Can you match trim that is no longer sold?

Yes — that is the normal situation in a house this age and it is most of what we do here. We take a clean sample of the existing profile, set up knives to match it, and mill new stock in the same section. A repair or an addition then reads as original rather than as a patch. It costs more than buying stock trim and it is the only way to make the join invisible.

Should I strip the paint off my original woodwork?

Usually not, and we will say so even though stripping is billable work. Farmhouse trim of this era was generally made from paint-grade softwood and was painted from new, so stripping it rarely reveals the hardwood people are hoping for and often raises the grain. Where the underlying wood genuinely is worth showing we will tell you. In most Richmond farmhouses the honest answer is careful preparation and a good repaint.

Richmond, Macomb County, MI

Crown & Trim in Richmond, MI

Name: Maceri Woodworking
Address: 33628 Bayview Dr, Chesterfield, MI, 48047, US
Telephone: (586) 823-2887
Price range: $$

Original Richmond farmhouse trim is wide, flat, square-edged and painted — usually a five or six inch casing with a simple backband, a tall plain baseboard, and plinth blocks at the door bottoms. It is plainer than Victorian millwork and it is not the same thing, which is where most trim work in these houses goes wrong.

The common failure is replacing damaged farmhouse trim with whatever ornate profile the lumberyard stocks, which leaves a room with two different centuries in it. What we do instead is match: take a clean length of the original off an inconspicuous wall, mill the profile, and run the new work in the same section so a repair or an extension disappears. That matters most where a house has been added onto, which in Richmond is nearly all of them — the join between the original structure and a later kitchen or bedroom is usually visible precisely because the trim changed. Where the original is gone entirely, we build in the correct register rather than inventing: flat stock, square edges, generous width, plinth and corner blocks where the house would have had them. Old farmhouses also give us the two jobs newer houses never need — deep window returns and stools on tall narrow openings, and rebuilding the back stair and hall trim in the service half of the house, which was always plainer than the front and should stay that way.

We mill matching profiles at our Chesterfield shop from a sample of your original. Bring us a piece or we will take one at the measure, and we will show you the milled sample against the existing before we run the whole job.

Richmond is a straight run north from our Chesterfield shop up M-19, close enough that we work there regularly.

Crown & Trim questions from Richmond homeowners

Can you match trim that is no longer sold?: Yes — that is the normal situation in a house this age and it is most of what we do here. We take a clean sample of the existing profile, set up knives to match it, and mill new stock in the same section. A repair or an addition then reads as original rather than as a patch. It costs more than buying stock trim and it is the only way to make the join invisible.
Should I strip the paint off my original woodwork?: Usually not, and we will say so even though stripping is billable work. Farmhouse trim of this era was generally made from paint-grade softwood and was painted from new, so stripping it rarely reveals the hardwood people are hoping for and often raises the grain. Where the underlying wood genuinely is worth showing we will tell you. In most Richmond farmhouses the honest answer is careful preparation and a good repaint.