Visited a restored 1920s bungalow in Portland and the trim work blew my mind

I was out there last week for a family thing and got a tour of this old house they're fixing up. The original baseboards and window casings were all still there, and the detail was crazy. They had these tiny, perfect quarter-rounds and built-up crown molding that must have taken forever to cut by hand. The guy doing the work said he spent 40 hours just on the living room trim to match the existing profiles. It made me realize how much we rely on pre-made stuff now. Anyone else run into old trim that made you stop and appreciate the craft?

3 comments

3 Comments

finleyl551mo ago

Man, that sounds like a total headache. How do you even find a shop that still does that kind of work?

casey_lane731mo ago

Had the same issue last year with some old window casings. What @the_robin said about keeping a sample piece is the only way to go, take it to a couple different shops before you commit. Found one that ran the knives for like 80 bucks and it matched perfect, just had to wait a week for them to get to it.

the_robin1mo ago

Got a house full of that old trim and it's a pain to fix. You have to find a local millwork shop that will run custom knives for your profiles, and that gets expensive fast. I keep a few pieces of the original as a sample and make new stuff from poplar, then stain to match. The real trick is using a good filler on the nail holes, something that takes stain, or the repairs stick out like a sore thumb.