Trimming (Doors, Not Trees)

Since we’ve just barely stepped foot into Thanksgiving territory I feel like I shouldn’t have to clarify that there is no tree trimming (Christmas related, or otherwise) going on right now, except I was in the seventh circle of hell mall last week and I’ll be dammed if there weren’t wreaths and ornaments everywhere.

Let’s talk about something that has to do with pine, but is way more sane. (Kind of.)

I’ve had a few doorway’s worth of trim hanging out in the mudroom hallway for a few months and since it’s one of the things I’d like to check off my list, I finally hauled the cordless Paslode trim nailer out (which you may see in The Family Handyman in a couple of months) and got to work.

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Excuse the messy, half-drawered, no-doored vanity in the bathroom. That’s also on the list.

I’ve mentioned before that instead of paying a ridiculous amount of money for trim and baseboard, I made use of 1×4 pine for a simple clean look. I ran the baseboard through the router to get a bevel, but decided the door trim would look best square (without miters) to match the big rustic trim on the bedroom window.

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To start I marked the offset for the trim on the door frame (3/8″) then measured the two side pieces to run from the floor to 3/8″ above the top of the frame.

A quick cut on the miter saw and a few finish nails later…

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After these were in place I measured for the top piece, and since it wasn’t a miter joint the ends needed to be sanded and stained prior to installing.

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Now, the doors in my last house (which was built in 1927) had similar trim, except it was capped off with an L-shaped piece of trim– mitered at the corners– for a fancier look. You would think after four years of blogging about that house I would be able to find a better picture to illustrate how this looks, but apparently this is all I’ve got.

I decided against using that secondary trim on the Memorial doors, because the theme in this house is pretty simple and rustic.

I also kept with the theme of finishing off bathroom doors by installing trim on the inside of the full bath, which has been sporting a gap wide enough to peep through for a while.

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The unnerving part is looking over an seeing the cat staring at you through that 1″ space with one glowing yellow eye.

So, following the same method as above I created a much more private space in this bathroom.

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The top piece of my rustic wood wall needed to be taken down and notched, but other than that it was a pretty easy install.

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And with that I believe the full bath is the first and only 100% complete room in this house. Hey, don’t knock progress.

12 Responses

  1. Woot! Yay for no-miter-cuts trim :o) The original trim in our ol’ house is just like that but has a stop-like piece between the sides and the top that caps it all off. I love how chunky it looks. Chunky is good :o)

  2. I used clear pine 1 by’s in my office reno and I liked it so much I will be doing m whole farm house like that because it looked AWESOME!

  3. Reading through your blog helped me get over my fear and really just get ‘er done with some projects I’ve been wanting to do in my house. Thanks for the much needed inspiration!

    1. I love it Megs! Reading comments like yours give me serious motivation to keep moving forward on some projects of my own… especially during crazy weeks.

  4. Looks great! I love the idea for around window. Did you stain the pine? If so what kind of stain did you use?

  5. I have been planning to my doors for ages, yours look great, you have spurred me on to do mine, which is what I really needed…

    Hope it doesn’t take too long!

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