Faux Beam Casing

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We had this boring hallway in our house, but I knew it could be something more. I saw this inspo pic on Pinterest and knew I wanted to add that to this hall to add character.

I started by cutting the common board I bought at a 45° with my miter saw on one end and then took it inside to mark where to cut it. If I did this again I’d just bring it inside to measure first and then cut the angle. But I was super new to this kind of thing back then, still learning.

I then mitered the one inside edge at a 45° with my table saw as well to make this look like a more realistic beam.

I measured and removed the amount of baseboard needed to let this beam sit flush against the wall. I used my multi tool to trim the baseboard without having to remove the whole piece and reinstall.

I took the wood outside, distressed it using a wire brush, a hammer and my jigsaw (I don’t have any photos of this process, you can get creative with it). And then stained it in Early American before installing. I figured it would be easier to do this outside as opposed to once it was already installed. I secured the wood to the wall with wood glue and a brad nailer.

Look how perfect it looks with the baseboard! I plan to caulk any gap there may be.

I did run into a problem I didn’t think about with the next board. The light switch was in the way and I’m not great with electrical and Tyler had no interest in moving the switch. So I ended up just cutting the light switch cover instead of moving it. It’s been over 2 years since I did this and that switch still doesn’t bother me. It’s on the inside of the hallway so you can’t see it unless you are coming out of the guest room or guest bath.

I continued with the rest of the boards, I used 1×6 boards for the front and backs and 1×8 boards for the middle that I had to rip down to the exact size needed, which left a good size gap because I was new to doing 45° cuts on longer boards and the walls weren’t perfectly straight (they never are!).

But this was nothing wood filler couldn’t take care of. I just wood filled the seams, let it dry and stained it and you can barely tell!

Here’s a video on the process with a VoiceOver explaining the details.

If I were to do this project again, I’d probably try to assemble the beams before installing them. I’d do the top one first, then the sides. That way the gaps on the 45° cuts would be closed better. But I still think it turned out pretty great! It’s still one of my favorite features in this house that I’ve done!