Picture Molding:
The crown molding in our living room had this really odd look in that it was not flush with the ceiling but was instead dropped from the ceiling about an inch. When I first noticed it I thought it was at one time intended to be flush with the ceiling and things had just settled over the years causing the strange gap. Turns out, though, that this type of molding is a real thing that people install intentionally. It's called "Picture Molding" and it is commonly seen in houses of this age.
Our carpenter told us that years ago walls used to be made out of plaster and that driving a nail into plaster to attempt to hang a picture was pretty much impossible. So instead, they would install their molding with about an inch drop from the ceiling, just enough space to attach a hook onto to hang their portraits. Oh the trivia you can learn form old houses.
No worries, our walls are NOT made of plaster, and there is definitely no longer a need for this type of molding, as I don't think I'll be hanging any pictures from it. And although it is a neat story and probably does have some character value, the one-inch gap was really just not appealing to me. So we decided to have it taken down and replaced with a more traditional crown molding.
Our ceilings/dry-wall guy took down the molding while he was doing the dry-wall work:
And a few weeks ago we had Chris put up some brand-new crown molding:
Completely flush with the ceiling!
And the painted finish:
The Chin-Up Bar:
The entry way to our kitchen had this lovely bar going across the top that the previous owners used to show off their tea-pot collection. :)
During one of our many brainstorming sessions on what all we wanted to do with this house, we came up with the idea to fill in this entry way and frame it in with a casing. Although Adam was really wanting to keep this bar as his own personal chin-up bar, he got overrode on this one. We also decided to continue this crown through the kitchen since the top trim on the cabinets had started to settle in some places and come away from the ceiling.
Here is Chris knocking down the old trim.
And the lovely popcorn ceiling underneath.
You can see where the cabinets have settled creating a separation.
The bar knocked down and filled in with dry-wall!
The brand new crown and casing in place!
And the painted finish:
I know most of you were really on the edge of your seat wondering why I left that top piece of trim the original cabinet color when I posted the painted cabinet pictures... now you know why!!
The Final Popcorn:
When Drywall Steve smoothed our ceilings there was a small spot above the hallway linen cabinet that he knew would be impossible to smooth. For some reason, the cabinet was built just about 4 inches short of the ceiling and it was impossible to reach any type of tools into that space to get it smooth. So we decided to conceal this final section of popcorn by extending the cabinet to the ceiling with a larger piece of crown molding.
And the painted finish:
Looks like it has always been there!!
We used Chris Moffatt for all of these projects. He was great to work with and we were really pleased with his work. I would definitely recommend him if you need any trim carpentry work done in the Upstate area!! Let me know if you would like his contact info!
We are slowly but surely getting things checked off that project list!!
