Ceilings Up!

I installed the last of the tin and put up the crown molding today. I thought maybe the wood crown instead of tin would end up looking like I cheaped out but I really like it. I also got lucky with it. It is a 1X4 hemlock crown molding that comes in 10 foot lengths. For some reason I had it in my head that the room was 10’2” long, but its really only 9’8”. It is also a little over 8’ wide, so that means I was able to use single pieces on each side and didn’t need to do any scarph joints.







I came scary close to running out of tin again. The last picture is the waste left over from the entire ceiling. If I had to do it over I would have purchased mitered corners for that narrow molding piece that separates the field from the boarder. On that element I did go the cheap way. It is not that the mitered corners were difficult to cut, but it did mean that I have a less than eloquent joint in the middle of the two long sides.

The molding pieces are 4-feet long, but you loose several inches when you cut the miter. I’ve cut a zillion outside corners but for some reason I didn’t think of this. With a factory mitered corner the two 4-foot pieces would meet in the middle. As it was, I had a 4 or 5 inch gap that needed to be filled. It doesn’t look really bad – I mean, there are plenty of joints in the ceiling – its just that it could have looked a little better.

Next time….



I also got the cabinet out of the kitchen and in to the room. That sucker is surprisingly heavy. It is a 1920s era salvage piece that came out of an office building locally. Even after taking every thing thing out and removing the door and drawers I couldn’t lift it enough to move it even a little. I ended up flipping it end-over-end from one room in to the other.



Unfortunately, it is not as good a fit as I had hoped. It is 3/8th of an inch too deep and it won’t make it past the door trim to slide back in to the corner. This means that tomorrow I get to trim a little off the back to get it past the casing.

This cabinet was originally built as a corner cabinet to go in to a corner just like that. It originally had no back or side on the left. When I bought it a few years back the guy I got it from added some pieces of that 1/8 mahogany plywood and painted it. The point being, that trimming it may not be as bad as it sounds. I’ve already removed the plywood so I’m only left with a few framing members. Once it is in place I’ll drive some screws through it and permanently attach it to the wall.

I got an email on Friday saying that my carpets have been shipped, which is cool. They originally said 4 to 6 weeks for delivery, but now it seems it will be more like 2 to 3 weeks. The only thing really left to do is the shoe molding where the beadboard meets the floor. I think I’ll pick that up tomorrow. I can put a couple of coats of paint on and then install it mid-week next week.

After that I can stick a fork in this baby and call it done!