Saturday, May 16, 2009

Dining Room Wall 2


Here's the second wall I've finished for the dining room. This one took less time and went much more smoothly than the first wall, both because it's simpler in design(the only panelling occurs in the wainscotting) and because I think I'm starting to get the hang of building these.
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I purchased the baseboards, chair rail molding and assorted parts for the crown molding, but I built the panelling myself out of 1/16-inch basswood. I also built the pediment over the door. Note how it matches the pediments over the china cabinet and the door to the butler's pantry. I purchased those pediments ready-made, but then couldn't find a similar one in the larger size I need for this door, so I ended up having to build my own. I'm pretty proud of it, actually.

The door leads out to the entrance hall. I was originally going to put double doors here, but I couldn't figure out which way they should swing; there just isn't a lot of clearance for swinging double doors on either side of the wall. Sometimes when I can't figure out how I'm going to do something, I try to forget about it and work on other things for a while, and then the answer just comes to me: pocket doors! They were quite common in Victorian architecture, and while Myrtlewood was originally built in the early 1800s, there's no reason her owners couldn't have installed pocket doors when renovating in the 1870s-80s.

Of course, now I have to tear out some of the framing and figure out how to build and install the doors so they slide in and out properly. Details!

4 comments:

Amanda S. said...

Very nice! And your post is only about 30 minutes old so I am really on top of things. So is that blue an accent wall or will the opposite side be the same color? You didn't mention anything about painting.

Poppypatchwork said...

It looks great, I love the colour the deep blue with the white is very effective ( I think I have spelt that right). Can't wait to see more.

Texas Belle said...

Thanks, ladies! Actually, the picture turned out a little bright; the blue is actually a touch softer than it looks here. I am planning to have three blue walls and one white (already completed) in this room.

Sans! said...

You know I was just wondering why in the world haven't you posted for so long :). I clicked through today to your site for a looksee and lo and behold realised I didn't follow your blog. Thought I did..:")