Trim Part 1

Last week we started the trim for the entry, yet I'm calling this week's post "Trim part 1" because this week was truly when the hard work started.

Last week we bought the baseboards, painted them, and put up one piece. This week we worked on more of the trim in the entry (literally the most complicated area we'll be putting trim). We needed door casings, but didn't have them yet so we left some space, but got trim in most of the entry. We decided to hold off on the trim in the little alcove in the entry because it's not yet painted and it'll be easier to paint without trim up (and it's literally three small pieces, no big deal).

We cut the inside and outside corners for everywhere in the entry (not hard, but our saw only moves one way, so there was lots of flipping of boards involved). I still need to do another fill in the outside corners (they are far from perfect), fill the nail holes, and put on another coat of paint.

So, when I say this week was the HARD work, here's what we actually accomplished in compact video form:

We purchased lumber for the door casings (not like the primed mdf we bought for the baseboards). So many things have surprised me with how genuinely happy they make me, from nice tile cuts, to great lumber. This was perfect lumber, not warped, not too many knots, just beautiful. Just look at it all!

We bought enough wood for both sides of the "big" doorways in the entry, the main doorway (front door), and the doorway from the dining room to the hallway.

With the wood purchased we needed to create a plan to keep track of our cuts next. We have put casings on doors and windows before in our old house, so even after hours of searching pinterest I knew I wanted the same thing we did before, which actually was great because we knew exactly what we were doing.

Here is our *not to scale* drawing of what they'll look like. I stood in the dining room and Scott took measurements and I wrote them down around the diagram. The first door we measured goes from the entry to the living room, the second is the entry to dining room.

Here's what my view looked like:

After all the measurements were taken it was time to get to work. The top is made of 2 1x2"s, a 1x6", and a 1x3"; all the wood at our local home depot looked great except the 1x2"s so Scott ripped a couple 1x6"s down to 1x2"s, you can see that in the video above.

After the wood was ripped we cut each piece: 4 boards for the headers, one for each side and two plinth blocks. Prior to this project I had no clue what a plinth block was, but once I understood them, I REALLY wanted them.

A plinth block is a piece of trim that acts as the transition from the door casing to the baseboard. It just helps it look more finished. Here's a great before/after plinth block example (not my photo, click to view the source)

Scott made my plinth block dreams come true by using some of the leftover 1x4s from the door casings, cutting a 60 degree angle at the top, then cutting the sharp tip off. Heres the shape we got:

Once all of our boards were cut we sanded them with 120 grit sandpaper, then used a router to round tall of the sharp edges for a more finished look.

This was a step that we could've skipped, but we really felt it would take the trim to the next level as far as looking professional.

Once the edges were rounded we sanded everything with 220 grit sandpaper and started assembling our plinth blocks to the door frames. We could've just cut these from thicker wood (2x4) and had the door trim sit on top of the plinth block, but we decided to use what we had so the block actually went on top of the door casing. I had to fill the gap with putty.

With the plinth blocks done we got to work on the headers. We assembled them using a line of wood glue and the nail gun and air compressor. Scott has been watching a lot of diy YouTube and he says we don't use glue nearly as often as we should. We are trying to be better!

With the headers together we were ready for primer. This was a mistake we made in our old house, not priming the wood before painting, and we had a lot of trouble getting the knots covered with the trim paint. Our goal is now to do it right the first time so we don't have to re-do too much.

This morning I went out to fill holes, touch up primer, and fill the sides of the plinth blocks one more time. Hopefully this week we will get the trim paint on and put them up, but today we took the day off for some boating and fishing. The water was rough so we stuck to the canals but saw 3 separate groups of a mama and baby manatee, plus one swimming solo.

This week we cut, routed, sanded, and primed 32 individual pieces of wood. This wood is only for two doors. Let that sink in 😅. I'm so thankful we don't have a Ron of doors. It'll be soooo worth it though!

paint paint, but it's starting to look presentable!