Colonial moldings-long and whiny

[Ben Grunow]

I am looking to trim my house in such a way that it looks like an antique colonial. I have several books on housing styles and many photos of interiors but I'm looking for a source of mouldings from pre 1850's houses (New England colonials). I have lumber yard profile books and even Center Lumber's (in NJ) profile drawings (about 50 pages 24" x 36" with as many profiles as will fit on a page) but the abundance of choices leads to selecting moldings that are not in keeping with my desire for true antique character. I have to trim my 2nd and 3rd floors with the rest of the house to come when I get done upstairs.

I know I should be able to pick from what I have but if there are any Creekers out there who live in true antiques, I would love to see your interiors.

The right combination of moldings is what makes the interior of a house. An antique will have detail where it counts and simplicity where it doesnt so I need to come up with a complete trim package that is simple but elegant. Can anyone offer any help?

[John Timberlake]

If you have a piece of molding you want to reproduce, get a set of knive cut by a local show that runs molding. The cost is a little high, but small per foot of molding if you are doing two floors. As far as examples, I can't help.

[Ernie Hobbs]

Ben:

The last time I visited my Mom and Dad in NC, I took some pictures of the houses. They have about 20 pre-civil-war buildings, some of which are fully restored for guests and a restaurant. The buildings that I have taken pictures of are below:

Pratt House, c. 1760
Bennetts Creek House, c. 1750
Flat Branch House, c. 1720
Bear Swamp House, c. 1837
Beechtree Inn Restaurant, c. 1847

The pictures of the interiors can be seen at this link (most of the pictures were of furniture but, you see the moldings and walls behind them):

http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...0Inn%20Houses/

[David Durgy]

Bob. Look where you live. You're in the middle of Colonial America. Every town up and down I-95, the Merritt Parkway, and Route 7 has a Historical Society probably loaded with old photos. I'm in the historical district of Stratford and the markers on the houses are from the 1600 and 1700's. Pick up the paper or go online to see house listings and go to the open houses of the older ones and bring a camera. Years ago when I worked at Rings End in Darien they had a mill shop and ran custom moulding. Don't know if they still do.

[Mac McAtee]

Ernie,
Where is this place? Eastern part of the state? All those houses on one piece of property? All the furniture antique or some reproductions?

There is a photo of a side board with a small chest with bun feet on it. I looked for a detail photo of that chest and couldn't find one, do you have one?

I sure would love to see this stuff in person.
Regards,
Mac
Oak Ridge, NC

[tod evans]

ben, sorry no photos.....most modest homes built in that period used site made mouldings, so depending on which carpenter(s) where involved the selection of planes was generally limited. hollows-n-rounds where standard fare and an occasional ogee wasn`t uncommon. how these mouldings where combined depended entirely on the carpenter and or the homeowners pocketbook. 2-3 piece baseboards, backbanding for casing and single or multi-piece chair rail where used in some of the more elaborate homes. plate rails where seen from time to time as well as built-up heads and several piece sills/aprons, if a house exibited crown moulding it was rare for it to not be made of plaster.
for reproduction today you`ll need to decide if the house you`re working on would have been grand enough to support any of the finer mouldings of the day and if so to what scale? most simple moulding cuts used can be reproduced either with a shaper and off the shelf tooling or with a williams-n-hussey and ground to spec tooling. the thin, off the shelf mouldings stocked by lumberyards won`t fit the bill at all. spend some time studying wooden bodied planes of the era and area to get a feel for what was available. the local libraries may have pictures or drawings you could study?
maybe lou sansone will chime in as i know he`s interested in homes of this period? good luck and take your time researching. if i can offer advice on reproducing something using todays equipment and tooling just ask....02 tod

[Ernie Hobbs]

Ernie,
Where is this place? Eastern part of the state? All those houses on one piece of property? All the furniture antique or some reproductions?

There is a photo of a side board with a small chest with bun feet on it. I looked for a detail photo of that chest and couldn't find one, do you have one?

I sure would love to see this stuff in person.
Regards,
Mac
Oak Ridge, NC

Mac:

The location is near Hertford, NC (which is between Elizabeth City and Edenton) in the Northeast corner of the state. Check out:
http://www.hobbsfurniture.com and http://www.beechtreeinn.net for more info.

[Ben Grunow]

Ernie- Those houses are from the era that I'm after but maybe just a little too simple. Thanks for the reply and cool pics though.

David- Rings End is about 2 miles form my house and all of my lumber comes from there and yes they still have custom milling available but I have to know what I want first.

Tod- You hit the nail on the head. Those are all the things I have in the backof my head as my search begins. I guess I was just hoping for someone to show me a few pics or give me link to make it all easy.

I want to finish my house so that in 100 years (if the terrorists haven't nuked it/us) people will see an interior that was carefully and tastefully done to be timeless. This is going to be fun but difficult to plan. I think I will visit the historical society and some old homes. I think seeing moldings together is important so the "feel" gets a chance to sink in. Oh well, thanks for everything.