Problem Maintaining Clean Lines

So far the exterior doors we have put in the house have ended up being between 3/4 and 1 1/2 inches shorter than the interior doors and windows. The old ones we took out had the same problem as well.

I was not willing to cut the rough sill and drop the height of the window to match, since it lined up with the other interior doors in the room. Also, I didn't want to set the french door any higher - I already had put a 1/2 inch piece of plywood under the threshhold. Putting it any higher would make it a trip hazard and akward.

Here is a close-up picture of the problem:

I could fiddle with the trim reveal to get an additional 1/4 closer, but they would still be 1 1/4 off. If the top trim pieces to came together at different hieghts in the corner, it would look like an amatuer job. After thinking about it for a day, here is what I came up with.

• Trim out the window
• Trim out the door, matching the top height to the window, leaving a gap
• Fill in the gap with a filler strip that is cut and inset to match the other 1/4 reveals on the trim

Visually, this gives a nice clean top line. Also, the filler strip is mirrored by the bracket for the blinds in the window. This balance makes it look natural.

Design concept: Keep the horizontal lines at the same level (clean). Fill in as needed, making the fillers simple and inset.

Detail on eHow: