Rosette Drama

The Victorian "rosette" is a signature element in the multi-level door and window frames that give the Victorian it's Queen Anne feeling.

Our "Queen" has equally challenging "feet" as it does "crowns".  Can you see the 5 pieces that make up this base board? Including the plinth blocks, base molding and base cap. Look how closely the Base cap and Plinth block cap resemble each other.

I was gone when the first set of top moldings were tacked up. Upon my arrival, and after much discussion, we decided we needed to try a different look. It was too flat, uni-dimensional and not in keeping with the many layered look of the Victorian. This is our final decision, a four piece molding with a wide window sill. Though it is hard to distinguish in the photo. The top is a 3/4 inch quarter round, then the 3.5 inch bulls-eye rosette, smaller than the 4.5 inch we had originally selected, but larger than the 3-inch bulls eye that just didn't seem to have enough umph!

The original windows also hold a delight of layers, textures.

The base moldings along with the plinths  flow together to make a very pleasing look. The acorn, corner block finishes the look. This simple door enclosure is a lot harder to reconstruct then it looks.

Before the Make-over.

The four top pieces of the molding include: Quarter round, rosette, 1/2 sized O-G molding, pleated window frame.

Dining room windows get dressed with sills and molding will be added below the sill to recreate the above photo of the original windows.  It took a full day to put sills, molding and complete one full window.

Rosette drama. The one on the far left is original and our aim is to imitate it as confidently as we can. The second from left is the 5 " rosette selected for all of the locations that are large enough to manage a 5-inch frame. It is not an exact duplicate of the original bulls eye, but  dimensions and thickness are perfect. The next two small rosettes inline (4 inch and 3 inch) were considered for the upper corners of the small molding areas, but both were voted off due to issues with depth (too shallow) or too little dimension in the carving. 

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The left window is complete with the sill, 3.5 inch rosette, moldings and everything except a coat of primer. We are waiting for the shipment of 3.5 inch rosettes so this can be finished up.

The dining room windows are getting dressed-out with sills, moldings and 5-inch rosettes. The wood pieces for the top molding and the quarter round haven't arrived. A hard day for everyone. Too many rosettes and plinths, not enough molding and quarter round. The people who had the patience to construct these windows in the first place either had lots of time or were paid lots of money. As my contractor says, "These houses have so much wood, hard work and sweat represented in the details".

Boxes of plinths.

Large rosettes

Original rosettes. It has become my job to organize, count, sort and categorize the rosettes. 

First baseboards are in, the laundry room is nearly complete. It has been a long day and not much progress has been made.