Adding Trim to a Cased Opening

This project has been a long time coming! One of my long-term plans for my house is to add molding and trim where it hasn’t been since the house was built in the 40s.

I started by designing and adding trim around the windows in my living room. Then when I started turning our guest room into a nursery for our first baby, I added the same style trim in there too.

But now with baby boy’s nursery behind me, I’m getting back around to my dining room to-do list I posted about last year.

A year since I wrote out my to-do list where I said I wasn’t going to paint the walls and I changed my mind. I quickly painted the walls before adding some trim to the cased opening. The new wall color is Irish Mist from Behr. It’s a slightly gray white that looks so much more sophisticated than the harvest wheat that was there before, especially against that crisp white trim.

Now about that trim…

It’s exactly the same as the window trim, except I didn’t have to deal with a window stool and apron which makes it cheaper and quicker!

Here are the materials you’ll need to replicate this project:

• (2) 8′ 1×4
• (1) 6′ 1×6
• (1) 7′ door stop molding
• (1) 8′ bed molding
• tape measure
• miter saw
• trim nail gun and compressor
• fine-grit sandpaper
• painter’s putty
• painter’s caulk
• paint and brush

If you have simple 1x4s as baseboards like I do, you simply measure from the top of the baseboard to the top of the opening to get the measurement for the ‘legs’. You’ll want to measure on each side in case there’s any discrepancy between the 2 sides. In my case, they were both exactly the same! Cut your 1x4s to this measurement.

Then measure from right to left in the opening at the top to get the measurement for your 1×6. You’ll need to add the width of (2) 1x4s plus (2) 1/8-inch reveals to the measurement before you cut the 1×6. For example, my opening was 47-3/4. So I added 3-1/2+3-1/2+1/8+1/8 and cut my 1×6 at 55 inches. (Watch the video above for more detail and explanation!)

Whatever you end up with for your 1×6, you’ll add 1-1/2 inches and cut the door stop molding to that length. This gives you a 3/4 inch overhang on either end of the 1×4 legs and 1×6 head casing.

To cut the bed molding, you’ll definitely want to watch it happen in the video above and also check out my post on how to cut bed molding for indoor trim here.

Once you have everything installed with 2 inch finish or trim nails (use smaller for the bed molding), cover up any holes with painter’s putty and apply caulk in all of the seams. THIS makes all of the difference in making the trim look finished and polished. With the caulk and putty dry, paint with your trim paint. I used Benjamin Moore’s Simply White color-matched in Behr semi-gloss paint. I’m slowly changing all of the trim in my house to this color. It seems to be a very versatile white so far!

I still need to add matching trim to the other 2 openings in the dining room, but should be easy-peasy now that I’ve got one down! What projects are you working on around your house? Have you installed trim in your house? What kind? Comment below and let me know!

Thanks for Checking In! ~Chelsea