# Specific quarter round advice needed and accent work question



## Nrpnrp (Mar 28, 2016)

Hi everyone. Just a little background....I am a novice. This is my first woodworking project aside from some deck handrails, a couple crown molding rooms and a laminate floor install. I am building a desk and bench and have two questions:

I have a vertical "leg" on my desk made with mdf board and 6" wide mdf baseboard. I cut some quarter round today and after reading some discussion on how skirting shouldn't be applied to door jambs it occurred to me that perhaps my amateur skills are showing thru on my technique for this desk leg. Would any of you have suggestions on how to finish the base of this board? Am I overdoing it on the quarter round? I could use some pointers or, if I'm lucky, reassurance that it looks ok. 



























Second question. I'm planning to add some accent trim to my project. It's simply mdf blocks cut with 45's on all sides that I'm gonna tack to the face wall of my bench. Wondering if I'm ruining the whole look here with these bulky blocks? My other idea was to make some shapes with detail molding or cutting those same shaped out of 1/4" thick mdf. 









Thanks so much for the advice, let me know if my questions are not clear.


----------



## Nrpnrp (Mar 28, 2016)

Went back and read my post and wanted to clarify my questions (my edit function is gone):

Looking at pictures 2 and 3. Is the quarter round at the base excessive? If so any suggestions on what would make it look more professional?

Looking at my 4th and last picture. Do the square and rectangular accent blocks look out of place or tacky? Should I change the decorative pieces out for lower profile pieces?


----------



## Chamfer (Sep 6, 2014)

What you're asking is purely subjective so you're likely to get several responses on both sides of the fence.

Personally I think it looks fine. Only thing I would've done different is continue that base board around the inside and meet it back up with the base on the wall, like you did with the QR.


----------



## Nrpnrp (Mar 28, 2016)

Thank you for the input, you are correct I'm fishing for opinions especially with my second question. But I was also wondering if there's some unwritten rule for the particular case of skirting around single board walls. For example, when i installed laminate i had some big gaps around the door frames. Not knowing much better I trimmed it out with QR, later finding out this is sacrilege by more professional standards. 

This has been a drawn out project so I think I got used to the look without quarter round. after seeing it a second day it's starting to not look as strange (to me).


----------



## TerryQ (Apr 8, 2014)

Use some caulk in the seams, it will make the gaps disappear once you paint it.


----------



## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

Chamfer said:


> What you're asking is purely subjective so you're likely to get several responses on both sides of the fence.
> 
> Personally I think it looks fine. Only thing I would've done different is continue that base board around the inside and meet it back up with the base on the wall, like you did with the QR.


Ditto...


----------



## Chamfer (Sep 6, 2014)

Nrpnrp said:


> Thank you for the input, you are correct I'm fishing for opinions especially with my second question. But I was also wondering if there's some unwritten rule for the particular case of skirting around single board walls. For example, when i installed laminate i had some big gaps around the door frames. Not knowing much better I trimmed it out with QR, later finding out this is sacrilege by more professional standards.
> 
> This has been a drawn out project so I think I got used to the look without quarter round. after seeing it a second day it's starting to not look as strange (to me).






Shoe moulding or quarter round wasn't originally intended to hide mistakes. It's a profile thing, dating back to the Greeks. It adds to your base moulding. But in todays world it does get used to hide gaps in flooring to walls or unlevel floors.

However I have worked on older houses that had the wood flooring run under the walls and had level floors and there was still shoe moulding.

So it's not just a band aid it's a looks thing.:wink2:


Nice job on the project BTW...


----------



## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

Yes Chamfer,it's a profile thing.Towards the OP,imagine a piece of 4" OG base.

Now however it's not "base"..because what we're using as base is a stepped 16" tall member.The 4" OG,now becomes the "shoe".

Another really nice "shoe" is 1 1/4" OG "doorstop" material.I especially like this profile/size when combined with a 12" stepped base.Look for images of the White House....look at their "shoe".


----------

