Is it just me, or does everyone look at the ceiling when they enter a new room? I never miss the ceiling details and if you’re looking for a place to start remodeling, I think you should take it from the top!

False beams are a super detail that can be done in most homes. Sometimes called “boxed beams” these are usually not “structural”, meaning they don’t hold anything up; they’re for looks! And they do look good!

It’s pretty common to see these beams done as shown in these photos. The construction consists of four main components:

1. Framing Lumber (not seen)
2. “1-by” Side boards
3. Crown Molding
4. Another 1-by on the bottom

Sometimes, as in the picture at the top, you’ll see these beams “supported” by columns. While often not needed to hold up the roof, the columns look great and add room definition.

There are times when both the beams and columns are structural, so know for sure before you ever take something that looks like this out!

Construction of false beams is fairly simple. I’ve done a quick drawing to show you the parts involved and how they are arranged. Take a look:

Notice that I didn’t show anything about attachment. There are any number of methods for attaching the various parts. If I were doing this job, I would use an air nailer and trim nails, along with a good quality wood glue.

The attachment to the ceiling, on the other hand, is important. It might be helpful for me to tell you at this point that the top 2×4 has to be attached to the ceiling before the beam is built! There are a few ways to do this:

• Attach the 2×4 to solid framing in the attic using lag bolts or large screws.
• Add some blocking or “dead-wood” in the attic for this purpose if none is present.
• Use large toggle bolts. Just be sure to use a sufficient number to carry the weight of your beam!
• DO NOT rely on drywall anchors designed for use in a wall such as plastic expansion anchors or EZ-Anchors. You don’t want this hitting you in the noggin!

Add some v-joint material to cover the ceiling (or use bead board) and you can really kick it up!

Use graph paper and draw out your room to scale so you can mess around with alternative beam arrangements. I prefer symmetry rather than the look in the picture above…but I guess I could live with this kitchen anyway!

Important note: The drawing I did is just one way to do this. The wider your beam gets (notice that the beams in the picture are wide) the less sense it will make to use a solid 2-by along the bottom edge of the beam. You can build up the frame of these things pretty much however you want to, just keep them straight and square and be sure it’s all attached well to the ceiling!

Boxed-Beams

Difficulty: Moderate – While not a project for a complete beginner, this really isn’t that complex. This is especially true if you are going to paint your work, because goof-ups can be covered-up! You’ll need some good tools and ladders!

Time Frame: Short – An average Kitchen could be done in about 40 hours with two people working. This would include the painting time involved. You should at least prime the material before you put it up to reduce overhead paint work.

Cost Range: Medium – A job like this requires no structural work, no drywall work, and only requires painting of the material you’re installing. As such the cost can be well contained. That said, it depends on who you hire or if you DIY it! The materials involved for an average kitchen would generally be less than $500.00

Think Inside the Box!

Do you want to make an absolutely stunning difference in any room of your home in less than two days, start to finish? I love big differences made quickly! And this project will do it for sure!

Look at this:

Isn’t this room amazing!

Wonderful Moulding Ideas

I could probably write a whole book about this picture! I love this room. But when I saw it today, it reminded me of something I mentioned in a post early this month at the main Remodeling Guy Blog on Chair Rail and Wainscoting. That being the idea of covering more of the wall, going up to eye level or a little higher with the wainscoting.

One of the most commonly asked questions from people looking for chair rail ideas is “what is the proper chair rail height?”. I answered in the previous post that the best height is around 30″ – 34″ above the floor for most rooms, but that there isn’t a widely accepted “correct” height. But what if you put it higher? What if you move way up the wall, say to 60″ – 64″ off the floor?

Here is another picture:

Beautiful isn’t it?

Let’s Do It!

I want to demonstrate just how dramatically the act of changing out some baseboards and door casings and installing simple bead-board wainscoting will change any room of your house. Let’s get started!

Above, we have a standard room. It has a couple of nice features already with some hardwood floors and a pair of French doors, but other than that it’s bare bones. (Don’t you wish you’re room were just as empty! Moving all the stuff is half the job!)

If you want to do a very quick job, you could do only what I’ve done here in this image. Ive replaced the baseboard with a 5.25″ Primed Base, and added a 2.25″ Chair Rail installed at a height of 33″ above the floor (to the top).

This room has 8′ ceilings. If you have higher ceilings you might raise the chair a little bit, but not much. I also replaced the door and window casing with something with a little bit more detail in the profile. These things made a huge difference! Wouldn’t you agree? Let’s kick it up another notch:

Now I’ve gone from a 2.25″ Chair Rail to a custom moulding which combines a standard profile “Howe” casing with a rounded off peice of 1X2 on top of it to create a little shelf (only about 1.5″ deep) at the top of the chair.

But the real difference is the addition of some color! Nothing sets off a design like white painted chair rail moulding against a nice deep wall color. I’ve shown a taupe-ish color, but it looks great with blues, reds, yellows, you name it! (at this point I started thinking the floor needed to be darker, but never got a round tuit) This is getting fun! Let’s add some wainscoting:

Now we’re cooking with fire! The type of bead-board wainscot paneling I’m showing here is so easy to install it’s not even funny! I’ve shown this with 4″ wide planks, but something with the lines a little closer or a little more spread out would still look fantastic!

If you paint everything with at least one coat of good primer and give it a light sanding before you install it, this can be done in a couple of days easily (depending on room size of course!).

To keep things simple, I would install the paneling first and then install the baseboards and chair rail over it. The extra peice of 1X2 at the top of the chair rail will cover the top edge of the paneling. The only thing to really watch out for is the overall thickness. If it gets too thick it can cause issues around your doors and windows.

To avoid this, I would use thin 1/4″ paneling, a relatively thin baseboard (standard stuff is fine), and a casing with a good wide “back band” type detail, such as the aforementioned “Howe” casing. If you don’t want to change your casing completely, you can just add a “back-band”. I’ll have to get into that in another post.

Now for the Grand Finale:

Whooooo Hoooooo! Isn’t she georgeous! I really like the way this looks! Now, you need to invoke your imagination a little and see it with pictures on the top shelf (which I would make deeper, about 4″ or 5″) and with a little furniture in the room…but this is a showstopper now!

I ran the wainscot up to 63″ in this picture and I think it’s just about perfect for the 8′ room. I also added a very simple and relatively small (3″) crown molding which really caps it off. I tried it at first with a larger, more standard shaped crown and it looked funny. The bead board look just didn’t go with the frilly curves of standard crown. The crown shown here is a simple “cove” molding.

There you go! A quick, project that can make you feel like you’re living in a new house in no time flat and for not more than a few hundred dollars. That’s what I’m talkin’ about!

So,what do you think? Ready to add this to the to-do list? Or maybe the same idea with the panels like in the second photo at the top?

This one is a perfect 10 if you ask me. I found the picture at one of my favorite haunts Houzz.com, and the kitchen is by Valerie Pedersen who works in the SF Bay Area.

Wow! I love, love, love it! I was searching for window seats and I came across this shot. I really love the built-in seating (storage inside would be cool). And while we’re talking seating… I love that bench seat too! The whole thing just works for me.

A Closer Look

I see much more than just the seating here though. One great thing about this kitchen is that it’s timeless. not much here is going to be outdated in five years. The white cabinets and black granite look awesome with that white subway tile wall splash.

(trivial info: traditionally, the “backsplash” was only a few inches above the counter. When the whole wall between the upper and lower cabinet was done it was referred to as a “wall splash”… not so much nowadays)

I also love the farm sink in this kitchen. To me, the whole kitchen almost has to be designed around a farm sink for it to look right. This one looks great! Great faucet too.

Great Trimwork Too

One of the other things that make this room look great is the use of “normal” but beautiful trimwork.

• Standard 5.25″ Crown
• Simple window casing
• Upgraded, but simple, baseboards
• Small Crown on upper cabinets

Some Great DIY Ideas Here

When I look at this picture, I see a list of individual projects that most beginners can handle.

• Painting – the biggest thing in this picture almost gets missed. That is a great contrast between wall color and cabinet and trim color. You can do that right now in your house!
• Light Fixture – the next step-up the DIY difficulty ladder is installing a cool light fixture. Installing a fixture is something you can learn to do with a Google Video search. It makes a huge difference (just don’t skip the “turn off the breaker” step)
• Cabinet Hardware – Maybe easier than the light fixture is to change out your pulls, knobs, and hinges. Heck, once all that is off, maybe you want to spray paint your cabinets!
• Run that trim! You can so do this! Start with the easiest thing, probably the window casing; maybe the baseboard. When you want to try crown molding, do that little crown on the cabinets first so you can figure out how to hold it upright in your saw for easy angle cuts.
• Build A Window Seat! – Once you get your skills to the point where you can run that crown, you can tackle the window seat. Then you’ll be in high-style!

Have fun!

She who cuts no wood, builds few walls. - Ancient Remodeling Proverb

I’ll let you in on a secret. Imaginary studies show that 88.5% of people comfortable with the use of a Table Saw (capitalized out of respect) were also comfortable with tackling major home improvement projects on their own! 88.5%!!!!

Last week, I wrote about reinventing yourself and saving money in the process. I also mentioned some major changes that real studies say are taking place in the American people. Changes like a desire to be “in” the remodeling process. Changes like tighter finances. Changes like the way we want our homes to “tell our story” rather than mimic someone else’s.

But what if you have the desire, but not the experience or skills? Where should you start to learn? One option is to just jump in and start. Learn along the way. So what if the kitchen is in the garage for two six months! The crazy bunch goes this way.

But what about for the slightly less insane? How do those with more than 30% of the normal dose of caution go about learning? Is there a school? An online course? (I’m sure there are those…)

Learn To Work With Wood

The web is full of resources on “how-to” do just about everything. You can learn! I looked online myself for some “simple” plans that would work for a true beginner. I found a whole lot, but not what I was really looking for. Most of what I found was at least intermediate.

Maybe that same thing happens to you when you try and “get motivated”. I encourage you to keep trying. Watch some good shows on HGTV or PBS. You’ll learn a ton. I learned more “knowledge” from Norm Abrams than I did from my actual work experience.

You can always take a picture and just try to copy what you see.

The little vanity in this picture (from Kitchen and Bath Ideas) is relatively simple, but maybe you want to start with just making a frame like what’s around the mirror. It doesn’t matter what you start on. Your first work will have plenty of mistakes, but you’ll get better and the better you get, the more confident you’ll be that you can tackle large projects.

Just be careful!Sawblades and nail guns can do serious damage to human parts.

If you received yesterday’s Remodeling Guy Newsletter, then you probably already read that I’ve decided to get a little more in-depth with some teaching and detailed “How-To’s”. I’m going to tackle one skill area at a time and get more in-depth with it.

For the first skill, we’re going to work on carpentry and I thought some pics showing you just a few of the amazing things you can do with carpentry might get the mood right before we start!

Everybody Loves Wainscot

Something like you see in this picture can be done with the carpentry skills we’re going to work over the next thirty days! Isn’t it beautiful?

Re-Purpose A Great Find

If you have the skills and you can count on them, you’ll be much more able to imagine how you can use that banged-up mantel they have on clearance! Check out the door in that picture…the one on the right. Nice!

Install a Wide Sill

A wide window sill can really be a great carpentry project. I’ll show you how easy it is. Or something like that…

Do Some Built-In’s

I actually already did a little directional post on how to build this over at RG:Express. Great Looking Storage in Less Than A Day I’ll show you more over the next few weeks!

So Stay Tuned

I’ll be mixing in more of the detailed how-to’s over the next few weeks. I’m looking forward to showing-off my carpentry work! I hope you’re looking forward to learning some!

Other Stuff…

The Newsletter went out yesterday! It’s a great free resource and I think you’d enjoy it! You can sign-up right here. When you do, you’ll get a download link for my free e-book, The Power Of Remodeling.

The Forums are going strong. The forums are only a couple of days old and we already have more than twenty members! I’ve responded to a number of great questions and there is a place to show-off your own work. Come join the forums.

Round-Up Winners. Have you looked through all the great work included in the Remodeling Guy Round-Up? There are 44 links there to projects of all sorts and they are all worth the visit to go see. It’s downright inspiring!

There were two prizes to be given away in the Round-Up and here are the winners.

First, a Pink Toolbelt from Girlgear Industries…

Entry number one is none other than the wonderful Julia @ Hooked On Houses Congratulations Julia!

Second, a giftcard from either Home Depot or Lowe’s…

Entry number ten was Cheryl @ A Touch Of Reality. Congratulations Cheryl!! Let me know which store you prefer!

The Remodeling Guy General Store

I’ve not taken a second yet and pointed you to the store. It’s kind of like a little tiny Remodeling Guy corner of Amazon.com. The items there are picked by me and you can read my comments on each right in my store. This might be especially useful for you when buying tools or other home related items. Please visit the RG store!

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Have a great week!

Hello Crew! I hope you enjoy the video I’ve created for you today! It includes five wonderful photographs of outdoor projects sure to keep your attention! During the approximately 6 minute video I point out some of the unique design details of each photo and explain why outdoors is the best place to start if you want to build some new DIY carpentry skills!

Enjoy!

So, what do you think? Which picture was your favorite?

Hey Crew! Let’s talk some more about trim!  Today is the second post in this series which aims to dig deep into the ins, outs, ups, and downs of all sorts of interior trim.  We’ll start at the ground level and focus on baseboards today.  Take a look at a couple of pictures that show how much interest trim can add to a space:

Quite a few parts make up this whole. The funny thing is that everything here can be done in the smallest house or room, or as seen here, it can make a large space seem more comfortable. Trim is all about details!

I used this room in the intro to this series and I said that there are ten kinds of trim. Abbie @ Sunshine and Shadows said she could only pick out five of them and asked me to list them, so here goes:

1. Baseboard
2. Base Cap
3. Shoe Molding
4. Stair Skirt
5. Cove Molding
6. Plinth Blocks
7. Door Casing
8. Door Stop
9. Panel Molding
10. Crown Molding
11. among others….

I did a quick video to show them to you, it’s about two minutes:

I wonder sometimes if this vast expanse of details causes people to freeze? I had one reader ask me once early on how to navigate the trim department at Home Depot or Lowe’s or your local supplier.

This post is the beginning of my response to that. I’ll start on the ground floor…the baseboards!

Bigger is Better

For most homes a larger baseboard is a real improvement! The only time this might not apply would be in a more modern, contemporary type design where clean lines and minimalist style rule the day. But for the average home I think taller and thicker baseboards look great!

Here are a couple of great choices:

I don’t know if I can floor you with any huge words of insight here! (Ha..get it?) Bottom line is, this is the most versatile upgraded base there is. It’s a 5.25″ primed base with an integrated “base cap” like profile milled into the top. This is available at any home center in all of the standard material offerings. Here is another similar choice:

This “base” is the same size as the first picture, but has a different profile on the top. This is really just a matter of taste, I personally prefer the top one because it invokes the look of an old-fashioned baseboard which was often done with a simple 1-by with a piece of Base Cap placed above it. Like this photo here, which also shows Base Shoe:

This last option really looks great, but it does add some cost and complexity to the job. I like the first one because it gives a similar look a little more affordably and simply.

This option is thicker too. Thickness looks nice, but could cause problems around your door casings if you’re not replacing them too. Things get a little tricky if your baseboard is thicker than the outside edge of your door casing. The top two options would almost never cause that issue.

What Materials are Best?

There used to be two main grades of trim for general use: Stain Grade, and Paint Grade. That still applies, but there are some new players.

Stain Grade

If the trim is to be finished in such a way as to show the wood grain, either with a totally clear finish or with a stain, you generally want to use lengths of solid wood. This minimizes seams and keeps the color uniform.

You can generally buy the more basic grades of Stain Grade trim at a Home Center, but you might need to go to a specialty supplier if you want exotic or high-end material such as Oak, Maple, Poplar, etc.

Stain grade material is generally considerably more costly so if you plan to paint, you don’t need solid wood.

Paint grade

Paint grade used to mean “finger jointed”. If you’ve ever seen a piece of trim broken and seen those little “teeth” looking grooves where it broke, that is a finger joint. The process allows manufacturers to use shorter lengths of lumber to make long pieces of trim.

A few years back, most paint grade trim became available already primed. The additional cost is usually negligible and it’s well worth the effort for two reasons:

1. You save some work on the painting time.
2. For the average DIY Crew, the job may not get done all at once.  If the material is primed, it looks decent in the interim.

MDF

There is a relatively new player on the block. MDF - Medium Density Fiberboard is often used for trim because of how well it can be milled with intricate profiles. Manufacturer’s can offer trim details that used to cost much more, now for an “entry level” price.

MDF is generally fine, but it does have some drawbacks, especially for baseboard. That major one is that MDF and water don’t mix! MDF is very readily damaged if it gets wet.

Being on the floor, baseboard is more likely than other trim to get wet, so keep that in mind. The other drawback to MDF is that it is a little bit harder to work with. Simple fixes of goofs such as a little sanding or a little putty or caulking, don’t seem to do as well on MDF.

The bottom line is that while MDF is great, I would suggest that you buy real wood if it’s available in the profile you want to use.

What is Shoe Molding?

Shoe Molding is the small piece of trim at the junction between baseboard and floor. Not all homes have it and it’s often not used where carpet is the floor covering.

Shoe Molding is great for covering gaps between hard surface floors and the baseboard. These gaps are often a necessary evil in flooring installation and the shoe molding covers them. It’s also useful for protecting the baseboard from damage, by, you guessed it, shoes.

Many carpenters go out and buy 3/4″ by 3/4″ Quarter Round for shoe molding. While this works, I like the actual “Base Shoe” better because it has greater height than width and we all know that’s a good thing!

Here are a few more pictures that might help you in your shopping:

I hope the lowdown on the boards down low has been helpful.

Sometime before next week’s post on Chair Rail and Wainscot, I’ll get some installation techniques posted for you. You’ll need some tools and if you want to see some that I picked out, go to the intro to this series. I have some tools from Amazon.com that you can buy right there. (I’ve bought many tools through Amazon…it’s all good so far)

Tomorrow, I will announce the winner of the Pink Toolbelt giveaway. I plan to do the drawing at 9:00pm EST on Tuesday the 3rd. If you haven’t entered and would like to, just sign up for the Newsletter before then.

As for the Newsletter…it’s coming very soon. Sorry for the short delay. Due to my regular work schedule, I might not finish it until the weekend.

If you have a food related post you want to include in our blog party, it’s Tasty Tuesday at Forever…Wherever!!!