chair rails and panel molding are minor installations that can have a major effect on the overall look and feel of a room. Functionally speaking, a chair rail is meant to keep chairs and other pieces of furniture from scraping or scuffing a wall -- these horizontal pieces of trim sit about one-third or halfway up a wall and protrude about an inch or two. Aside from their practical purpose, chair rails can provide the perfect opportunity for interior house painting contractors to paint a single wall two different colors, using the trim’s straight line as a divider between the two tones. Panel molding, while less practical then chair rails, can also divide and frame an interior wall in interesting ways.

Make a Statement with Your Mantelpiece

Whether it surrounds a fireplace, rests below a television, or merely provides a platform for photographs and knick knacks, a mantelpiece is typically the centerpiece of a living space. If any feature deserves the custom molding treatment, it is your mantelpiece. Even if you’re not into custom carves designs, consider embellishing the crown molding by flaring it out more at the sides.

Streamline Your Ceilings

The crown molding (also known as cove molding) that connects your walls to your ceilings plays a major role in your interior’s aesthetic. While basic trim tends to fall flat, elegant cove molding creates a visual bridge that ties the whole room together while standing out in its own right.

Molding a More Beautiful HOA Interior

When it comes to HOA painting and other HOA renovations, the rules can be complicated and more restrictive than you might like. Still, most HOAs won’t take issue with trim and molding renovations, which is good news considering how big of a difference these minor installations can make. Of course, after you’ve installed your trim and moldings, you’ll want to hire reliable local interior painters to seal the deal. At Endure Painting, our teams have plenty of experience working with HOA properties, so we ensure that our work remains compliant with the relevant restrictions.

For more information regarding our skills and services, call us at (510) 458-2120 or send us an email at hello@endurepainting.com.