Hi,

I've got an 1887/8 Queen Anne house, lath plaster walls, etc., etc. I've been removing the dining room wallpaper following the excellent advice and instructions found in this forum, and am planning on painting the walls.

This room has a square bay at the front, making two interior corners. I removed the wallpaper from one corner, and see where the two plaster walls meet at the corner, there is what looks like a wooden half-round running floor to ceiling at the corner 'seam'.

So I can speak intelligently about it, :-), what's the proper term for referring to this piece?

(I'm curious about the construction--is there likely a stud right behind the half-round piece?)

In your opinions, what's the best treatment for this wooden interior corner to the overall goal of painting the room? Joint compound smoothed over the half-round piece?

How difficult would the "best treatment" be for a diyer?

The plaster surfaces for the perpendicular corner just 'end', and then the rounded wooden piece seems to be inserted in the gap between them. This makes for rough plaster edges running up on either side of the wooden half-round. The wallpaper just covered this over in a rounded way.

In another room in the house, it looks like the PO just painted over the walls and the half-round piece, so you see the 'seams' where the plaster walls meet the half-round piece. IMHO, it's just ok. While I could live with that treatment, I'd like to do better if I am able to do so.

Thanks in advance!