Some people like the clean, flat look of drywall. It's cheap, easy to install and finish and the repairs are relatively painless. But, like most old home fans, I like the unevenness of plaster walls. Besides its durability and sound deadening properties, plaster adds mass and character to a wall. It also looks more interesting in side lighting. Unfortunately, plastering is also one ...

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In my last post I wrote about how to build compound molding. There were some questions about how I built that curved baseboard so I'll show how I did it. There are basically four ways to build that curve using solid lumber. What I did really wasn't the best way to do it. Normally, you would steam the wood and bend it in a jig. But even ...

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Over the past few years I've spent a lot of time duplicating the damaged trim in my old house. Elaborate woodwork is one of the major details of an old home as well as one of its greatest attractions today. People with old homes go to great lengths to carefully strip and rehabilitate their old baseboards and casings. But sometimes the woodwork is so damaged that rehabilitation isn't ...

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