Instructions for DIY Ornate Pilasters and Door Surrounds

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A Detailed House, appliques, architectural detail, Crown molding, Crown moulding, Dining room, diy, Do it yourself, Door, Door surround, fluted, fluted pilasters, frieze, home improvement, ionic, ionic cap, molding, Moulding, pilaster, pilasters, Renovation

Supplementing my post about our dining room pilasters, here is the break down and the instructions for the door surrounds. The material list below is what we used, but (of course!) adjust to your taste, architecture and level of complexity with which you are comfortable. Also, we have 8′ tall doors, which aren’t the norm, so please make sure to measure your doors prior to buying any materials or “ready-made” door pilaster kits.

DIY Ornate Door Pilasters

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A Detailed House, Crown molding, Crown moulding, Dining room, Door, Door header, Door surround, Doors, Dramatic doors, egg and dart molding, fluted pilasters, Home and Garden, home improvement, Ionic order, mantle, Moulding, pilaster

After we did our kitchen door pilasters, which were actually more difficult and our first time attempting door surrounds, we felt we had the hang of it. So you can imagine what crossed my mind. Yep, let’s rip them all down! Great idea, right? It was…until children came along and threw a wrench in my grandiose plans of custom molding everywhere! I think my husband thought the children would be less work, but they suck up more energy than all my projects combined 😉

We have gradually managed to address a few, one being the dining room pilasters:

All I Need Is 8 Fewer Eyes and 4 Head(er)s

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A Detailed House, Columns, home, molding, Moulding, pilaster, pilasters, Roman Corinthian, Split columns

My pilaster project is coming along nicely and all that is missing is the header. Our local home improvement store discontinued a whole line of molding that I really liked, which really put a damper on things!

OCD Eye Candy – aka Keeping Kitchen Clutter at Bay

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Atticmag, Bilotta, Build.com, cabinet, container store, Habitat for Humanity, Home Depot, kitchen, Kitchen cabinet, kitchen clutter solutions, kitchen island, kitchen storage, paint, pilaster, ReStore, Wood-mode

My mother used to say, “Everything has a home and a place.” This is a great philosophy in theory. She, however, did not have my two little ones going behind her taking everything out! My point is, storage solutions need to be easy in order to be ongoing. Otherwise, it was a nice idea that lasted a month or so.

Adding bottom cabinets to your pantry is a nice idea and I believe in making every space attractive. However, I would probably go to Home Depot and get stock cabinets, instead of incurring the cost of the higher quality kitchen cabinets for a pantry. OR there are building “left-over” stores and nonprofits, like Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore that run building supply depots.

I also have to comment on the curved cabinet of the kitchen island! I have never seen a cabinet that has a bow before! Gorgeous!! Via AtticMag

Taking Plain, Stock Kitchen Cabinets and Making Them Look Custom…and Expensive

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Adding molding to kitchen cabinets, architecture, Business, cabinet, Crown molding, Custom cabinets, Customizing kitchen cabinets, diy, Home Depot, kitchen, Kitchen cabinet, Making kitchen cabinets look custom, making stock cabinets look custom, Making stock kitchen cabinets look amazing, Making stock kitchen cabinets look custom, Making stock kitchen cabinets look designer, molding, paint, pilaster, Plain cabinets to fancy

Unless you are willing to shell out oodles of money (and I’m talking $100k +) for a custom kitchen, you need to work with stock cabinets. But, all is not lost – there are many ways to make them look custom and take them beyond what is the norm. Since I adore historic homes, I had decided upon 12′ ceilings.

At one point in my kitchen design, I had thought about stacking smaller, glass-front cabinets on top (which I still think would look great) but my mother talked me out of it.

(Note to any and everyone: it’s hard enough determining your own likes and style…involving another, ESPECIALLY your mother, makes decisions become painful. She will invariably insert her opinion in everything, like it or not, and it seeps into your brain, making you second guess every decision.)

This is what I envisioned:

Between the ceilings and the cabinets left a great disparity – not so great that I was alarmed, because I knew I had huge copper kettles that I could finally display, but it was noticeable and the scale wasn’t quite right. They simply must be adjusted and customized. My absolute favorite solution: let’s put molding on top! No, let’s put a LOT of molding on top!