Reclaiming vintage trim

If you have followed here very long at all, you’ll know exactly how passionate I am about saving every piece of my heritage I can. My mantra has been, “reclaiming the past — one board at a time,” and that has been literally what I’ve been doing. I love the challenge of restoring something, and the satisfaction of saving something that would have been thrown away.

I wanted to use the fluted door trim in the little house for a while and finally got around to doing it. 

 Here is where it was around the door in the little house, so when my dad and I were getting out some baseboards, I went ahead and pulled this off as well. I cleaned it with a solution of bleach and water, let it dry then sanded off some of the excess paint. I then painted the boards and rosettes, and after they dried, I cut with the miter saw to the length I needed. (You might notice, I painted the boards the same gray as the ceiling boards in the little house here, which is the color all my trim and cabinetry are painted.) 

I pulled off the old trim around my door, which you can see was pretty skimpy.

I then used finishing nails to attach the antique trim to the door jam. 

I also had to replace the door jam, but simply used pine 1″ x 4″ boards and doorstop, which you can see I didn’t finish installing on the sides before taking the photos. I was a bit too excited to share on instagram 😊

I could not be happier with how this looks now — even with my warped screen door. 

I do have another screen I could replace this one with, when I can get around to restoring it. But I kind of love the quirkiness of the warped door.

The fact that I have this in my house now connects me to my family before me and will hopefully keep my love of heritage passing down through my children.

Besides the excitement about reusing the trim, I also overcame a big fear and used the miter saw for the first time ever. If you remember my husband’s injury five years ago, you’ll know why I was too traumatized to even try. I’m so pleased to have worked through that fear and look forward to many more little projects like this around the house.

I’m currently restoring all the wormy chestnut baseboards and will start installing them soon. 

My dad paid me the biggest compliment when he saw what I had done by saying I take after my granddaddy. 

😊

That makes it all worth it.

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