With quarter round

It looks good either way. If the floor is all new or otherwise flat so that there aren't any gaps, I'd be tempted to skip the quarter round. I am not sure if you need the quarter round to be "proper" though!

Do you live in my house? :-). We have and 1876 home with newer addition for kitchen, large ornate baseboards, etc.

Your baseboards are beautiful! I think the baseboard without the quarter round looks more formal and polished, and that's how we left ours in the older part of the house. It just looks, to me, more well-crafted to not have QR. In my experience, QR is used to hide a gap between the floor and the baseboard, and I would not add it unless it was necessary. That said, the view with the QR looks quite nice and kind of repeats the large bead detail (if that's what it's called) at the top of the baseboard. Also, since it will be in the newer part of the house you might not mind an informal look. If you do add QR, consider whether it matches up well with the thickness of the door casings. We had to add it to the upstairs rooms, where the floor had been carpeted and we took it down to the original wood. We had to choose between a beefier QR that complemented the baseboard or a smaller one that met up evenly with the door casings. We went with the larger QR, and it's a little proud of the door casings, but we just chalk that up to 'character'.

The detail you are asking about is called a "base shoe" and is used when the flooring is installed after the base. A shoe is a bit more elegant than a quarter round because it is taller than it is wide.

Quarter round is historically appropriate for 1870's baseboards. 5/8" or 1/2" R. best. 3/4" would be too chunky. What you have pictured is great.
Casey

Personally... I don't like the look of quarter round, even if the floor is uneven - I don't mind a 1/16" - 1/8" gap as it's hard to notice unless you get down on the floor. I would honestly rather look at a 1/4" gap then qtr round, I don't think you need it based on the photos above.

I don't think you'll get consensus here. My view it that it looks unfinished without the quarter round, and I've never see an older house whose floors were so flat that there weren't gaps at the base of the large trim pieces. Quarter round is not just for esthetics, it's to address any gapping issues as well.

In my experience well built houses have no need for quarter-rounds or shoes but for less well built or renovated houses they are fine. But I would use a narrower shoe instead of a full quarter round to reduce the heavy-handedness of the detail. i would to want the bottom of the wall base to be a major eye-catching element in any house especially where the base meets the door casing.

This post was edited by Renovator8 on Sat, May 10, 14 at 19:12

Quarter round - yes.

No quarter round or shoe + use white caulk for the gap.