What did I get myself into?!? With wallpaper and trim removed, I decided it would be best to do this right…unfortunately. Instead of renovating the dining room back to its’ original glory in multiple phases, I’ve decided to do it in one long, drawn out phase. Skim coat the walls, wood paneling/wainscoting, plate rail: here we come.
With that in mind, I fiberglassed the part of the wall that will be visible above the paneling and have begun skimming it. Being that my day job is not skim coating walls, this is not the quickest of steps (nor the cleanest) but I will prevail.
Just fiberglassed the walls and first skim coat. And unsure if I want to be in a picture depicting my skim skills.
In between coats, I have begun to strip the existing trim. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to reuse most of the wood, although a fair number of pieces are not original and may not jive with the next iteration of the room. Plus, I’ll be buying a ton of new fir, but we’ll salvage what we can.
Stripping the old dining room trim.
In an effort to figure out what the original trim detail looked like, I’ve been visiting a few of my neighbors. A kind couple two doors down from me allowed me to scour their living room with notepad and camera in hand and I can guarantee you that my house was built by the exact same builder. Some pictures of what we used to have…
Side profile of neighbor's paneling.
Neighbor's panel molding detail.
Neighbor's corner transition.
The neighbor's built-in and probably very similar to what we used to have.
After much deliberation, I believe I am beginning to settle on a layout and method to my version of the paneling. It will be a bit of a blend between what used to be in the room and what I have found in doing some research. The bloggers over at ‘Is It A House‘ have done some great woodworking and I’ll be borrowing heavily from their techniques. The combination of pocket screws and routing out the back for the panels is clutch. They also did a great job of finishing it as well…one day…one day.
Your neighbor’s house is really beautiful. I often find myself wondering what folks were thinking when they pulled out original woodwork. I’m looking forward to watching your progress.
don’t bother with too much VG fir – look at your dining room wood, and look at your neighbor’s wood: all mixed grain. the movement in the wood was the POINT. VG has its place (sash especially), but the bulk of your replacement wood should match the rest of the trim in the house. i purchased a boatload of VG, got the paint off some existing trim, and realized i needed to start over! ended up with several yards of scappoose barn wood and the craziest grain trim i could find at salvage works. looks AWESOME.
and while i admire their work, the pocket screw techinique the other blog describes is overkill; just do what your homebuilder did: nail the boards to the lath and plaster, and nail the battens to the boards.