Although we maintained much of the original trim in the middle apartment on Union Hill, sometimes things go missing. That can happen during a four year renovation! We wanted to maintain as much of the character as possible, so we decided to recreate the craftsman trim.
What is craftsman style trim?
The hallmark of craftsman trim is its relative simplicity. It lacks heavy ornament, and is fairly easy to assemble with few miter cuts. There are several tutorials on the internet on how to install trim with commonly found pieces. Our house had an ornamental header cap, which complicated things.
Supplies
First, I visited local salvage stores to see if I could find a close match. It seems like much of Seattle and the Puget Sound was built around the start of the 20th century, so this trim often appears in salvage (why would anyone get rid of this?!). I couldn’t find an exact match, so I had to recreate it.
You can buy pre-built headers at Lowes or Home Depot. If we were not trying to match the existing trim, we may have gone this route. The pre-built headers save a lot of time, but they may look much different. After a bit more research, I found a local lumber store that sold WindsorOne. Their header cap was the closest match to our original trim, so we purchased the pieces to assemble ourselves. After my new found confidence with the miter saw, I decided that we could take on this task ourselves.
Here is what we used:
- Miter saw
- 1×5″ door casing
- 1×6″ header
- Header stop – we used WOST001
- Header cap – we used WOHC001
- Air compressor and nail gun – we used this Dewalt one with 2″ nails
- tape measure, caulk
- For window: 1×4″ for apron and sill
In all, we installed trim on 2 doors and a window.
How we recreated craftsman door trim
I started with a few online tutorials – this one and this one were particularly useful. If you are trying to match an existing style, so much of the install will be based on the measurements in your house. So while tutorials are useful, the most important part is to understand the measurements and construction in your house. Please ignore the construction mess in the photos below.
I first cut and installed the casings – the end width of these will dictate how wide the header needs to be.
Next I cut the stop – the thin piece that separates the casing and the header. The original trim had rounded edges on three sides, so I mitered the corners to get the right edge.
I then cut the header, which was slightly smaller than the stop, but slightly wider than the total casing width.
Finally I cut the cap, the base half an inch wider than the casing. I again mitered these corners to get the right look
Before installing the stop, header and cap, I laid them out on the floor to ensure everything looked correct.
After I was satisfied, I installed each piece one at a time, using my brad nailer. I considered attaching the pieces before installing, but that would have made it harder to hide the nail holes
Results
I am super happy with the results, and it was so easy. It’s only a matter of time before we restore the trim in our central district house!
