Picture Frame Moulding: Installation

This is part 2 of my posts on how to install picture frame moulding. Be sure to start with part 1 here!

Supplies

Wood glue – I prefer Gorilla

Miter clamps

Level

Rigid measuring stick

Nail gun

Nail punch

Hammer

Something to measure with (straight board, ruler, measuring tape, etc) and pencil

Dremel Multi Max – if need to trim around obstacles

Wood Filler

Sanding sponge

Installation

Finally, after all the planning, prep, painting, and cutting, it’s time to nail a board to some drywall. To get started, I lay out all of my boards around the room where they will be installed. You may want to start on a small wall or a wall with only 1 rectangle if you have one.

The first few times I laid this trim, I drew lines on the wall. I then realized this was unnecessary (and a pain to fix if you make a mistake!) Now, I simply mark a starting corner.

I grabbed a straight 1×4 that is a true 3 1/2″ wide (measure first, you can never be sure!). I made sure it had a square cut on the end. I then marked down 3 1/2″ on all sides. This will both act as a spacer and measure your starting corners.

After pushing the spacer against the adjoining wall or trim, I make the corner mark. I personally prefer to start with the left or top boards.

After you’ve marked your corner, place some glue on the back of your trim, place the tip of the miter at the corner and either push it flush with the spacer (below left), or use a level to be sure it’s straight (below right). Once in position, use a nailer to nail the trim to the wall.

I use 2″ brad nails and do not worry about finding studs. The trim is light, and along with the glue and caulk, they will be just fine. Honestly, you may not even need glue. If you are worried, you can vary the angles at which you nail in the brads to help provide additional strength.

Second Side

Once my first board is up, I move to the next one. If you have cut good miters, the board will practically place itself once the miter is lined up. Line up the miter, check for level, and nail in. Sometimes, I use miter clamps (see pics below), sometimes not if it’s tight and it’s laying well. You may wish to glue the miter joint also.

Once the top and left side boards are on, I place the bottom board, but only nail it halfway from left to right. This will give some flexibility as I close out the rectangle to allow for the last corner to line up.

I place the last board and only nail at the top. You can see below in both examples that the last corner is open a bit because I haven’t nailed the bottom board all the way across.

At that point, I can pull the corner tight, clamp if desired, and finish nailing in the 3rd and 4th sides.

Dealing with Obstacles

Outlets and switches may not be pretty, but they are a necessary evil. There are several ways to deal with them:

1. If you area lucky, you could lay your trim at a height or in a spot that avoids them altogether! But most likely, that won’t be the case for everything.
2. If you run straight into the outlet, dead end each side right at the outlet cover. You can also cut an angle at the end just a it if the trim projects father than the outlet cover, which is typical.
3. You could actually trim around the outlet itself, but I feel this draws more attention to it. And let’s be honest… if you are able to do that cleanly, you probably don’t need this post 😉
4. I had a piece where I needed to cut a notch in the trim to fit under the outlet. I used my Dremel multimax to cut out the piece.
5. You may not mind the trim projecting out farther than the outlet, but another way to deal with it is changing out the outlet covers. I added new outlet covers with a square edge so that I could dead end into the cover and not see the end of the trim. These covers are also paintable, which allowed the outlet to blend in even more.

Finishing

The thing I love about this project is that it’s relatively forgiving in terms of trim work. By not fully attaching the 3rd and 4th pieces until that final corner can be pulled together, you allow yourself the ability to have a clean rectangle. And, with the addition of caulk and paint, your joints will look fantastic!

Start by addressing your nail holes. If you have any nail heads that are flush with the surface of the trim or slightly raised, you need to tap them in to be sure your nail filler will be able to have a place to bond and be sanded down. Use a nail hole punch like the one below to seat the nails into the trim without damaging the trim itself.

Use wood filler to fill in nail holes and any potential gaps in the corner joints. Once the wood filler is dry, sand it down with a sanding sponge.

Be sure all sanding is complete before caulking. Vacuum the dust, run a tack cloth over the trim and then caulk all the way around each rectangle. This might be my favorite part and I’ll admit, I used to avoid caulking at all costs. But now it’s clicked for me and I’ve gotten the hang of it.

The key is to not use too much caulk or pressure. Now I love caulking to make the job look clean and professional. I’ll share my tips in another post, and you can check out my video on caulking here.

After caulking, do a final coat or just touch up over the caulk and nail holes. Then step back, admire your work, and figure out the next spot in your house to trim out!

And be sure to check out my video on part 2 below:

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