DIY Network

Kitchen Rehab: Tin Crown and Door Trim From "Restoration Realities" episode DRTR-210

In this project, Bill Click and Chris Babcock from Restoration Realities work with a Detroit couple to complete unfinished door frames and an untrimmed tin ceiling on their 1911 Tudor home. This beautiful home is located in the Arden Park in the East Boston historic district in Detroit, Michigan. The neighborhood is the setting for some of the grandest homes in Detroit, many originally built for some of the city's most prominent businessmen.

The project house: a 1911 Tudor home in a historic Detroit neighborhood.

Homeowners Jim and Stephanie Turner

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	The kitchen, before the project gets underway.

Project Background:
1911 Prairie Tudor in Detroit's Arden Park Neighborhood

Living in Arden Park, in the historic Boston-Edison district of Detroit, Jim and Stephanie Turner are no strangers to old houses. Jim is a former marketing executive and is now a self-employed preservation advocate. Stephanie is an attorney for the state. Both of them fell in love with this two story 1911 prairie Tudor home nearly 20 years ago.

Over the years, the couple has done quite a bit of renovation on the house. Jim has restored much of the house himself. From the exterior walkways to interior oak trim and moldings, but some of the restoration projects have stopped just short of completion.

This particular project centers on the home's craftsman style kitchen, which has been undergoing gradual renovation over the last seven years or so.

The couple began their restoration process after ripping out a 1960's era kitchen. They've lovingly restored all the interior oak trim and moldings, and chosen to install a striking tin ceiling above the hand stripped oak cabinets.

Despite the painstaking beauty of their work, there are still two items of unfinished business. For one, an unsightly gap remains between the plaster walls and the tin ceiling (figure A). Also, the trim has been removed around two transoms (figure B), one of which contains an air conditioner. Our plan is to solve these problems by helping choose, prep, and install a decorative tin cornice around the entire room. We also address both homeowners' concerns by putting back the molding around the transoms and two door jambs.

Figure A

Figure B

Also in the kitchen are two walls whose ends have not been completed. Although one of them has been finished out with tile and plaster, there is no facing or trim at the wall's end--just an abrupt end (figures C and D). We study other moldings throughout the house and settle on a similar style for facing the wall end. To prepare for that installation, we demonstrate how to cut already installed tile in order to make room for the wood moldings.

Figure C

Figure D

	The unfinished wall, before casing and trim are added.

With their highly decorative ceiling complete, their transoms properly trimmed out, and the wall ends finished, Restoration Realities will leave Stephanie and Jim with the satisfaction that this kitchen will be a place to create many a finished meal in a fine historic style.

Tools and materials (for both projects):

table saw
compound miter saw
thickness planer
portable tile saw
pneumatic finish nailer
air compressor and hoses
extension cords
hammer
cold chisels
ladders
sawhorses
painters tape
interior latex caulking
interior oil based primer
finish paint
rags
finish nails for the senco pneumatic finish nailer
tim crown molding
acid wash
metal primer & paint
screws
eye protection
respirator mask

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