The scope of work for this project included transforming this basement rec-room with one large open area into 3 areas, an office with double doors, a walk-in closet for storage, and the existing central media room.

In order to achieve this result two new interior partition walls needed to be constructed. A set of bi-fold doors was hung in one opening for the closet, and a set of double doors with ball catches was hung in the other. Both walls were hung with drywall and made paint ready so that when they were finished they will blend in seamlessly with the existing walls… and look like they were always there. Then they need to be trimmed out to match all the existing moulding in the media room, which was plentiful! There was a wallbase, door casing, a chair rail, a crown, and fancy picture frame wainscoting (that you might notice the clients opted to match at a later date.)

This project included both rough carpentry for framing of the walls and making rough openings for the doors, as well as lots of finished carpentry work on closet hardware, doors, and the trim. It also included a fair amount of drywall work to blend the new walls into the existing walls.

In this section you can see the how the project moved through the different stages of construction. With each major phase or ” STEP” I like to include a gallery, as well as some description of the processes and challenges in that particular part of project.

Design and layout are a critical element of any project with multiple disciplines or trades involved. For this project the exact position of the exterior planes (surface) of the finished walls were critical to the overall project and creating that “like it was always there” effect. With all the trim already on the wall I made very careful marking and plunge cut into the trim in the exact locations where i wanted the finished surface of the wall to be.

PRO-TIP #1 – Using painters tape to protect the surfaces around the cuts ensures that I don’t have any unnecessary touch up work when the project is completed.

The framing part of the job was certainly the fastest. In this project, with all the marks on the walls from cutting into the trim the walls went up very quickly. So quick that I didn’t stop to take a picture until they were halfway covered in drywall!

The next step of this project was to hang and tape, or join the drywall panels at the seams. Then to apply compound to finish the joints and flatten them out so that they become imperceptible to the naked eye. With each side of the two walls (4 sides) needing tape at the joints with the existing walls and the ceilings, there was quite a bit of time spent applying the compound. I typically use a flat knife to shave off high point in between coats to avoid sanding until the third and final coating of compound has been applied.

The final step in this project was to case and hang the doors, install closet hardware, and trim out the drywall to match the existing trim. Custom closet door casing were made with primed pine 1x5s and door stop. All new 30 inch 6 panel masonite doors were hung in each opening. Pull knobs and door handles, as well as a double ball catch for the double doors to the office were installed.

Once the doors were set it was time to install wallbase, case the openings and bring in the chair rail and crown moulding. With a technique known to carpenters as Coping, I married the existing pieces of moulding to new ones, and after caulk and filler they are ready to be painted and blend in like they were always there!