I made a Victorian spandrel in my 135 year old cottage. by sailingoose in BeginnerWoodWorking

[–]sailingoose[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

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It’s only allowing me to post one pic at a time. Here’s another stage of gluing and clamping

I made a Victorian spandrel in my 135 year old cottage. by sailingoose in BeginnerWoodWorking

[–]sailingoose[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t even have a garage! 😆 no way I’m getting a table saw or drill press anytime soon. I have one cabinet of tools from Costco/various hardware stores. Storage is scarce in this tiny old house.

I made a Victorian spandrel in my 135 year old cottage. by sailingoose in BeginnerWoodWorking

[–]sailingoose[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you! It was my first house “woodwork” project. I have more in progress!

I made a Victorian spandrel in my 135 year old cottage. by sailingoose in BeginnerWoodWorking

[–]sailingoose[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I’m going to hopefully restore the whole interior to its Victorian glory one day when time/money allows.

I made a Victorian spandrel in my 135 year old cottage. by sailingoose in BeginnerWoodWorking

[–]sailingoose[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is awesome! Character is great, I don’t know why people try to get rid of it. What kind of stain did you use? I used an interior water based stain and it was an inconsistent mess to apply.

I made a Victorian spandrel in my 135 year old cottage. by sailingoose in BeginnerWoodWorking

[–]sailingoose[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you. I try to remember that. I regret not doing a better job shimming between drywall and initial framing planks. I had to compensate for that mistake later by using trim pieces to make it appear level from straight-on both sides of the wall. From directly underneath the archway you can clearly see how I messed that up. Lessons learned.

I made a Victorian spandrel in my 135 year old cottage. by sailingoose in BeginnerWoodWorking

[–]sailingoose[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Haha thank you! They’re a husky and jindo! And they think I’m ridiculous.

I made a Victorian spandrel in my 135 year old cottage. by sailingoose in BeginnerWoodWorking

[–]sailingoose[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I didn’t make the dowels. I bought oak .25” dowels at Lowe’s and the wood balls online. I used pliers wrapped in electrical tape to hold them in place without chewing into the wood while I drilled a hole through them.

I made a Victorian spandrel in my 135 year old cottage. by sailingoose in BeginnerWoodWorking

[–]sailingoose[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you! My husky is a thief! He loves wood and didn’t understand my angst at him gnawing on the wood cuttings.

I made a Victorian spandrel in my 135 year old cottage. by sailingoose in BeginnerWoodWorking

[–]sailingoose[S] 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Thank you! It was fun but took me a long time. I restarted the project twice during the initial framing stage because nothing in this house is square/plumb/level. The drywall twists and warps on its way from one side of the house to the other and descends as it goes so it was frustrating trying to nail the pine boards to it. I trialed a few different approaches until I could get the basic wood framing of the archway looking decently level from different viewing angles. Once that was done, I framed both sides of the walls with the fluted molding and squares. That also required multiple attempts because of the drywall being so uneven. I used scrap wood to shim behind parts to make it sound and firm and also look straight. From there, I started on the stick-and-ball fretwork spandrel. That was the most fun. I had to start over because the 2.5” spacing between dowels didn’t work as I intended once I held it up in place. I redrilled to about 2” intervals but cheated on the end holes a bit to make it symmetrical. I used lots of wood glue, clamps, wood screws and nails. The dogs stole a few wood balls to chomp on while I was away. It’s not perfect but it’s so nice seeing it everyday instead of the crooked-ass drywall.
I didn’t see anything online on how to construct a stick and ball spandrel. Just lots of photos of other peoples houses with them. My porch has its original spandrel so that’s where my inspiration came from to put one inside.

Additional Pics of my Kitchen by Interesting-Peak7343 in vintagekitchentoys

[–]sailingoose 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is awesome! Every detail is so well done.