This Design Technique Will Make Any Home Look More Expensive

Custom details can make the simplest of rooms more elegant. One especially easy and wallet-friendly custom upgrade is applied molding, sometimes called "picture boxing." This technique involves measuring and mounting molding directly to the walls, often in square or rectangular forms. The end result is at once simple and luxurious.

Applied molding is a go-to trick for Scott McGillivray, host of Income Property on HGTV and real estate expert. He frequently uses the technique both on his show and in his own investment properties.

"It's a perception of higher class," Scott says. Contemporary applied molding is, "a play off of traditional Victorian ideas, of grand chateaus that have expensive molding. That was a lot of work; the boards were hand-hewn or routered to fit the exact spaces." Thanks to developments with mass-produced fiberboard molding, that same historically classy look can be replicated for a reasonable price.

Scott recommends getting adventurous with applied molding, as there really are no rules when it comes to customizing. Consider using molding above your bed, where a headboard might go, or paint molding a contrasting color from the wall to make certain spaces pop.

Whatever you decide, the best part about applied molding is that most people can do it. Anyone with "basic carpentry skills" can perfect the technique when they follow Scott's six steps below.