craftsman-style window trim | Planting Sequoias

In the interest of improving my online cuteness factor, here’s a photo of me as a youngster.

(Photo not edited–hipster filter is actually authentic.)

All this goes to show that not much has changed when it comes to feeding my face. Ken can attest to that.

Also, can we talk about how Mom has loved craftsman-style wood trim for decades? Check out that chunky wood around the window. Yum (to both the baby and the window trim).

Work on Mom and Dad’s master bedroom is coming along swimmingly (read about the butterfly wallpaper removal, the dark painted ceiling, and the board and batten installation to catch up if you’re new here).

Mom is a big advocate for unpainted wood trim and she loves craftsman style. We aim to make her dreams come true (within reason, of course), so we trimmed out the windows and closet doors in their bedroom just that way.

(I should not that I use the term “we” generously…I was there, but it was mainly my brother John and Dad doing the trimming. I was too busy using the nail gun on the board and batten.) We were also in the process of painting the crown molding…so in essence, everybody was up in everybody else’s business. With power tools. It was a fun day.

Behind the trim, as you can see, Dad and John put long strips of waxed paper as they nailed in the trim. The reason? The trim was raw wood and still needed to be stained and varnished, and this is about 100 times easier than outlining the trim with painter’s tape to keep the stain and varnish off the finished wall. I wish I could take credit for this idea, but Dad suggested it.

Unfortunately, they only remembered to put up the waxed paper about 70% of the time and we did have to do some taping, like in the picture below of the trim around one of the closets.

Next was the staining. Did you know that you can get paint stores to match existing stain? The only tricky part is that stain can look different on different types of wood. The color still turned out pretty great, though. Dad also stained the previously unfinished wood on the windows themself (like the sash) to match.

Here’s another picture of the waxed paper strips between the window trim and the board and batten (can you tell I was excited about this solution? I took a few too many pictures). When we painted the white of the wall and the board and batten, all we had to do was fold back the waxed paper and paint.

Once we finish the last coat of white on the board and batten (and figure out if we need a third coat of varnish), we’ll gently score the waxed paper with a utility knife and take it out…and hopefully have perfect paint lines.

If you squint at this photo, you can sort of see how things are going to turn out…and actually, I definitely think you should squint so as to mask the uh…artistic (read: bad)…quality of this picture.