My daughter's room is being redone. Pretty much a "farm / barn" style. Lots of earth tones and dark wood - all chosen by my daughter. The window treatment which is the subject of this project is a fancy trim project followed by new window shades and shutters. I also included a top valance to hold the shades, allow display items above the window and to add some more interest to the windows. There are two windows and each received identical treatment.

Window Sill Handle Detail

New bottom window sill pieces were made first. The old ones were 3/4 boards before. I wanted it "heavier" and used 2 x 6 boards. This added depth created a problem with the window handles. I then had to cut out an area for them to reside in. Once I figured that out I figured out an attractive way to do such, I rounded my cuts and then routed those edges round. Turned out fantastic and a really nice extra touch which was not even to be part of the original design. Basically one of those great mistakes / problems which turns out better than if it never had occurred. The mounting of that bottom sill to the house frame - I used some very large screws. Very strong, but un-attractive. So ... I counter sunk those and then added wood plugs which were stained and finished to match the rest of the trim.

Inside & Side Trim and Window Sill on One Window

Before, the window were simply windows, no framing but did have a simple "shelf" board at the bottom. I removed that to begin with. Then, all the inside window area (previously just drywall) was covered with our pine stained very dark. Then, front facings of pine were added. Those front facings were then encased with a small, slightly protruding trim pieces.

Once I had the bottom sill, inside and side framing in place I made the top window valance. I played with some styles of trim looking for a simple but attractive and appropriate look for the room. I ended up with a couple of layers of trim but still a simple look.

The valance was a visual upgrade and had a purpose. Before the windows had simple, cheap pull down shades. Our new windows have pull down shades also. Before the shades were mounted to the inside drywall - common. Now, I made the valance to include the shade mounts. Worked out great. Conceals the shades when they are all the way up. Also, the valances have a board on the tops to hold "things" - a shelf up there in other words.

Next I made the bottom trim below the window sills which mimics the left and right trim. Some additional trim was added to the bottom area under the sill to dress that up.

The shutters. The whole project was begun with the concept of some shutter windows. The shutters coverer the bottom half of the windows. The top half is the pull down shades. The style of the shutters are kind of a "barn" look. Vertical pine boards which are composed of four panels - two on each side (per window). They are hinged in the middle to open within the constraints of the available space besides the windows (limited). The middle hindges hold the two pieces together which fold like an accordian or "cafe" style window. The in-room side of these shutters have horizontal trim boards on top and bottom, all of which becomes an old barn door looking shutter.

1st Shutter Hinges:
No surprise here, my first attempt failed. I new I was entering deep water making these shutters. I could find nothing like what I wanted and had to make something up. At first (cheap me, to save money) I had one hinge on each set of shutter panels to "lock" the position - open, closed and folded. Those hinges are great - and worked. But, I put one of those in the center and then added two normal hinges, one above and one below to give the shutter action plenty of support. Well ... it didn't work. The fancy expensive hinges did their job but they create a rather large gap when folded. The normal hinges did not. This created a mess with the wood bowing in and out. I couldn't figure it out for a while. I thought I had the hinges in the wrong places and kept moving them (See bad photo 3 below). I finally figured out I had the wrong idea. One of those "what was I thinking" deals. Result: bought four more of the "good" hinges and used those only. That works great.

Bad Hinges on First Shutter Attempt Photos
Bad Hinges Photo 1		Bad Hinges Photo 2		Bad Hinges Photo 3

2nd Set of Shutter Panels:
Getting going on the second shutters, I glued the panels and trimmed everything to general size. As always, hardware was installed and the shutters hung to see if fit was right before proceeding with final sanding and finishing. On the second set, got everything in place, one piece at a time and then at the end, on the fourth panel I measured wrong (boy I did some dumb moves on this project) and cut the last panel too narrow. Discard that panel, make a new one, cut carefully and correctly and I was back on track.