Custom Trim for Vaulted Ceiling and Installing Old Vintage Chandeliers
The custom trim for our vaulted ceiling and installing old vintage chandeliers made our cozy cottage start to feel like home.
It should be no surprise at this point that we are yet again tackling another custom built project. This time the trim for our vaulted ceiling. We had somewhat finished a lot of these projects in the past, but now it was time to go back through and finalize the details like adding trim.
And don’t get me started on the chandeliers. They took forever, like years for us to find. At least the right ones for our little pine cottage. You can find vintage chandeliers in most antique stores, but finding the right one can take some time. Well~ it did for us.
BUILDING CUSTOM TRIM FOR VAULTED CEILING
The space for the trim between the shiplap siding and beadboard ceiling was not square or at a 90 degree angle. This is where the custom build comes into play. Nate had to figure out a way to get the trim to fit in that unique spot.
He did a bit of research and found there are several ways this could be tackled. The way that worked for him was to use scrap pieces of wood to measure out the angle. He placed one on the siding and the other on the ceiling. He used the one on the ceiling to measure out the angle on the siding one.
Then he could test it out by cutting that angle on the scrap piece of wood to see if it would fit in those corners. And you know what? It worked! Turned out to be a great strategy for us.
If you try out something similar, I would recommend you use a piece of scrap wood like we did. You don’t want to use your good wood and then make a mistake and cut the wrong angle.
After we figured out the exact measurement for the angle, we could start using the actual wood we picked out for the trim. Nate went to town cutting trim piece after trim piece. We had a lot of trim to make.
OLD GROWTH PINE FOR CUSTOM TRIM
We continued to use our old reclaimed pine wood for the custom trim. Continual confirmation of why we call our small space the little pine cottage. And don’t forget this is old growth pine and not the new stuff you could just buy at the box stores.
Thankfully most of the pine in and around our house is old. Not something I’ve ever thought about before or knew much about. But as Nate always reminds me that the old stuff is more hard and better quality. And the character it brings to your space makes you feel like you’ve just stepped back in time. To the time period of when your old house was built. There is nothing like that feeling when it comes to renovating an old gem. At least that’s my opinion.
The trim looked so good when it was installed. They fit perfectly in between our old shiplap walls and beadboard vaulted ceiling. It was the perfect detail to tie everything together.
INSTALLING VINTAGE CHANDELIERS
I want to say we started looking for vintage chandeliers when we first bought our historic house over five years ago. I cannot tell you how many antique stores we visited or how many times we scrolled on Facebook Marketplace for the perfect ones to fit in our small space.
There are so many sizes, shapes, details, materials, and prices to choose from when picking out the right chandeliers.
We knew that we wanted something vintage that would fit with the time period of our house. One thing I learned from Nate is that sometimes vendors can make a chandelier appear to be old and brass when they actually just painted it. There were several times when I would point out a chandelier I liked only to hear him say, oh that’s not real~ it’s painted. Didn’t even cross my mind, but I know better now and sometimes still ask him if he can tell it’s painted or not.
He will either reply with yes, it’s been painted or no, that one is actually real brass. I don’t have the eye for that like he does. But, I’m thankful he does because I would probably be the one to bring home the wrong chandeliers if I were the one shopping for it.
There are many ways to hang them and configuring the old wiring. We are not experts at this and Nate just did his best diy style. You can also hire someone to do the wiring for you.
VINTAGE CHANDELIERS ARE AN INVESTMENT
Another thing is that vintage chandeliers are expensive and quite an investment. They are not like the lighting fixtures you can more easily buy or pick out at a big box store. They carry history, charm, and of course that price tag. That was one of the biggest barriers for us to purchase them too.
If you are going to invest in something like this, you want to make sure it’s absolutely right for your space. Our little old pine cottage desperately needed them to make the house feel complete. We had a temporary fake chandelier in the kitchen as a placeholder for years. When we installed the new authentic brass vintage ones, it made a world of difference.
The custom trim for our vaulted ceiling and installing old vintage chandeliers brought us closer to the look and historical feel we were going for.
CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS
Thanks for joining us on this journey! We hope that you will find inspiration watching us learn as we go while we’re attempting to renovate and rebuild this old small historic cottage mostly on our own~ while working full time jobs! Stay tuned for more progress updates ahead. Read more about us here.
You can also watch a video about this here.
To see more adventures of our fixer upper journey, click on the links below.
💪🏼🧰 BUILDING CUSTOM TRIM FOR WINDOWS AND DOORS IN OLD LITTLE COTTAGE 🌲🏚
🪵🧰 BUILDING UNIQUE OLD BEADBOARD CABINET DOORS FOR COTTAGE KITCHEN ISLAND 🚰💚
