D.I.Y.

DIY Window Trim

By

This mudroom makeover is taking far longer and is far more expensive than I thought it would be. Says everyone who is doing a home renovation. The nice part about DIYs is that your additional cost is only the cost of your materials. Given most people aren’t billing themselves out for their at-home efforts. Just trying to be a ray of sunshine as I justify this. Anyways, my latest update in the mudroom is all about this DIY window trim.

We all know that I intend to shiplap my mudroom. At first, I thought I would only do one big long wall – the one that’s across from the bench. Naturally, after giving it much thought, I decided that I should wrap these pieces around to the window side. One problem – the window was untrimmed and would look mighty odd with the shiplap coming around it without any sort of border.

So, that is how my need to figure how to DIY my own window trim came about. You can do it too – it’s totally a bigger project (provided you don’t need to replace the sill – and if you do, I would suggest checking out an article from Hunker, here.

Sharing Samantha Potter's DIY Window Trim around the window in her mudroom. It is unpainted and not filled and sanded, yet. Next to a bench with a blue cushion on it and a decorative pillow. Samantha is standing in front of the window smiling.

Why I Wanted Window Trim

This one is simple. I wanted window trim because, without it, a seemingly complete space would still look incomplete. You can have a peek at what I mean in the before and after of the window trim below.

Even knowing this, I debated and debated the window trim for a while because of a little problem I had – the window sill wasn’t quite long enough, but also did exist and got in the way of how I wanted to trim my window. Luckily, my IG community came to the rescue and suggested that I cut out the piece extending out (also pictured below) and then frame around the window as if there wasn’t a sill. It was the best solution as I really didn’t want to rip that sill out.

Sharing Samantha Potter's DIY Window Trim around the window in her mudroom. It is unpainted and not filled and sanded, yet. Next to a bench with a blue cushion on it and a decorative pillow.

DIY Your Window Trim

Materials You Need:

+ Pre-primed pine or MDF trim (mine was 1/2″ x 3 1/4″ MDF baseboard trim). To determine how much you need, you will need a window measurement (length and width of your window – x2)
+ 2.5-inch nails
+ Liquid glue
+ Wood filler
+ 220 grit sanding block
+ Caulk
+ Pant + paintbrush

Tools You Need:

+ Mitre saw
+ Nail Gun
+ Caulking Gun
+ Carpenter’s Triangle
+ Stud Finder

Samantha sharing how to DIY window trim - this is the before. The window is not trimed and has a sill that is too long
Samantha teaching how to do DIY window trim and sharing her inital problem of the trim coming too far out for the window frame.
Sharing Samantha Potter's DIY Window Trim around the window in her mudroom. It is unpainted and not filled and sanded, yet. Next to a bench with a blue cushion on it and a decorative pillow.

Instructions:

  1. Set your mitre saw to a 45-degree angle. Like in my modern board and batten tutorial, I opted for mitred corners for this window trim to make it look as clean as possible. When making your cuts, you will need to make sure you have two short edges on the same side and two long edges on the same side. 
  2. Measure the bottom of your window (under the sill, if you have one) from the interior edge of the left side of the window to the interior right side of the window. Mark the length on your trim. This is going to be your short measurement, so make sure you’re leaving enough room for another 3ish inches on either side. 
  3. Line up one side of your carpenter’s triangle to your measurement and have the hypotenuse of the carpenter’s triangle angled out (to the “extra” board, not towards the middle) and draw a 45 degree angled line. Repeat on the other side of the trim. Check your trim and make sure it fits properly.
  4. Using your caulking gun, add liquid nails to the back of the trim and carefully place the trim on the correct spot on the wall. Using your stud finder, find a stud in the towards the middle of the board and staple the board in. Now you don’t need to hold the board and can find the additional studs and staple it as you go. 
  5. Repeat steps 2-4 for your next pieces. Make sure you measure from the edge of your last cut piece so everything lines up perfectly. And don’t forget always to check your cuts before you glue the trim on.
  6. Once your window is trimmed up, fill with wood filler, let dry, and sand it down. The rule of thumb is wood to wood, fill with wood filler. Wood to something else (e.g. drywall), caulk it. 
  7. Caulk the trim where appropriate. 
  8. Paint the colour you want. 
  9. Enjoy your beautifully trimmed window!
Sharing Samantha Potter's DIY Window Trim around the window in her mudroom. It is unpainted and not filled and sanded, yet. Next to a bench with a blue cushion on it and a decorative pillow.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *