Bedroom Trim Progress (It’s Not Going Well)
I am well past the point of no return on my plans for the walls in our bedroom, but let me just state this very clearly. After this week, I’m totally regretting my decision to do wainscoting in this room. And it’s not because I don’t like how it look. In fact, I LOVE how it looks. I couldn’t be more thrilled with how the foyer turned out, and I’m anxious to see it through to completion with the grasscloth wallpaper.
No, it’s not the overall design plan that I was regretting last night when I went to bed. It’s the fact that I chose to put wainscoting in the one room that is the most unlevel and out of square room in our whole house. And it also has the waviest walls I’ve ever dealt with. I have never had this much trouble installing trim in any other room of our house. Generally, things are a little bit unlevel, or just a touch out of square. I can generally disguise that so that when it’s finished, those imperfections aren’t obvious. But this room is on another level altogether.
But believe you me, I won’t give up. And when it’s finished, it WILL look nice. This has become my own personal challenge now, and there’s no way I’m going to let this room defeat me. 😀
The good news is that this long wall went fairly smoothly. I’m thankful that the main wall in the entrance of the room is the wall that’s pretty flat and is probably the most level and square in the whole room.
I’m especially thankful for that since it’s the one wall that won’t have furniture or draperies layered over it. I did this wall first, and I was feeling pretty confident. But that confidence faded pretty quickly as I moved around the room.
As I worked my way around the room, I couldn’t depend on measurements for trim placement. I tried measuring from the floor, but that was a terrible idea since the floor is so unlevel. I tried measuring from the ceiling, but that gave me the same problem. So I tried to just rely on my levels. I used a bubble level and a laser level. I thought for sure that would be the best way to go.
But using that method, as I got to the last wall where the bedroom chair rail meets the foyer chair rail, I was about an inch-and-a-half off.
I lost count on how many times I removed the chair rail and re-installed it. I was honestly considering throwing in the towel and coming up with a new plan, but I’m way too stubborn for that.
Anyway, I think I got this wall with the bathroom door looking pretty decent. It’s not perfect, but once everything is in the room, I think it’ll look nice.
And the headboard wall is fine. Again, I had to remove and reinstall that trim countless times, but I finally got it looking pretty level (splitting the difference here, and splitting the difference there). But this wall will be mostly covered with draperies and a headboard anyway, so I’m not too concerned.
But this corner is just…UGH. It’s so out of level that you can see it. I mean, there’s no disguising that.
So installing the trim there was a nightmare. I’m still not pleased with how it looks, so I’ll probably end up taking those baseboard pieces off, trimming some off of the bottom, and reinstalling it so that it will disguise that high point in the floor a bit more.
I mean, you can see just by looking at it that the baseboard trim goes up towards the corner of the room. It’s very obviously not level with the trim under the window. Of course, there’s zero chance that the window is level, so there will be more “splitting the difference” required there as well.
And then there’s this wall, the waviest wall in the house. You can see how wavy it is just by the shadows under the chair rail.
And there’s no disguising that wave with the trim.
The baseboard looks bad, but the chair rail look even worse. That gap is much bigger than it looks in the picture, but even in the picture, it looks huge. That’s way too much to fill with caulk.
And then there’s this wall. While the others were bad, this one is the worst. The floor dips down in the middle, so I’m left with this big gap under the baseboards. Plus, the flooring doesn’t go all the way to the wall because the room isn’t square, so one board tapers off right in the middle.
I think that gap is too big to cover with regular quarter round, so I’ll have to get creative.
And then working around a door that IS level and square, but that is set into a wall that isn’t at all level made that chair rail installation even harder. I had to get the chair rail somewhat in line with the grid on the door on both sides, but with the floor so unlevel, it was not an easy task.
Anyway, this has been one of the most frustrating projects I’ve ever done. I don’t remember ever having to remove and reinstall trim as many times as I’ve had to do in this room. And you can see the challenges that I’m dealing with. I WILL get it done, but it has been much more challenging than I expected. And I’m going to have to do something about that wavy wall, which makes me feel like I’m going backwards instead of forwards. That’s frustrating.
So, take it from me. If you’re wanting to do wainscoting in a room, make sure that the floor and ceiling are at least somewhat level first. If you have areas that are very obviously not level, maybe come up with a Plan B and leave the wainscoting for another room. 😀
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Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
That super wavy wall….I think the easiest solution is to mud it out flat before reinstalling the baseboards/etc.
Unfortunately, that sounds like the best course and will probably be faster than trying to work around it. It is looking good, though.
Hi Kristi: I have never installed trim before, but like you, I too am a perfectionist (nothing wrong with that – everyone has their own tendencies). I can only imagine how frustrating this situation is but maybe try to focus on furniture, art, and accessory placement. I’m guessing that Matt’s dresser is going on the wall with the electric panel box so that will draw attention away from that wall and maybe a tall interesting plant or piece of artwork on the wavy wall between the window and the bathroom door. The bed and nightstands will cover most all of that wall and I’m guessing the chair will go to the left of the exterior door so these help to camouflage much of these imperfections. With your creativity, I have no doubt that you will figure AND that it will look great in the end. Hang in there and breathe slowly. 🙂
I agree with the above comment. For the super wavy wall, get a wide mudding knife, and fill in the wavy part of the wall to level out the dips. Then get the thinnest drywall possible and just go right over it. Start fresh! It wont fix the level part of the ceiling and floor but the wavy part of your wall will be gone! Im sorry you have to deal with that but caulk and wood filler just will not suffice in this application. I know you will not be pleased unless this is rectified. Best of luck to you.
You have made a house with flaws in to such a beautiful home. With all the colorful walls, and amazing grass cloth about to go up. Having a perfectionist eye, you’re drawn to these spots..but anyone walking in to your home won’t see any of it.
Will that also affect the wallpaper installation?
I’m very concerned that the wavy wall will look bad once the wallpaper is up. I think I have no choice but to fix it. The rest of the walls will be fine…I think.
Ughh. What a frustrating job. But what you have done so far looks good! We had a kitchen installed in a 1939 house with uneven walls etc. The carpenter installed cabinets flush and plumb and boy! Did that ever look awful! He finally agreed to take them down and re-install them with fudge factors so it looked good with all the uneven-ness, though a great carpenter (like you) will always be able to tell they are not flush and plumb if they were studying them. But with all the other decor, it all looked terrific and your job will too. It already does.
Big potted plants and some short bookshelves? How frustrating! I know you’ll figure it out and it will be perfect, though. Maybe some use of the clay you used to make your closet chandelier?
Have you considered notching the chair rail and baseboard pieces for the sections that go on the bowed wall? My recollection is that this is what professional finish carpenters do. They saw tiny wedges out of the back of the moulding piece, so that it will go around a curved surface. As long as the piece is leveled, it should look good.
I hadn’t considered that! That may be the best option. I’ll have to give it some thought.
Can’t you scribe the baseboard? Yes, it would not be the same height visually, but it would hit the floor. Sometimes we have to fudge, because the tradesmen weren’t perfectionists like we are! At our last house, a corner in a highly visible area was wonky. It seems the 2×4 that went in to form the facing side was a bit too tall, so it isn’t level, and looks like the wall is leaning into the ceiling. As I said, it is a highly visible spot, and it would drive me crazy looking at that corner in my favorite chairs’ location. My husband even tried to get it to be less obvious using a block of wood and hammer at the base. but it just caused the drywall to crack at the ceiling, so he gave up and fixed the cracks. It is what it is, but we don’t live there anymore!
Scribing and recutting the baseboard to actually run along the floor would be the way to go in my opinion – and allow you to keep the moulding as plumb as possible.
Yes, that’s what I plan to do on those baseboards. I just couldn’t remember what it was called. 😀
Hi Kirsti, things are looking lovely. I understand your frustration with the wavy wall. Here, when we come across that (which is quite often lol), we use expanding foam along the large gaps. When dry and hardened we take off the acess with a knife, then apply the caulk. Leaves a lovely finish.
Backer rod works the same way without the mess. I usually use it with big gaps and then caulk it.
If the shoe molding shows holes at the bottom you don’t fill with white caulk but you use a caulk to match the floor color. (Saw this demonstrated on a YouTube video and it definitely works.)
When it was your gym, was it that noticeable then? Do you think shoe mold or a second molding would work like you did on your window trims?
Yes, it was all noticeable in the home gym, but I didn’t have a chair rail, and the baseboards I used when it was a gym were much thinner, so they could bend a bit. These 1″x5″ boards won’t bend at all. Plus, we had a window on the front instead of a door. That adds another wonky factor to the mix. It’s a lot easier to disguise a window on an unlevel wall than a door on an unlevel wall.
I’ve seen articles on builders sites that they have used things like small round foam insulation rolls to fill in big gaps and then caulking over before paint. You can hardly tell it’s there unless you’re specifically looking for it. I’ve also seen people use expanding foam, trim when dry, caulk and paint over. Same result.
I think once you get the room finished, and everything put into the room, you’ll be the only one who knows.
Can I see the gaps? Yes – and I’m sure you will find a great solution.
Can I see the unlevel areas? NOPE, literally not at all. And when everything is in the room, your eye will be on the “things,” not the walls. I think it looks great already!
Same—I could not tell where things were not level!
I’m so glad you can’t see it! I can not only see it, but I can feel it as I walk towards that one corner of the room. It’s like I’m walking uphill. I could get a good workout just walking up and down that slope. 😀
One tip for the section where the gap is bigger than quarter round… we had the same situation in our 1950s ranch and ended up using spray foam in those places and attached the quarter round to the floor if necessary (in places it was a short enough span between good nails into the wall). The spray foam sanded smooth and painted up nicely … you’d never know unless you got on the floor and touched it!
You’ve made great progress. Maybe you could find similar flexible, plastic (gasp) trim boards to use on at least that wall?
I would be in tears. I would probably tear out that wavy wall and replace the sheetrock, but it would be a lot to tackle at this stage. I know you are amazingly talented and creative so I have no doubt you will figure it out.
Is there any way to have the floor leveled from under the house?
I am sorry this is so frustrating.
We paid to have our house leveled before, and within a few months, it was right back to where it started. The soil in this area is just so shifty that it’s just easier to live with the wonkiness unless we want to pay to have our house leveled about once every six months.
Okay. In sewing if there is a mishap like the points of squares don’t match or something is sewn crooked, the saying goes “you use the three-foot rule”.
If you stand back three feet or maybe five feet, you can’t see the miss-match. Or “You can’t tell there is a problem if you ride by on a galloping horse”.
Your pictures look lovely. Paint the corner and put a tall skinny vase with flowers in it in the corner. I think it is bothering you much more than it will bother anyone else. The room will turn out beautifully. Stand back.