Master bedroom remodel

Some weeks ago, I asked for some feedback on window trim. This project is what that was related to.

When Judy decided we should repaint our bedroom, I said we should also remodel while we’re at it.
When we first built the house about 10 years ago, we trimmed the doors, windows, and base boards using rough sawn, red western cedar. With solid wood floors and no carpet or rugs, dust aggregates quickly.
It collects on the rough sawn wood like nobody’s business.
Having grown tired of dust bunnies and other little things WRT the trim, we decided the master bedroom would look more formal and elegant with Black Walnut trim albeit we agreed we like the raw beauty and combination of heart and sapwood in the walnut.
There are multiple parts to the remodel. The first thing I needed to tackle was the box beam. John, my Father-in-law and I created the beam so it’d run along the peak of the vaulted ceiling. Rather than taking down the beam we’d built, I thought it’d be easier to make and attach thin walnut boards to the existing beam.

I’m including three photos of the walnut box beam here. For more photos, you can look at my picassa album Remodeling

The walnut I’m using has been air-drying for several years and originally came from St. Louis, MO.
To make the new box beam, I first took three 8’ 8” wide 4/4 black walnut boards, planed and resawed each in half along the 8’ length. Then I planed each to about 5/16” each. On each face of the beam, I planned to attach the long bookmatched pieces. First I ripped the bottom to width. I attached clamps to the sides of the existing beam with a large gap below and slid in a 2” x 4” caul. Above the caul, I slid in the walnut then pushed the clamps up tight on the sides. Finally I drove some wedge shaped shims in between the clamps and 2X. Then, I let the glue set overnight. I used a couple of 18 gauge 1/2” brads to make sure nothing moved while clamping it up. I repeated this process for the other half of the 16’ beam, except I had to cover the first half so as not to smear glue on the already attached walnut face.
Once the bottom face was glued on, I dry fit each side and marked a cut line in pencil. Then, I cut just outside the line, glued the sides in place and waited. When the glue had set, I used a low angle block plane to bring the sides even with the bottom face. Finally, I applied another finish of shellac followed BLO.

The other components of this remodel includes picture rail, window trim, doors trim, and base boards.
We’ll have picture rail molding around the perimeter of the room about 12” above the windows.
The window trim is the most complicated part of the job as in nearing completion. One window is dry fit and looks good. I’ll have pics of that soon.

Thanks for viewing and for offering any constructive comments and/or criticisms.
Gary

-- Gary, Florida