Duh..now what do I do...Trim UPDATE! Comments?

Greg Cook

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Tokiwadai, Japan
In my excitement to install trim in one of our guest bedrooms, I didn't take into consideration the height of the window...so I need some advice.

Here's the chair rail along the side. It's 33 1/2" above the floor.

View attachment 11810

Here's where the rail will meet the window.... :doh:

View attachment 11808

My plan is to add a board below the window casing to extend it about 1/2" below where the bottom of the chair rail will be. That way, the bottom of the chair rail and the bottom of the window casing will not be just a long single line. I don't think that would look good, but a break in the line, with the window extending even a bit below, would be more appealing.

I will have the same problem with the master bedroom window, but I haven't put up any chair rail yet.... I was thinking of installing the rail to 38" above the floor, and I should have about 1" of window below the rail. I think this would look better on the 16' long wall with the window in this room.

View attachment 11809


What do you guys think? Any advice would really help.
 
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Personally, I think I'd rip a piece of the molding and use the lower part to extend the rail below the window casing. Essentially notching the rail to fit under the casing. In other words, I'd go with the long uninterrupted line you are trying to avoid.

Take that with a giant Family Size grain o' salt...I'm not a trim carpenter. :D
 
Hi Greg, :wave:
This is a situation we call " turning corners". It is easy to do the straight run but the quality shows when you "turn the corners". Do you want it "done" or do you want high "impact"?:D "Curb appeal"?:)
 
At first I thought the same thing as Vaughn. But now I am wondering how it would look to miter the corners of the trim and take it around the window leaving about a four inch space between the trim and window casing both at the sides and the bottom. Or maybe no space. Here is where sketchup would be good if a guy knew how to operate it.
 
Thanks guys!

Steve, yeah, the only short piece I had to hold up was crown, but the size is about the same.

I haven't "turned corners" in other places, but that's not a problem. How much space would you guys advise leaving between the corner and the window casing if I go that route?

Vaughn, I thought about the "notched" trim approach, but thought it might look to much like a "patch", but I'm a newbie at this too. I've been joining my boards with a 45 bevel and a 30 miter. Seems to make a clean joint, but if I rip a board and use just the bottom, I'd probably just have to butt joint them. Hmmmm...

Funny, all the books I have, showing trim and windows...and none with the trim this close to the bottom. The windows that would be similar have no rail on the wall, and the ones with rails on the wall are a lot lower, so the trim meets the casing well above the bottom.
 
Tom,

The problem with lowering the other railing is.....it's already on all the other walls!:eek: It would be a real pain to move it, and not one I would really want to do....:doh:
 
Personally, I think I'd rip a piece of the molding and use the lower part to extend the rail below the window casing. Essentially notching the rail to fit under the casing.

Does anyone have a pic, scan or whatever of this technique? I'd like to check it out and see if I think it would work in my room.

Thanks

Steve,

I confirmed there is a double stud at the window edge. Solid to about an inch and a half to the right of the casing.
 
another vote for matt's idea.

i noticed the crown but didn't wanna break your heart if you had already ran that all the way around the room.

good luck with whatever you choose to do. let us know the final decision

chris
 
Well, I really appreciate all the ideas. If I had more time, and probably if we were not selling the house, I'd go with Matt's solution, and make stools and aprons on all our windows. I do plan on doing that at our next house.

I really needed to get the trim done, done nice, but move on to the ton of other trim/molding I need to install. Sooooo.. this is what I came up with.



I think it looks nice...and didn't take all that much time. The chair rail in the blue guest bedroom, next to this one, also has trim running below it, but without the down "jog" as the window is on a slightly different level and is shorter. I'll post pics soon.

Anyway, let me know what you think. If the majority say "barf" and give the thumbs down...I'll start over, but if it will pass....

Thanks again,
 
Thanks Steve and Matt. I appreciate your comments, and will give them a lot of consideration. Matt, I will try to pick up some rosettes tomorrow and see what they would look like. Thanks.

All comments welcome.
 
hi greg, very creative out for that one.

ok, my best advice is to step back and imagine you are walking into the room for the first time. you have no clue that the trim was run that way to avoid an unforeseen problem....what do you think would be your opinion of the trim then. to be honest, in the time it took to figure out what to do and to run that trim, you could have carefully pulled the rest of the trim off the walls and lowered it a couple of inches, maybe not even exposing any nail holes.

i don't think it looks bad, it almost could look intentional, like you were trying to accent the window.

just remember the most important opinions are yours and of course LOYLs

good luck making the decision.

i'd be willing to bet next time you run chair rail you measure the height of the bottom of the window.....i know it seems that's the only way i can learn...to do it wrong the first time.

all the best
chris
 
Hi Greg, :wave:
I think it has an interesting and a nice look to it. It looks clean and understandable to the eye. Since you have a little time, let it go and view it every so often. It will either grow on you or growl at you and then you have advanced a step mentally in your woodwork. :) GRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrreat! ( Tony the Tiger )
 
Hi Greg, :wave:
I think it has an interesting and a nice look to it. It looks clean and understandable to the eye. Since you have a little time, let it go and view it every so often. It will either grow on you or growl at you and then you have advanced a step mentally in your woodwork. :) GRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrreat! ( Tony the Tiger )
I concur. I think it accents the window in a good way. Almost adds a 3-D depth to it. (Maybe I've been staring at a computer too long today.)

I'd say live with it for a little while and if it bugs you, change it. If not, let the next owners change it if it bugs them. :D
 
Thanks, Vaughn. I think giving it some time will help, one way or the other. I may cut some cedar squares, fool around making circles with my various Forstner bits to make a "faux" rosette :)eek::D) and visualize Matt's idea.

Shaz..... Uh, you gotta lay off the airplane glue :eek:..... really! :doh:

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

I better PM you.....:huh:
 
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