Thursday, October 25, 2012

The Stairway Debacle

A few weeks ago we measured for a bought a load of trim from a local lumber store.  We needed crown moulding for the family room, baseboard for all of the rooms we plan to paint, casing for the doors and windows, a new windowsill for the powder room (and we learned that it's actually called a stool).  The crown moulding came in 16' lengths so all of the trim lived in the family room for what seemed like forever.

 

We were both excited to get the wall at the top of the steps finished.  Andy measured for the board at the top of the wall and sanded it super smooth and rounded the corners.  It's amazing how much time "simple" decisions that we didn't even know we were going to have to make can take.  I think the depth of the overhang took a good week...too short, doesn't look good...too long, permanently bruised hips (or in my case closer to my waist)!

 

But we finally made a decision and love the result.


The next dilemma was what to do with the trim where the steps meet the new wall. On the full wall side we had this odd triangular transition from the stair trim to the existing baseboard.

This is what was left on the side with the new wall.

Andy setup his handy laser level to make sure the cut on the full wall side (right) was the same elevation as the trim on the left.

With the old trim removed we found this interesting cut in the drywall.  Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't enjoy cutting drywall, who would take the time to do this?  Intentionally?
 

Andy had to patch the top section for the new trim.

Because a portion of the wall/trim stepped down we had to order a small section of a taller version of our new baseboard so that Andy could notch it out to the correct dimension.  Maybe we just think too much and make things harder than they need to be but this dilemma drove the new baseboard we picked because we need a profile with different height options.

The trim along the stairs still needs some work and some day we'll get new carpet.

And here is the final baseboard.  We still have nail holes to fill, lots of painting to do and some decisions to make about the trim going down the steps. 

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