Adventures in trim
Top: Painting the trim pieces was half the fun. Bottom: The results made us feel all finished and stuff. |
We were very happy to get to the stage in our renovation where we could focus on trim. Nonessential, almost purely aesthetic, trim was a sure sign we’d made progress from our early days of bathroom plumbing and floor-framing. However, the task was intimidating too. Unlike those earlier projects, trim would not be hidden. Our work not only had to be perfect, it had to act as camouflage for a multitude of imperfections.
We began with trim where the tops of walls meet beadboard ceilings. Measuring, cutting, painting and nailing up lengths of 1"x4" went pretty well, especially with the assistance of a nailgun, and we got better at measuring and marking with practice.
That was good, because the quirky nature of our old house meant that we needed to use trim pieces of many different sizes and styles. It seemed that at every corner or edge we were inventing something new. We spent many painstaking weeks trotting up and down the stairs to the basement, where the miter saw lives. My favorite part of the job was trimming along the big oak posts and beams we’d installed. Readymade oak “cove,” as it was labeled at the store, needed only to be cut and nailed, with no priming or painting.
Best thing about trimming? Just as we’d hoped, it really made us feel like we had completed something. It was the icing on the cake. And we no longer have to gaze at our earlier shortcomings.