Never enough clamps!

I have been working on the living room trim for the last week and have enjoyed just about every moment of it. A friend of mine commented that “you are either good at trim... or not”. It took me a few days to wrap my head around it, but after I found my pace - it was most enjoyable.

Moving the workbench into the living room was (as hoped), the right thing to do. There were very few trips back and forth to the shop - which made things much simpler and reduced the snow puddles in the house too.

All the trim is quarter sawn White Oak which was not the easiest choice to learn trim work with... but what’s a guy to do? One of the challenges was how to treat the outside corners of the pillars and the windows. I did not want a simple butt joint because the quarters awn face and the flat sawn edge grain would look pretty crumby. My options were to miter the corners or use a very deep rabbet. I opted for the rabbet... the miters would have been a nightmare and I was worried about how they would hold up. In the end - the rabbets worked out very well.



Here is a detail shot of an outside corner. I used 3/4" stock for all the frames and cut a 5/8" deep rabbet in the mating piece. This left a 1/8" reveal of the flat sawn stock... but with a slight chamfer on the edge - the transition is well hidden. Oh, the chamfer - 5 passes with a particular XSNo.4 smoother.

The use of this deep rabbet meant I could make all the joints with glue alone - something that was time consuming and a reminder that one truly cannot have enough clamps. Ever!





It was slow - but the results were worth it.



Here is a shot of one of the pillars being glued up before installation. I attached the two sides to the front and then slid it over the framing. In hindsight... I could have left out the framing which would have made things much simpler. Live and learn.



One of the other details to work out was the crown molding profile. I followed George Walkers advise and made some mock-ups of various profiles. We have chosen the one closest to the camera - a simple 7 piece crown (what have I done?!)



One of the highlights of the project (aside from all the quarters awn white oak and using my planes all day long), was using the Festool Domino. There are frames and panels all over the place (29 raised panels so far) and the Domino has been the perfect tool for all the frames. It is foolishly accurate, very easy to use, and provides incredibly strong joints. I cannot imagine living without it.



The intended feel of the room is loosely Prarie style - based on the work of William Purcell & George Elmslie, with a bit of Frank Lloyd Wright in there too. One of the design features is a strong horizontal line which wraps around the room. The “line” flows from the bottom of the piano window trim and extends to the corners of the wall, where it wraps around...




... and continues to divide the upper and lower portions of the front and side windows.
The top of the front and side windows also have stained glass frames in them - I just left them out while working. This horizontal line will also be picked up in the trim above the fireplace and will continue in the built-in bookshelf.



There are still several more layers of trim to be applied to the top and bottom of everything - but the edges and lines are now defined - and we are both very pleased with how everything has come together.

Here are a bunch of photos of where things are at.




The underside of the bulk-head and a good view of the plywood base for the crown molding.






The ledge on the pillars is at the same height as the window sills.



Today was my transition day - moving from the living room trim to working in the shop on some new planes. On the bench - a Blackwood filled 22-1/2" A2 jointer, an A7 Norris shoulder plane and a birds eye boxwood SN.04 smoother.