Trim Carpentry & Custom Millwork in Knoxville, TN
This is where Gold’s Carpentry started, and it’s still the work we’re known for.
Finish carpentry is the layer of a house most people notice without knowing they’re noticing it. The casing around a door. The way a stair rail lands in a newel post. A wall of built-ins that looks like it came with the house instead of like it was added later. Get it right and a room feels finished. Get it wrong and something feels off, even if nobody can say what.
If you’ve got a detail in your head and no idea who builds it, whether it’s an awkward corner that should be a built-in, a hallway that wants paneling, a staircase worth rebuilding, that’s where we’ve made a name for ourselves. Call and describe it. We’ve usually done a version of it.
What We Build
Built-Ins and Storage
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Bookcases and library walls
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Window seats and banquettes
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Mudroom benches, lockers and cubbies
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Closet systems and pantry shelving
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Entertainment centers and fireplace surrounds
Wall and Ceiling Details
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Wainscoting and board and batten
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Shiplap and wall paneling
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Coffered and beamed ceilings
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Picture rail and applied moulding
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Accent walls and feature millwork
Standard Trim Work
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Baseboard, casing and crown moulding
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Door and window casing
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Interior door hanging
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Whole-house trim packages
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Trim matching and repair in older homes
Stairs and Custom Millwork
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Stair rebuilds and refinishing
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Treads, risers, railings and newel posts
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Custom millwork built to your drawing or ours
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One-off pieces that don’t fit any category
Nothing should look like an accident
Old houses are full of odd conditions. A kitchen wall out of plumb by an inch. A ceiling that drops three quarters of the way across a room. A window sitting off-center in a wall for reasons nobody remembers.
You can hide those things badly, or you can design around them so that what looks unusual reads as deliberate. That’s most of the job in a house that wasn’t built last year and it’s the difference between trim that looks installed and trim that looks like it belongs.
So we plan the awkward parts first. Where the reveals land, how a run terminates, what happens at the one corner that isn’t square. If a detail ends up unusual, it’s because we chose it.
Small Jobs Are Welcome
Not everything needs a site visit and a formal estimate. Shelving in a pantry, a single bathroom built-in, a stretch of trim that needs matching. Feel free to send over a couple of photos and a rough measurement and we can often price it over the phone the same day.
We’d rather answer a small question well than make you feel like the job isn’t worth our time. A lot of our larger projects started as somebody’s three shelves.
Our Process
How a Carpentry Project Runs
01
First Conversation
Tell us what you’re picturing. Call, or send photos and rough measurements. Small jobs we can often price from that alone.
02
On-Site Visit
For anything built-in we want to see the space, because the wall is never quite what the tape measure suggested.
03
Estimate
Estimate in 5–7 business days, with the details spelled out — selections, finish, how it’s built.
04
The Build
We protect floors and contain dust the whole time.
Carpentry Questions We Get A Lot
What is trim carpentry?
Do you build custom built-ins?
Trim carpentry, also called finish carpentry, is the woodwork you see once a house is otherwise complete.
Baseboard, door and window casing, crown moulding, stair railings, built-in cabinetry, wall paneling. It’s the last layer of a build and the one people notice most, even when they can’t name what they’re looking at.
Yes. It’s some of our favorite work. Bookcases, window seats, mudroom benches, entertainment centers, fireplace surrounds. We build to fit the wall you actually have, which in an older Knoxville home is rarely the wall a stock unit was designed for.
Can you match the existing trim in an old house?
How much do built-ins cost?
Usually, yes. A lot of older Knoxville homes have profiles that aren’t sold anymore, so matching means either finding the closest current profile or having a knife made to reproduce the original. More often than not, we are able to find an exact match. Either way, bring us a piece of the old trim and we’ll tell you what’s possible.
Most of our built-ins run between $5,000 and $20,000, depending on size and finish.
Do you take small jobs?
How long does a built-in take?
Yes. Shelving, a single built-in, a run of trim that needs repairing. Send us photos and a rough measurement and we can often price it over the phone. A lot of our bigger projects started as somebody’s small one.
Most take 3-7 days on site once we start.
Do you paint and finish the work, or just build it?
Can you rebuild a staircase?
We do it both ways. Some homeowners prefer to paint themselves, and others would like us to paint. We have a team of subcontracted painters we use that can paint the trim we install.
Yes. Treads, risers, railings, newel posts, and full stair rebuilds. Stairs are one of the more technical parts of finish carpentry and one of the most visible things in a house, so it’s work we particularly like taking on.
Do you work with builders, architects or designers?
How do we get started?
Yes. We take on finish carpentry as a trade partner alongside our own projects, such as overflow trim packages or ongoing work with a builder who doesn’t carry carpenters in-house. Give us a call, and we’ll talk about capacity.
Call us and describe what you’re picturing, or send photos. We’ll get back to you within one business day, and depending on the complexity of the project we may need to schedule an in-person consultation.
