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Trim for Prairie Style home

| Posted in Construction Techniques on January 5, 2005 12:01pm

Getting ready to trim out a Prairie Style home for a couple who are fans of the arts and crafts and mission styles. Would like to show them some appropriate interior door styles as well as some differant baseboard, window and door trim profiles to choose from. So far my design books and countless web searches have not been successfull. Any suggestions? Seems like the predominent wood species should be oak but the home owners are leaning toward a lighter species like birch or maple. Any input would be appreciated.

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  1. YesMaam27577 | Jan 05, 2005 06:01pm | #1

    If they are truly fans of Arts and Crafts styling, then you need only show them quartersawn white oak; flat panel doors; very plain baseboard (1X6 with a simple roundover on the one edge); and casing similar to the base.

    The only detail is the use of plinth strips at the top of the vertical casing pieces, visually supporting the top horizontal casing. The vertical casing is rounded on both exposed edges, the top piece only at the top edge. The plinth strip is usually about 1/4 thick, and protrudes beyond the casing by about 3/16, and is fully rounded over, with returns on the ends. Note that there are no miters in this scheme, other than those returns.

    Window stool is simply a roundover/ogee on three edges; the apron is just rounded over.

    The finish would need to resemble fumed oak -- a rather dark look. But that is the classic look of the A&C movement. Alternative finishes have been done countless times (including painted, which I think looks rather good).

     

    If, on the other hand, the customer is 'leaning toward a lighter species like birch or maple' -- I am not able to visualize very well. Maybe someone else will chime in here, with thoughts. If not, put together a small sample, and see if the customer likes it.

     

     

    Unless you're the lead dog, the view just never changes.

    1. splinter26 | Jan 05, 2005 09:45pm | #4

      Sounds like some of the samples I gave the home owners already (dumb luck!) Did they use base block also? Or is that what you meant by plinth blocks?
      Thanks again.

      1. YesMaam27577 | Jan 06, 2005 12:00am | #6

        Did they use base block also? Or is that what you meant by plinth blocks?

        I was not referring to plinth blocks.

        The doors in my A&C house were trimmed before the baseboard went in. The simple roundover casing extended to the floor. The casing was a bit thicker than the baseboard, so the casing roundover did not create a crevasse.

        The plinth was a plinth strip, above the wondows and doors, below the head casing.

        In the other thread, there are some pictures. One is of a china cabinet. (wright_meyer_may_china_cabinet.jpg)  Although the resolution isn't fine enough, it looks to me as thought there is a plinth strip near the top of that cabinet. It is immediately aboove the doors, and below the top "casing" piece. If you look carefully at the top of the vertical trim pieces at the sides, it appears that this strip protrudes farther than the top casing.

        That is what I was talking about.

         

         

         Unless you're the lead dog, the view just never changes.

  2. User avater
    BillHartmann | Jan 05, 2005 08:27pm | #2

    Do a search. This was discussed here within the last 2 months and lots of references where given, as well as they can.

    There is not real good reference for this kind of trim.

    Also you need to realize that there is a large overlap in both terms and details, between Craftsman/A&C/Mission/Prairie/Bungalow.

    And even ones with the same "name" there are lots of variations from one part of the country to another.

    One of the tenants of the A&C movement was to use local materials.

    Thus while an Craftsman Home in New York might have used mostly while oak one done by Greene and Greene in California used mainly redwood and mahagony.

    And while white oak was Stickly's favority he does mention an number of other options and infact used some other wooods in his own house.

    1. splinter26 | Jan 05, 2005 08:33pm | #3

      Thanks for the repky, I'll check the archives.

  3. tuffy | Jan 05, 2005 11:38pm | #5

    You're not going to find anything useful doing web searches, but there are plenty of useful books out there. You should be able to find a couple of useful picture books in the hurt-books section next to the registers at your nearest Barnes & Noble.

    A couple of useful titles, offhand, would be "Prairie Style" by Legler & Korab, and "The Wright Style" by Lind.

    They're tricky to come by, but if you can scratch up Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer's monographs of Frank Lloyd Wright's work, you'll find hundreds of reproductions of original working drawings, with man specific details for interior finish and cabinetry. Try interlibrary loan.

    Prairie style trim doesn't have to be hard. In the very least, use clean, simple doors--single panel--and if possible, a stringcourse around the entire room in lieu of top casings.

    There's no reason not to use birch or maple (you'll find both inside Mr. Wright's home in Oak Park), and I personally would consider a good cut of either of those woods long before I'd use a mediocre cut of oak.

    1. splinter26 | Jan 06, 2005 02:00am | #7

      tuffy and YesMa'am
      Thank you both for your responses. They have been very useful. I have a source for some soft maple, sort of resembles birch. Trying to match several species in the same spaces. Windows came with pine trim and doors will probably be birch. I agree that the traditional fumed oak is a bit dark and dreary in color but I love the look of quartersawn oak. They are wanting windows to be wrapped with bullnosed drywall on the top and sides ( kind of weird looking to me considering the style of the rest of the home ) but I will be putting a rather beefy sill with a very simple and small apron. I enjoy these types of challenges. I consider myself very lucky to be able to make a living doing what I love to do. I know others of you fell the same. Thanks again for all the input,
      splinter

  4. pino | Jan 06, 2005 02:41am | #8

    Just a homeowner myself, but owning a modest bungalow that we are rehabbing has raised the same kinds of questions for us.

    Someone mentioned a fumed finish for white oak. Here is a link to a previous Tauton article by Jeff Jewitt that's worth checking out. You get the look of fumed oak, with more depth to the finish and far less fuss.

    http://taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/w00139.asp

    Also, pick up a copy of American Bunglaow magazine. Its for the Arts and Crafts purist and offers plenty of detailed interior examples in each issue.

    http://www.ambungalow.com

  5. lisakk | Jan 06, 2005 02:49am | #9

    We're building a new Craftsman Bungalow with plans from The Bungalow Company.  Their website has a lot of photos of the interiors that might help you out.  The web address is: http://www.thebungalowcompany.com.

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