Trim book

[Dave Norris]

Does anyone have any recommendations on a good book about trim? Not installing, but style, design, and scale? Maybe something with some classic styles of trim?

For example, I just did some window trim for someone for a new addtion. Went with kind of a traditional style, but in working with the folks, I took some samples with 3 inch trim, 4 inch and 5 inch. They chose the 5 inch, and till it was all done, the trim very much overpowers the windows and the room. But it was what they picked... So maybe something that gives some idea about how to size the trim to the window?

[Saul Broadfoot]

Have you looked at "Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid - an Illustrated Guide to Traditional Design" by Marianne Cusato? While the book does not exactly address your question, much is devoted to moulding with pictures of trim to avoid and trim to use. It's an incredibly valuable book and by the end I--for the first time--can explain what is wrong with so much of the trim I see and, unfortunately, the trim I used to build.

[Dave Norris]

Hi Saul,
As a matter of fact, that's the book that inspired this question! I just read that and a book by John Birchard about windows and doors.

I was almost going to use a couple examples from the Cusato book for this question. Like 15-35% of a wall should be windows, or about the proportions of a column.

[phil harold]

Asher Benjamin's The American Builder's Companion
Federal Style Patterns 1780-1820 by Marybeth Mudrick and Lawrence D. Smith

old millwork catalogs are the best, and are available as reprints on amazon.
Turn-of-the-Century Doors, Windows and Decorative Millwork: The Mulliner Catalog of 1893 (Paperback)

Roberts' Illustrated Millwork Catalog: A Sourcebook of Turn-of-the-Century Architectural Woodwork (Dover Books on Architecture) (Paperback)

a current catalog:
Decorators Supply Co
http://www.decoratorssupply.com/store/main.aspx