Moving Indoors

Okay I give.  Heat, you have outlasted me. 

This weekend I pulled up the remaining contents of my raised garden beds, except for my hot peppers and my basil that still producing.  Gone are the 8 foot sunflowers, and the cucumbers, which were the last hangers-on.  Gone are the sugar baby melon vines, and birdhouse gourd vines.  I still have my herbs --scattered about in various places -- my backyard butterfly bed is still doing well, and I am still tending to my raspberry canes and asparagus.  They both produce next year; they weren't expected to this year.  I have to say, it's sort of a relief to not have so much to water...

I also gave my front butterfly bed some much needed TLC, and got it spruced up a bit.  I need to add some fresh mulch.

So -- I'm moving to indoor projects for August.  First up?  Interior door trim and I suppose by default, interior door frames.

If you've been following along, you know that I've already removed and replaced all the old baseboards.  You can read the final post on that here:  http://my1929tudor.blogspot.com/2009/08/baseboards-progress-completed.html. 

I've long wanted to tackle the door frames, but other interior projects kept line jumping.  I also had some fantasy that the door frame project could encompass new windows, wall insulation* and new sheetrock, on a room-by-room basis.  I think I will save the new sheetrock for new windows -- there is no point in doing all new sheetrock around those very old windows -- and move ahead on the door frames.  Although I suppose that once I start pulling off door frames, I could get inspired to do the whole wall and add insulation on the walls that do not contain windows. I know for sure that at some sheetrocking will be involved in the door frame project anyway.

Here is Exhibit A -- the door trim on the inside-side of the master bedroom:

And before you strain your eyes trying to read the blue sign, here's a close up:

It's true!  New shoes cure most ailments.  But I digress --

The door frame photo is looking out of my bedroom into the short hallway.  To the right is the bathroom, and you are looking into the guest room.  (I don't know what that vertical swath of lighter color white is on the wall; it's some sort of trick of light; it's not really like that.)  I won't even guess how many layers of paint are on the trim -- and in most cases on the door hinges.  (Some day I am going to teach myself how to make new interior doors... Have you ever priced solid wood doors?  Ridiculous.)  And of course, many layers are lead based paint - awesome!  (Not.)  Here is a close up:

At some point, the edge of the trim sunk into the sheetrock -- like it is tipped back -- so you literally cannot find the edge of the wood.  The baseboards were like that as well, and when we took the old ones off we found that the sheetrock didn't extend all the way under the baseboards, so there wasn't anything supporting the wood.  I think that is what is going on here as well.  So, I'll dig the wood trim out, then add a new strip of sheetrock, tape, bed, and then add the new trim.  I used 1" x 6" boards for the baseboards, and my plan is to use 1" x 3" boards for the trim.  I'll stain them, but I am not going to route them; I prefer the clean lines.  I am hoping that I can get away without texturing the new sheetrock, but I'll have to see how it all turns out before I make that decision.  Certainly if I decide to re-sheetrock the whole wall I've have to texture and I can't say that that prospect is appealing to me... 

I'll keep you posted on my progress... if you have any advice or experience, please, share.

*  And by wall insulation I mean "some" not "new" or "additional."