ORC Week 2: Trim Magic!

Using Trim to Create Columns

We're starting our living room overhaul with updating these columns to become a more substantial visual statement piece for the living room. The columns actually hide some drainage pipes and other conduit from the basement to the second floor. They also serve as the perfect opportunity to turn these into columns.

Initially, I was thinking of doing stonework on the pillars, but decided that it would look too heavy in this space. After creating the casing for our basement door I fell in love with the idea of doing a little millwork glow up to these pillars. It also would give us the flexibility to add an arch later without having to commit to a decision now.

Since these are floor to ceiling, I wanted to create a substantial base and header to create enough visual presence for the scale of these pillars. First things first, Jake got busy on skim coating the pillars to give us a smooth surface to work with. To create the base we used a 6.25" base board glued to a 2.5" trim board. We used wood filler to cover the seam, sanded, it down, and after paint, it looks gorgeous.

Once we knew the size of the base we could plan the rest of the trim application. We did a simple frame using 3.5" trim boards for the uprights and leftover 5" base for the top and bottom of the frame. We added an additional 5" base piece to the top of the column to give something for the crown to nail into. To cover the seam between these two pieces we added a decorative molding and it really adds some depth to the crown.

For the last piece, we had to add a spacer at the ceiling for a couple of reasons. Since we are adding tongue and groove blue pine, it's 3/4" thick and will sit proud of the crown if the crown is installed directly against the ceiling. The spacer allows the tongue and groove to match up evenly and give some visual separation from the crown. Also, the crown needed to be a little lower on the pillar to look proportionate for the header.

We filled every hole with wood filler, caulked all seams, and sanded everything down to perfection. We primed and painted, then sanded, then painted again with semi-gloss Bistro White to create this gorgeous finished project!!

We absolutely love it! It gives such a statement in this space and really helps set the vibe for what's to come with this living room over the rest of the One Room Challenge!

Next week we are tackling the light install and adding the tongue and groove! Follow along in stories on IG for updates on how things are going.

Follow @lueckyhome for more DIY fun!