Transition on a long wall?

[jforbes]

In our house, the living room and dining room share a wall. It spans the front of the house and the space is divided in the middle by the steps leading to the second floor (it's a Cape Cod style house, if that helps). We'd like to paint the living room and dining room different colors, but there is no point along the wall to make the transition. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how we could do this? We are also adding crown molding to both rooms, so my idea was to create a "break" out of molding (use a fluted, 6 inch wide piece of molding and cap it off at the top with a rosette or corbel?). I'm very apprehensive - I'm afraid it will look stupid so I'm hoping someone out there might have a suggestion (other than painting both rooms the same color :D !!).

Thanks!

[VALENT]

Why dont you just paint the two rooms the same color? Nah I'm just kidding. I think your idea of a piece of moulding which complements the crown moulding would look nice, especially if it is similar to the moulding around the windows or doors in one of the rooms(or both)

[montytx]

HOw bout paint that one wall a totally different color than the LR and DR? They you would have 3 colors...

[bkrahmer]

Exactly the same question I asked on these forums several months back. What I've decided to to is run the door casing up to the ceiling, put rosette blocks at the tops of those, then do some v-groove t&g across the top of the door. I'll have to post a pic when I get around to actually doing it. :)

[Jan]

jforbes,

You've reinvented the trim element called a fluted pilaster. It should work well to divide the wall areas. I suggest you look through the architectural trim books at your local home improvement stores for style ideas.