... and now for the details

The drywallers finished up with the final tweaks yesterday. Overall things look pretty good. The doors off the corridor came out nicely (the transom idea was Bryan's... it really does give an illusion of full height doors). So... are we now FINALLY ready to install flooring upstairs? Not quite yet... we still have some messy work upstairs. The master bathroom's plumbing, electrical and framing must be completed and drywall/cement board must be installed. The goal is to get all the really dusty/sloppy stuff done before the nice floor and trim get installed.

Flooring will be a separate post (er, posts). Originally we were going to go with carpet, but I think we're both now leaning towards bamboo. As for trim...

My dad used a beautiful detail for door and window trim, on all the houses he worked on (a lot of commercial office interiors use one variation or other of this detail)... I'll have to upload some photos and some drawings illustrating the way he constructed the trim, however in the meantime, I have attached this Fry Reglet trim piece that is pretty much the same detail:
Usually at door and window openings, trim/moulding overlaps and sits atop the drywall. This detail puts the face of the trim flush with the drywall plane, and leaves a reveal between the trim and the drywall... a separation between different materials (Golden Rule of Architecture: If different materials are constructed to be on the same plane, ALWAYS leave a reveal between the materials... allowing them to breathe... and also because construction is never perfect).

My dad did majority of the construction work himself, so he knew his was framing and drywalling for this detail. However, trying to convey this design intent to the average subcontractor has been challenging. They just don't get it. We gave them dimensioned detailed drawings and a copy of the Fry Reglet cut sheet above. I even showed them photos of my dad's work...

Sub - "So, you want the drywall edges EXPOSED?"
Me - "Yes... finished with a corner bead, mudded and sanded and yes, exposed."
Sub - "But the moulding or trim will be covering up the edge of the drywall..."
Me - "No, there is to be a reveal between the trim and the drywall... they are in the same plane. Like this (me pointing to photos)"
Sub - "Yeah, um lady, someone forgot to fill in that gap or they forgot to put moulding on that door."
Me - "Can you just make sure to dimension the door width to X'-XX" and place corner beads on all drywall edges, please? I'll have you over for coffee once we get the trim put on and you can see it in person..."
Sub - "Okay, you're the boss lady... you architects always get these crazy ideas in your head. No moulding... crazy."

I'm excited to see if we will actually be able to pull off using this detail.