http://www.all-about-the-house.com/trim-work-design-tips-from-casing-to-crown-molding/ Construction of a dining room shadow box (wall frame) is illustrated step-by-step as part of an overall architectural trim work design effort.

Comments

1. Mark, Thank you for not rushing thru your video here. Explaining your thought process on what to look for "studs" where to place the nails so not to ruin the trim piece you carefully measured and cut. And using caulk to help hold pieces with no stud behind it.
2. Nice job on the wall layout but one tip I can say works better is preassembling the frames off the wall on a nice flat worktop. Use 1/4 to 1/2 thick rips to form a perfect 90deg angle like this >L on the work top  but leave the corner of the 90 open like this> I _  so you can easily nail the miters at the open end. Use glue and a a 23gauge headless pinner to pin the miters nailing from the sides of the moldings. Working up at a comfortable height makes the assemble easer and more accurate and with the moldings not installed you can nicely sand out high spots on the miters to soften up the joints. All that's left to do is place them on the wall and nail in the marked locations. One last tip is if you are doing repetitive lengths miter cuts use a stop block to the right of the miter box. 1] count the amount of parts you will need. 2] straight cut the amount of needed parts leaving them a little longer then finished length. 3], from the left side of the miter box and with the blade swung to the left at a 45deg orient the thin side of the molding profile so that is facing you and miter one side of the part. 4] Rotate the part to the right side of the blade with the thick edge of the profile now facing you and the long point of the previous cut miter touching the stop block that has been adjusted to the correct finished length. and make the second cut. The goal here is speed and accuracy. By following these steps you will remove the step of constantly swinging the saw from 45deg left to 45deg right but even better is... you only have to measure & mark the finish length one time. The rest are bump and cut using the stop block.
3. This is on our to do list in our living/dining room-how do you decide the sizes needed? Do you have a video for that?
4. Is there a place I can purchase assembled shadow boxes?  For instance, could I email my shadow measurements and box amounts to a business, the business make them, then ship them to the customer ready-made for wall mounting?  If anyone knows whether or not a business or individual offers this service, I would appreciate your guidance. I know quite a few people who are interested in this service; however, we didn't know where to start but here.  Forgive me, if this is a crazy question, but I'm searching for answers.  Thanks a lot!
5. I'm working on a big, potentially fancy, wooden chest (3'Wx2'Dx2'T)for my wife. I'm trying to go for a traditional look. I would like to wrap it with trim.. My question for you is. How to go about matching that trim up on all four sides? It's a flat decorative trim an eighth of an inch thick. I'm not sure if I should butt it on the face corner or overlap the face over the side. I don't have a way to forty five the trim edge. I want the trim running around the face of the chest and around the sides and back. How would you do it if you had no way to rip a forty five down the trim, yet finish the chest with trim? All edges, flat trim...
6. Faux raised panel wainscot seems perfect by painting trim and introducing bead board beneath it.
7. A good tip for putting up shadow boxes quicker and I believe easier is, assemble the box on the ground. Glue it and nail the corners together. Then use a spacer block to automatically adjust the gap in between the chair rail and shadow box. Then line up the sides of the box with your marks on the wall, and shoot away. My Dad and I have done it this way for years
8. do you have another vid with the finished wall to see how it looks?
9. Hi Adam - I shot a video called "Trim Work Design Tips" which you might find helpful for this question. The short answer is that the frame dimensions will depend on your work area and the deign you're striving for. In the video I mention above, I talk about how I worked through these design considerations - and these ultimately led me to my wall frame sizes.
10. I use my carpenter's level for this spacing - which is about ~2.75" or so. But by using the level, not only do I get nice uniform spacing, but I also get another chance to check 'level' as well. I doubled this spacing between wall frames in this room.
11. And also what size should I make the frames? Thanks.
12. Thanks for the video. What's the distance between the frames, floors and middle molding? Thanks.
13. The frame trim is a 3/8"x1.25" hardwood panel molding.
14. Thanks for your comment & Q's, John: Q1: Phenoseal Q2: 2" finish nails Q3: I'm sure you can rent a nail gun, but I've never tried. I did my first project like this manually (no nail gun) as you're suggesting. It took SUCH a long time and was much more difficult. I can't leave a link on YouTube here, but in the article, "Hall and Stairway Trim Work - Low Maintenance Shadow Boxes" on my web site (URL in video), I do have links to most everything and lots more detail I think you'll find helpful!
15. Great video....a few questions: What kind of caulk do you use? I have construction adhesive but didn't think of using caulk, and I am guessing caulk is better because it would be easier to remove than adhesive. So what type of caulk? Second, what size nails are you using in the nail gun? Third, can you rent one of these nail guns? I am thinking this would make the job easier and better because there is less chance of messing it up with a hammer. Thanks.
16. Another great video Mark - reckon even I could follow the directions! Great camera work as well :)