My house has mold…
…ing! Oh, yeah! Molding, baby! Installed. By me. Two months of talking about it and, BAM, it’s done. Just like that. In the blink of an eye. (Not a normal person’s eye blink. Maybe a coma patient’s…) How many pictures of molding can you stand to look at in one post? Let’s find out…
This is how my crappy house looked right after installing crown molding, remember? Yeah, I know. It was a long time ago. It’s OK if you forgot. My memory sucks too. That’s what hyperlinks are for.
This won’t be much of a tutorial (I don’t care about teaching you anything. I just want you to be like, “WOW, you’re so awesome with your mad skills!), but I’m throwing in a few “how to” pics as a bonus. You’re welcome. This one shows how I start to install door casing. I measure and cut my top piece, then clamp it in place so I can make sure it’s level and centered. I use my 18 gauge brad nailer to tack it in, then I take the measurements for the side pieces. I feel like this leaves less room for error. This may not be the “right” way to do it, but it’s my way and, therefore, the awesome way.
I prefer to paint molding in place, but I didn’t want to risk ruining my carpet, so I painted just the bottoms of all of the door trim.
Here they are all ready to be installed.
I glued each mitered corner, then tacked the sides in place. Once the glue dried, I went back and secured it all with my 16 gauge finish nailer.
Pictured below is the corner that inspired the most F bombs from my cousin when he installed my crown molding. And now I know why. This corner was a bitch. First of all, the two doors were not hung at the same height. Whoever did that is a jackass.
Oh, wait. That was me.
I removed my office door (the one on the left) to move my monstrous desk in and I guess I didn’t pay attention to how high I was hanging it when I reinstalled it. Oops.
You can see here how this would be a problem. Since this corner is so tight, and the trim from both doors butts up together, it would be very obvious that they were uneven. The left door was about ¾” lower than the right one.
I had to rehang the (f’ing) door. I don’t have any pictures of this part. It’s hard to hold a door and a drill and a camera and be pissed off all at the same time.
Second of all, the corner was too small to fit a full piece of trim. I had to rip it on a table saw. (Actually, I had to drive over to my cousin’s house so he could rip it on his table saw. I don’t have one of those. Yet…)
I’m quite pleased with how it came out. I’ll take a close up picture once I finish patching the holes and painting.
What, you thought I’d have all the patching and painting done for this post? Aww, that’s so cute…
Once I had all of my door casings installed, I measured and cut all of the base trim pieces, pre-painted them (carpet, remember?), and nailed them in. All of those odd angles were no match for me. Geometry is my bitch.
(↑ that’s Egor’s view.)
I didn’t stop at the hallway. I also installed the trim on the doors in the living room. Here’s the closet door before…
And here it is after…
And here’s the front door before…
I had a small issue with the front door being a bit inset from the drywall. See?
So I installed a thin strip of ½” wood all around before installing the trim.
And it came out like this…
I bet you’ve probably now reached your lifetime quota of looking at pictures of molding in a stranger’s crappy house, but I have just one more; the after shot (complete with the obligatory creative camera angle for extra added drama)…
How about that? An actual post about DIY on my DIY blog. I know. It’s been a while. I hope to have the next one to you much sooner. Subscribe below so you don’t miss it!
26 Comments
Katherine
A fine job. Worth the wait!
My Crappy House
Thank you!
judy
I believe that in acknowledgement of your Anniversary you should modify “Crappy House” to Vastly Improving “Crappy House” or this dump was a “DOG” but with my superior intellect, intense carpentry skills and articulation of naughty-sometimes really naughty words I have smacked it into submission and it is now rather pretty -like Myself! Crappy house is a bit off-putting and downright depressing-cause its where I live-darn it. Cheer me up! that’s what I’m here for. Thanks
My Crappy House
Haha I feel you! As I make my house less and less crappy, it’s tempting to stop calling it crappy. But now, it’s sort of a term of endearment. I love this crappy house
Julie
I am impressed!! I will be doing the same thing in my kitchen soon. Have already decided to hire someone to do the crown (are you kidding?!?) but I will definitely give the door trim and base board a go. Maybe I’ll try your technique. Love your DIY crappy house blog.
My Crappy House
Thanks! Crown isn’t too hard either, but for something prominent like the kitchen, I’m with you! Hire someone who knows what they’re doing. The doors and base are easy though. Just take your time
Pamela
I love how you use bad truck driver words….very cute.(It truly made me burst into laughter and that’s not good considering I’m at work) You are the f*ing bomb with your mad skills and smart ass comments! So glad I found your blog.
My Crappy House
Haha thank you! I try to walk the line. My mom reads my blog and she’s an f-bomb free zone
Lynn
It looks fantastic!
My Crappy House
Thank you!
Mom
Awesome!!! Both you and your crappy house. You did a great job it looks fantastic. You really crack me up, I’m still laughing.
My Crappy House
Thanks Mommy
Dana
Found you through GOMI and you are such a SOMI! I just bought a really crappy house too and love reading for inspiration Your molding looks awesome!!
My Crappy House
Thanks for stopping over! I’m so glad you think I’m a SOMI. I hope I can stay that way! Good luck with your own crappy house. They’re a lot of work, but totally worth it
Megan W
It was great to read about your trim success. That’s on our to-do list too {and I can’t wait for the day!}, but lots of things like rebuilding walls in the garage and a full gut-redo of the bathroom are ahead of it in line. It really does help things look so much more finished and awesome! Well done!
My Crappy House
Thanks! I’ve been where you are. Little by little… It feels great to be moving out of the construction phase, though you wouldn’t know to look at the mess I’m living in…
Megan W
P.S. Just read your “about” page and had to laugh! Love the honesty… I’m right there with ya.
My Crappy House
lol just keepin’ it real!
(and, hopefully, fun!)
Chris P.
You might think of putting in a ramp in the hall, to replace that step down. It looks as if you may have enough room to do it, and it would help when moving furniture, etc. I’m impressed by your work, and the fortitude to live in near chaos while you improve upon it.
My Crappy House
Thanks! The step is only like 7″ – I haven’t had any trouble moving furniture or anything. I hope I never need a ramp because that will mean I’m old and feeble. Or got into a terrible accident. That would really suck.
the misfit
Awesome work! Have really been enjoying following along since I hopped over to check out your block from your comment at VEB’s site a month or two ago. (In all honesty, I had to see who would write a blog with this title. In this world of “the most beautiful house on the planet and I’m extremely humble too,” it was totally intriguing. Definitely a fan.)
My Crappy House
Well I’m definitely not the most beautiful house around and I’m anti-humble. I hope you stick around!
Alison
I seriously got so sad for you when I read the title of the post, but so jealous when I saw all of the pretty trim installed. Those corners look like no joke-it looks great though!!
My Crappy House
Thank you for the compliment! I’m so happy with how it turned out.
Mold is actually one thing I haven’t had to deal with in my crappy house. (I hope I’m not sorry that I just wrote that. I’d better knock on wood…)
Erin
Man – just looking at this makes me TIRED!
BUT I love the way it came out. Our house just has the plain old 1950s builders grade door mouldings, and everytime I think about how much work it would take to do what you just did – I eat a whole tub of ice cream to keep myself from fainting.
We started to paint it all white about 3 months ago, and probably have about like 40% done, between all the priming, caulking, and the final painting – it’s a long process!
My Crappy House
It so is long! I still have two bedrooms to do and the rest of the kitchen and dining room. I’m moving at a… something slower than a snail’s pace, but little by little… At least it’s one of those jobs you don’t have to redo again in a few years. Once it’s done, it’s DONE! Good luck with your trim