Casing the Joint — Conservatory First

When our pal came over to begin trimming the openings and doors that had recently been installed the first thing I had him do was trim the toe kick on the kitchen island.

The dining room opening (from the conservatory side) may one day get French doors but for now is being cased.

Then he and I went to work deciding exactly how the large opening between the conservatory and dining room should be cased.  One by six lumber was cut to size to create a jamb in the unfinished opening.

The frame was tacked together in the yard and carried into the house.

Before installing, the jamb was ripped down to the exact width on a table saw using a fence set to the measurement.

Pre-primed and painted lumber was ripped to the width of the opening.

Then the 3 pieces were nailed together outside and brought to the doorway as a unit and nailed in place.

Corner detail of the jamb.

We worked on the conservatory side because the paneling on the dining room side needed a special cutting tool.

The lumber stopped flush with the top of the opening inside the jamb.

One by four lumber was used along each side of the opening.

Notice that the top of the closets on the perpendicular wall had also been trimmed to see if we should carry that line around the room. We decided not to.

Across the top we used 1 by 6 lumber.

This is how the corner — before caulk and trim — comes together.

On top of the 1 by 6 and overhanging it about 3/4 inch on each side was a 1 by 2 (which we had specially ripped) lying flat.

Simple and almost finished.

Under the 1 by 2 was a piece of cove molding.  The tiny returns were attached with caulk to keep them from splitting. After the dining room side is also trimmed we have some trim pieces planned to hide the seams.

As you can see, I’m a tremendous help. (I was sitting on the sofa ohing and ahing how nice it looked.)

In the mean time we also finished trimming the closet and bathroom doors in the conservatory.

Let’s take a stroll down memory lane.

Before the renovation began — January, 3013.

After the porch was demolished and the ground was graded.

The green lines mark the interior wall plans.

October, 2013.

We thought this looked good back in February (2015).

Progress.

After.

I mused out loud who first thought of adding trim (since it makes such a difference).

Tra la la!

Our carpenter said: “the Romans”.  He could be right.

What is the last museum you visited?