Add, replace, and repair wood trim to spruce up dull rooms and increase the value of your home. Repairs range from simple cleaning to paint touch-ups. Replacements remove trim that’s beyond repair. And additions—chair rails, crown molding, and base built-ups—turn ho-hum walls into eye-catchers. Best of all, wood trim is inexpensive, so your home improvement dollar goes a long way.

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Sometimes no matter how hard you try, those old baseboards and shoe moldings still look beat up. Replacing wood trim doesn’t cost as much as you might think. If you’re handy with a miter box and saw, you can replace trim yourself. Five-inch composite base typically costs $2/linear ft., so you could replace the baseboard in a 10-by-15-ft. room for about $100 in materials

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Nothing highlights a room faster than some well-placed trim.  Crown molding adds elegance. But don’t overbuild the crown. Ten-foot ceilings can handle 10-inch moldings, while 8-foot ceilings would look overwhelmed with that much trim. Stick to 3- to 5-inch molding on lower ceilings. Prices range from 90 cents to $3/linear ft for wood composite, red oak or poplar; $1.50 to $6.50/linear ft. (much higher for intricate designs) for mahogany, cherry, or walnut.

Protect walls with chair rails. Generally, place chair rails one-third of the way up from the floor, or install them where the backs of your chairs hit the wall.

Build up baseboards by adding trim on top of what you already have. Before you dive in, tape a few samples above your current base to see if they visually get along.