Operation Baby Shower is in full swing in the Sharkey household. I've been painting crown moulding, and J.P. is outside cutting the supports for it as I type. Once all the support pieces are up, the tricky part—actually cutting the moulding—begins.

We, or should I say I, decided to go with the most complicated method of installation. Would you expect anything less from me by now?



Option 1: In the corners, use pieces like the one above to avoid complicated mitered cuts. I don't like this option because the moulding sticks out into the room, and it's supposed to recede into the corner. Also, this option required that we use real wood, which is very heavy.



Option 2: Use a styrofoam/foam core material that comes with pre-cut corner pieces. I couldn't find a good picture of this one, so imagine that this moulding is more ornate. I don't think ornate will work very well in the room, but I TOTALLY WOULD HAVE LIVED WITH IT, except that there were only three corner pieces available. And believe it or not, our room with four walls actually has four corners.



Option 3: Follow the instructions in our Decorating with Architectural Trimwork book. Per the instructions, J.P. is installing support triangles that he will later nail the moulding into. And of course, doing it the old-fashioned way means mitering and coping the corner pieces.

The book doesn't specifically say this, but I think the old-fashioned method also includes lots of swearing and muttering under your breath. And we haven't even gotten to the hard part yet.

Let's hope J.P. doesn't end up in the emergency room after impaling his hand with a drill bit. And let's hope our marriage survives this fun little home improvement project.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 25, 2005 at 6:14 PM.