Upgrading our BaseboardTrim

Howdy! While our floors were getting refinished (and in some rooms new ones installed/stained) last summer, all our downstairs baseboard trim got covered in stain:( Urggghhh. Is this supposed to happen or did we just get screwed? Or are they supposed to rip out the baseboards when they install new floors and redo them after? Who knows, we had a lot of drama with these floors going in, so at the time we were just happy to have them done. Now though we have to do something about these messy, ugly baseboards.



Our family room has really great, substantial, tall 7.5 inch baseboard trim (this room was an addition). So we already painted these (and all the toe kicks on the kitchen cabinets) white and its looking so much more fresh and clean.



Before we go and paint over 4 more rooms of baseboards (and door casings), I figured it was best to decide if it was worth it. See, the rest of the downstairs has regular old 3 and whatever inch trim that seems kinda dinky now. I've always wished it were taller, with more architectural presence. Maybe now's the time to do something about it? So I don't waste all that time painting stuff I don't really like?

{oops, took these before I hung up the drapes in the dining room...its looks much better with curtains, no?!}

On a recent trip to Lowe's I decided to check out the molding aisle to see what our options were. And I found this pretty cool product that might be the answer to all my prayers. Lowe's carries this stuff called RapidFit, which looks just like normal molding from the front (in tall sizes), except that the back side is hollowed out so that you can install it right over your existing trim! Way easier!! We can leave our dinky trim, stain and all, in place. Paint new sections of this RapidFit stuff (it comes primed, ready for paint) and put them up. Voila, instant chunky architectural detail! At least, this is how its playing out in my mind:)




You couldn't take home small samples of the RapidFit molding, but I did buy one of their "transition" blocks (the line also has sections of molding to help you transition to normal door casings, go around corners, etc.) so that I could make sure it would fit over our existing trim. See it down there?



See how the back at the bottom is carved out? I kinda think this is an ingenious idea! We're thinking of trying it just in the living room first to see how it goes. Has anyone seen or used this stuff before? Or have you upgraded your molding to the tall stuff? Was it worth it? I'll keep you posted. But don't hold your breath or anything...we move slow around here:)