I am building a home on a lake in Northern Minnesota. Sara Suzanka’s firm designed my previous home. And I like her style, not a large house quite open, contemporary, casual.
I am using maple raised panel doors, and have a source for dry maple, clear, planed, full dimension 1 x 3’s.
I want to use them for the door and window trim. Rather than the standard 45 degree corner cuts, I would like to do something different, I have thought of having the vertical rails exten 1″ or so beyond the horizontal or vice versa. I have thought about having a 4″ plain block in the corner. etc. not great ideas, but thought starters.
I hope you will share and idea or a sourcebook for ideas.
Thank You.
Gene
Replies
Here's another idea. It's inexpensive to do, and hides hairline movement so you don't get obvious cracks as you would with mitered corners. See the photo attachement on this post.
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=38882.6
Hi ganderse. WayneL5's floor tile job looks great, but I personally don't like the wood trim work depicted because I believe the top trim board (head piece) is waaay too long. Your idea of extending the verticals is not good...that too would look funky. If you instead extended the horizontals (head and even the sill piece) by only an inch or 2, then that would be more in keeping with tradition. Wayne's idea is good, but to me, just too long on top.
If you wanted a dramatic effect, then extend the top (header) completely around the room (unbroken). To do this however, your window and door heights need to be all the same so to make this work...otherwise it will look very bad. Also, doing this requires more lumber and labor than simply casing out a window or door.
I personally do not like the wood blocks in the top corners...it "speaks" to me that someone was either too lazy or not skilled enough to properly miter the corners...however this technique is done a lot and widely accepted and for some "perods" very appropiate. I don't want to "put down" any one who utilizes this concept...I'm merely stating what my first impression is whenever I first enter a room and see this style utilized; nomatter how appropiate or good looking it actually is.
To avoid mitering your casing, you could use Wayne's trick, but incorporating a thicker head piece if you like and again, only extending this piece an inch or so past the verticals as earlier discussed. Using a thicker head gives you more depth and hides any gaps that may arise between this piece and the vertical casing.
Another twist to this "header" option is to first attach a piece of interior door stop material ( 3/8 thick X1-5/16 wide) or something similar, to the bottom before installing the header. The stop material adds definition to the header; making the header look more like a decorative pediment rather than a "raw" piece of wood. The length of stop material should be the same length as the head stock. The depth should be slightly greater than the thickness of the head stock material so as to add definition. You could add the same stop material to the top also...giving it more detail. This style is also very common in period homes. The stop material can even be a contrasting wood or stained or painted a contrasting color for a more dramatic effect.
Borrow or buy a copy of the book titled TRIMWORK authored by Jay Silber. The book depicts many options for all types of casings and baseboards. You can get this book at Lowes for about $20.
Davo
Edited 12/30/2004 6:06 pm ET by Davo
Thank you so much for the solid tips and info. I will pick up the book you suggested.
Thank You
Gene Andersen
We are currently building a mountian vacation home with the same style of trim. we have chosen to run 1x3 trim on the vertical sides and extend the top piece
one extra inch over on each side. Then angle out 15 degrees. This gives the rustic look we are after. We are using rough sawn fir with a dark stain. This style along with the dark stain should make any minor gaps at the but joints almost invisable.And if you do see then its OK its
"rustic"
Thanks
RTrapp
Fairmont BC
Gene,
There is a book called "Greene and Greene Masterworks", by Bruce Smith and Alexander Vertikoff. On pp 80-81 is a very nice picture of some 'simple' casing using 1x. I'd post it, but I don't want to violate the copyright. There are many other good examples in this book, that was just the first one I opened to.
Hope this helps,
Amy
I would use a wider reveal around the frame if use 4/4 stock. Mark the reveal around the frame and cut the side pieces to length. Then measure the vertical members outside-to-outside then add two inches ( giving you an overhang of 1" on each side). Irecommend keeping the overhang the same as the thickness of the trim for a consistant look. I "tenderize" the walls before nailing to insure flush joints. I carry a small plane to adjust any bad joints on the door frame.