I would install the shoe tight to the floor and not worry about the appearance of the top. The look wil dissappear when matched with the baseboards. It would only be a eye sore if, it is contrasting color.

^^^ What G &S said.

Agree with G&S. The floor gaps, or great globs of caulk, will be much more visible and bothersome than variations in the overall height of the baseboard.

Thank you for the responses. Very helpful. If I install tight to the floor I believe in need to use a shoe that has flex to it. Is there any decorative shoes that you know of/would recommend that have flex? I’d rather not use the standard rounded shoe if I don’t have to given the style of the home.

Here is one I liked from Home Depot but my floor guy did not think it was flexible enough to bend to the floor.

You have a cove profile now being mistakenly used for your shoe moulding. That should be removed. Then Install a simple profile shoe mould against the floor, like this profile, it will flex fine for long undulations in the floor:

The example "House of Fara" you show shouldn't be labeled a shoe mould. I've never seen such a profile used at the floor. Where that would be used is on top of 3/4" thick baseboard to create a 2-piece base profile.

Thanks for the input. A couple of questions:

• I’d prefer to use a more decorative shoe moulding than the rounded/ quarter-round type one you’ve shown. Are there other recommendations that are more stylized?

• for the cove moulding or the house of fara moulding, is it bad to use these products because they are not flexible? I’m curious if there are other reasons you wouldn’t want to use something like that because I like the look vs. the rounded. Also the cove moulding is used throughout the house so would prefer to not completely replace for cost savings.

Thanks again!

Does the house not have baseboards? Or is what you’re calling shoe molding the only piece? There are companies that make flexible molding, very decorative to very plain, paintable, but not wood. Whichever direction, I’d choose to follow as closely as possible the line of the floor because I don’t think the top of whichever molding not being perfectly straight on the wall would be as noticeable (if at all…well noticeable to you since you know but not to others)

For shoe moldings profiles, you want to use a profile with a large flat reveal. This will help with items banging up on it. Your standard 1/2 radius x 3/4" high profile is ideal. It has the most flat reveal for that purpose. The radius keeps furniture legs from sitting on top. The cove is too thin, gets damaged easily and is more of a ramp for items to ride up or sit on top. The base cap profile you are interested in is similar. Also, it is a difficult profile to paint at floor height.

Thank you. Yes, the house does have baseboards so this new piece would be a shoe. Here is a better picture so you can see the whole thing. You’ll notice the prior owned caulked between the shoe and wall in this picture.

Typically you do not want a complicated profile as a shoe. For the reasons G&S says and why your current cove is not a good profile. In addition to those reasons, at the baseboard to floor transition, an intricate profile like your intended example will create a shadow. So a lot of that profile will be hidden from those shadows, and it is too low to see that profile from a straight-on eye level. It will collect dust bunnies and debris and will be hard to clean.

The cove profile you currently have needs to be removed no matter, as I don't see how you can add something under it to fill the +/-1/2". If you try to, it will look as bad as your last pic you provided.