Nearly done with the Dining room

It’s been a busy month. Once the painting was out of the way, the next job was to re-hang the main boards for the “board and batten” wainscoting. I think it took me the better part of a week of evenings to get them back up. I’d get home from work at about 6:30 and work through to about 9:00. (I’ve been trying not to use power tools too much after 9:00pm) part of the whole “good neighbor” thing. The boards were previously nailed top and bottom. This time I used 1 ½ deck screws which were countersunk.

Once the wall surfaces were in place it was time for the trim. First up was the door to the kitchen:


This was completely rebuilt. The jam had had various hinge mortises cut into it and then refilled. We’re thinking of putting in a “double swinger”, as they had originally, so we didn’t want the mortises showing. I couldn’t get away with just filling them, because we’re staining this doorway, so a rebuild was the only option. I ended up breaking down the jamb, planning the backs of the verticals, replacing the top part of the jamb and re-assembling. I discovered, after taking this photo, that the sides are ¾ of an inch closer at the base then the top! Fortunately it was easy enough to fix. (Don’t mind the boxes in the doorway. We still have a few stashes of unpacked stuff).

Next up was the bay window:


Followed by the window seat:


We knew the house had originally had a window seat, in this bay window, because we’d seen the marks on the old wainscoting when we took the drywall off. You can also see the Cat 6 and Coax. I decided to put an outlet panel inside the window seat to keep it out of sight. We want all the benefits of technology – we just don’t want to see it.

Unfortunately I didn’t get any more progress photos. I spent about 10 days in the dining room doing the door and window casings, window seat and then running the base board, plate rail and picture rail. I subbed out the finish prep and stain, mainly because I don’t have the patience required, but also because we want to see this done. I used up the last of my vacation on the finish carpentry and the prep and finish was a fairly big job. It took Lee the better part of three weeks but I think the result speak for themselves.



The dining room hasn’t been this tidy in a long time. Don’t tell AK, but I took all stuff off the table and stuck it in the window seat.



I still have to attach the hinge properly and plane a little off the edge, but with 200lb of tools and other crap in it its working out just fine.





It’s funny how you never notice the background until it shows up in a photo. The living room is next.





Pretty much, all I have to do now is to clean up and hang the windows. Then its on to the living room.


Here’s a gratuitous flashback that I’ve been promising myself: