Hi guys, long time no see! I hope y’all are having a great summer. We are consumed by work once again and our hope for a slow summer did not work out. Instead, someone else is enjoying the summer days for us, roaming around our garden:

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They are actually two different cottontail rabbits. One of them lives under our raspberry bushes, and we are pretty sure that the other one lives behind the shed in the firewood pile. We often see one eating grass on the backyard lawn. But occasionally, we catch them side by side chilling, eating, or even playing together.

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Despite us being very busy, we did manage to finish the main floor bathroom. After installing the tiles, we painted the ceiling and walls,  and Slav installed the lights and outlet in the bathroom. Then, the shower door was installed, and the plumber came and installed all the fixtures. The very last task to wrap up the bathroom renovation was trimming the pocket door.

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Door jamb installation

Prior to installing the pocket door, the door jambs and trims were completely taken down, leaving exposed drywall on the hallway side.

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Since this was our first attempt trimming a pocket door, we purchased a pocket door jamb kit to make the job easier:

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The kit includes a door jamb, a pair of split jamb, and a pair of top trim.

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As per instructions, the door jamb to which the pocket door would be closed against was installed first.

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Then, the split jambs were cut to length and nailed to either side of the pocket door.

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Lastly, the the top trim pieces were cut to length and nailed on to fill the gap between the two door jambs.

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This was the look from the bathroom. We had painted the walls around the doorway prior to the installation.

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Trimming the doorway

After the door jambs were installed, the trim pieces were cut and nailed around the doorway. For the bathroom side of the doorway, we picked a rather simple style of trim.

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Then a piece of baseboard was cut to fill the gap between the tiled wall and the door trim. This baseboard is identical to the ones we installed throughout the basement.

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For the hallway side, we used the same trim installed around the office opening, which is wider and more decorative.

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Patching, Sanding, and painting

Having finished installing the jamb and trim, the pocket door was adjusted to ensure that it was centered between the split door jambs, traveled smoothly, and closed tightly to the door jamb.

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Then, it was time to patch the nail holes with wood filler, caulk the gaps, and paint!

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By the end of a long weekend, we finished trimming the pocket door, which completed the bathroom renovation – what a moment!

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Upgrading the front door trim

However, the trim work did not stop there. Since we had the chop saw and nail gun out, we decided to replace the front door trim too.

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The old door trim around the front door was there when we bought the house. The same trim was installed around all the doors. Since then, we have replaced most of the door trims in the house, and the old trim was now only around the front door, and two small closets.

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Technically, the old door trim had nothing wrong with them, but it was fairly narrow considering the size of the door. Importantly, the front door is right next to the office doorway. The mismatching trims looked a bit odd.

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The old trim was cut away from the wall. It turned out to be the biggest part of this trim work because it was held down by layers of paint and caulking.

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Some caulking remained even after the old trim was peeled off the wall. It had to be scraped off with a razor.

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Since this is an exterior door, all the gaps were filled with the Great stuff.

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After the Great stuff was completely cured, we cut away the excess and touch-painted the wall around the doorway.

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And now, our old front door was ready for its new trim!

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And the new trim there came!

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Next, the gaps were caulked and the nail holes were filled with the wood filler. two coats of Behr Ultra Pure White in semi-gloss, the same paint we used on all of trims and baseboards finished the front door trim work.

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Finally, no more mismatching trims!

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And this is the view from the house now:

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Compared to the old trim (pictured below), the scale of the new trim is more appropriate for the size of the front door.

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Now the main floor bathroom is complete, I cannot wait to show you the pictures. We are so proud of all the finishes we picked for the bathroom, and I think it was stunning! Stay tuned!