Change Trim in a 1930s Colonial?

13 years ago

My wife and I recently purchased a foreclosed colonial (1939). The house was in terrible shape and we have started renovating it. The existing interior trim (moldings/casings) is very plain, which I understand is typical for colonial houses from this time period. We'd prefer for the trim to be taller/wider so that it is more substantial.

Would it be acceptable to put arts and crafts style trim into a colonial home? We like this style of trim better than the existing trim and we'd like to add a little character. But we don't want anything to clash or break any rules concerning mixing architectural styles.

Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Featured Answer

skyedog

13 years ago

Your house was built during tough economic times. Most of them in my area are austere - small soffet overhangs, lower ceilings, modest trim, etc. If you can find an example in other homes in your area of what you are thinking then you might be able to get away with it or if you have a lot of lead paint in the trim and replacing it would be the easiest way to remove it.

But to tell you the truth, I would think long and hard before undertaking the task. You can't get away with changing out some of the trim and to do the whole house would be daunting and expensive. (Think baseboards too). The devil is in the details and getting trim to look professional is time consuming. It might be easier to divert attention from the trim by using drapes or outside mounts on blinds and shades.

Are you sure you are not just getting disappointed with the property and are starting to find faults with it? It happens to almost everyone, especially if you have a lot of non-cosmetic work to do on a house and the decorating gets pushed back, behind the other projects. You do all this work but no one can see a lot of it and you wish the house had some bling so others will see how great your home really is. Or not, but either way, I'd wait it out and see if you feel the same way about the trim in 6 months. Colonials are great homes and you may learn to love the more modest aspects of yours as time goes by.

Comments (8)

powermuffin
13 years ago
I have a 1908 Colonial Revival that has its original trim. The trim could be considered Arts and Craft. Door trim is 5" convexted in the middle with beads on the sides, see link below, #72. Base molding is two parts combined to 10" - all were stained. It had picture rails too. Many houses were like ours with a combination of styles so I don't see why you couldn't change out the moldings. I am sure that you can find something that would look true to your home.
Diane

Here is a link that might be useful: Vintage Woodworks moldings
jaydittman
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you for the reply and the link - very helpful. I was hoping that someone had a colonial w/ arts and crafts trim. I guess I'll have to consider the exterior trim as well, which I haven't researched yet. But I'm guessing the interior/exterior styles should match to some extent.
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xoldtimecarpenter
13 years ago
Why not use a more substantial colonial trim. Just because the trim is colonial does not mean it has to be plain. In fact, plain is the exception, not the rule.
fuzzywuzzer
13 years ago
There is a decorator trick that you might consider -- adding a picture rail 3"-4" below the crown, and painting it all out in trim color (white) to look like wide molding. I have not done it myself, so I don't know if in person it looks good or not. I guess it depends on the house.

P.S. I agree with xoldtimecarpenter above that if you do beef up the trim it should be colonial rather that arts & crafts.

FW
jaydittman
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks to all for the advice - I appreciate it. It makes sense to stick w/ a colonial style trim, so that is my plan. I'm just not sure if I will replace all of it or restore the existing trim. I'll have to crunch the numbers to see how much it will cost. I would do it all myself and I have the necessary tools. I'm just not sure if the value added would cover the cost of materials. I had to gut the largest room in the house so it currently has no trim. I am also replacing all of the windows, so they will all need to be re-trimmed as well. So it might be worth it.
cooperbailey
13 years ago
My modest colonial revival house was built in 1923 and all of the woodwork was original and painted ( we know we stripped it and it is not "good wood". All of the houses built by these builders on our street- 5 of them have the same molding.
Unfortunately, we goofed in measuring replacement windows for the back of the living room( shot with TV) and my husband recreated a longer top piece and the trim under the sill. The board under the sill is actually just routed to simulate the other windows. And you can't tell! This type of molding is easy to replicate and not that expensive or hard to do. The shot with the tv shows the floor molding which is the same throughout the house. Hope this helps.
karinl
13 years ago
I am no expert on either of the styles you're working with; we have a little Victorian that we've renovated. But I'd like to put in a vote for it being OK to mix trim styles within a house.

In fact, our house had a mix already when we moved in - most was original, but a room built on the back was different, and the kitchen was different again. When we renovated, we increased the size of some doorways and for other reasons here and there we had to use different casings, depending on what there was room for.

We generally stay consistent within a room but even that I'm not rigid about, and you know, it looks fine.

If you're trying to make a period piece, then maybe you do have to make a "whole house" decision for every doorway you tackle, but if you just want the house to look nice, you can factor in cost and practicality sometimes.

KarinL