Interior Details: Caps

Kitchen window sill

Finishing the tops of interior walls and windowsills with drywall gives them a clean, modern look, but is a difficult process that adds greatly to the cost of plastering. Our compromise was to have the builders leave the edges unfinished, and we would add wood caps ourselves. This let us vary the materials by location; the kitchen windowsill above uses Valchromat, eco-friendly colored MDF that will coordinate with the drawerfronts.

The burnt poplar we installed on the office walls matches the floor grid:

Office Caps

as well as the stair railing (nail gun holes can be filled with a wax crayon):

Stair Rail Cap

In the bedrooms and bathrooms on the upper floor, cypress caps top an interior wall that completely covers the foundation. This creates a foam-insulated barrier around the cold concrete (as well as a handy shelf).

Bedroom Caps

5 thoughts on “Interior Details: Caps”

  1. I must way that the wood on top of the railing is quite amazing. Would you mind telling me what it is? I would not mind having some of that in my home. It adds a nice touch and makes the ramp looks quite modern.

    Nice job. Please let me know what it is

    Regards

    Fred

  2. Hi Fred,

    Thanks for the comment. The wood in question is actually poplar that’s been put through a heat treatment process. This allows for exterior use but we decided to use it inside.

    I have to say though, it’s a pain in the butt to work with, and we probably wouldn’t use it again. The treatment changes the properties of the wood and it becomes quite brittle, making it very difficult to work with. At any time pieces we’d be milling and finishing would crack and split at the slightest bit of drilling and screw attaching.

  3. Thanks for the fast answer. Well you managed to make something amazing with this material despite that fact is was a pain to work with.

    I will definitely keep an eye on this blog. 🙂

  4. These photos are fantastic – they really depict the smooth wood finish.

    I agree about the poplar above the staircase railing. I’ve never seen anything like that before. I have family that live in the interior of British Columbia, Canada, and all the wood in the house looks rustic, but this looks totally modern!

  5. Nice contemporary look. We are building a small house in Colorado with these pony walls for railings. Is there anything in the gap between the top and sides of cap ? Going to see if I can get my builder to do this.

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