Crown moldings are among the architectural features that can really add value to your home. They add a visual presence that can make a home feel much more upscale. Done well, they immediately say this residence is well-crafted and strong. Unless you’re lucky enough to live in an older home beautifully appointed with lovely crown moldings, then you may find yourself feeling like your home is lacking in architectural details that give it distinction.
Have you been wondering if crown molding could work in your residence? Are you worried that your ceilings are too low to use it? Concerned that you can’t manage the wide moldings you would love? Unsure what size or style to get? And what should you need a contemporary look — can you still use crown molding?
Have I got some hints for you!
Neuhaus Design Architecture, P.C.
This may be the look you dream of when you think about crown molding. Super wide, heavily ornate moldings simply knock my socks off. But are they right to your residence?
Contemplate the home design and ceiling height.
This molding functions because of the large scale of this space, the high ceilings as well as the size and detail from the other moldings around the fireplace and the baseboards. The overall design of this architecture is very traditional. In case you’ve got a very contemporary house or a mid-century contemporary California ranch-style home, crown molding of any sort may look completely out of place.
If you love ornate crown molding in a conventional residence, but also like contemporary style, think about keeping your furnishings simple using clean lines and very little pattern. The architecture will probably stand out while still providing you with a room that feels calm.
High ceiling tip: For ceilings 10 feet tall or higher, think about a guideline allowing 1″ of width to every foot of ceiling height. This is not a hard and fast rule, and it does not work for lower ceilings. You would not use a 8″ wide molding in a room with 8′ tall ceilings, for example.
Kevin Kelly Interiors
Contemplate the furnishing style along with other decoration elements.
This room also has high ceilings, but unlike all those from the preceding photograph, the furnishings are brightly colored and conventional in design.
The floor lamp is very large, and the wall covering has a large scale layout. The dimensions of this crown molding lets it hold its own against those furnishings. Anything smaller would have been too wimpy for this room. It’s also not as heavily ornate as the prior molding, which can be good because the pattern does not fight agains the pattern in the wall covering.
dSPACE Studio Ltd, AIA
This gorgeous home is much more contemporary in architecture than the preceding two examples. The furnishings are clean-lined, along with the neutral color palette feels relaxing and relaxing. The ceiling is still fairly high in 10′ 6″, according to the architect. They picked crown molding in a very straightforward profile, with no any pattern or ornamentation to fit the space. But before you pass by thinking this could be simple to replicate, the next photograph shows a detail that creates a difference from the richness of this look without calling overt focus on itself.
dSPACE Studio Ltd, AIA
Quoting the architect:”We designed a minimal 1/2″ gutters show joint that runs beneath the crown molding. This subtle detail creates a shadow line between the drywall and crown molding. The same 1/2″ show occurs on peak of the baseboard to separate the 1-1/2″ wood trim band that flows from the bottom and about the doorways and portals.”
In my opinion particulars like this take architectural components beyond simply being very nice and also make them truly superb!
Tip: There are means to provide the look of very wide crown molding that are less costly than buying very large-profile moldings. Inside this detail taken, notice the two layers of drywall producing ceiling detail. These two additional pieces provide the illusion of a very wide crown molding — and they do it without having to come up to now down the wall.
dSPACE Studio Ltd, AIA
In the powder room, the same two-layer drywall ceiling detail provides the illusion that there is crown molding without actually using any at all. In case you’ve got an 8-foot ceiling, but might prefer the look of crown molding, this could be an excellent alternative that would not make the ceiling look lower.
Gauhar ZH
Produce a very wide look by combining more than one type of molding
This application employs a wide, flat band of patterned trim beneath the crown molding to extend the overall width. Even though the architecture is conventional, the look of the space is pretty contemporary, owing to the light furnishings and fixtures.
Tip: One way to acquire the look of wide crown molding minus the hefty cost is to use a thinner crown molding and also buy another narrow trim.
Place the crown molding up, then put the narrow trim up so that the top of it’s 2″ below the base of the crown molding. Paint both moldings along with the strip of bare wall between them the same color. It’ll look like it’s all one very wide part of crown molding.
Gauhar ZH
This detail shot shows the flat, decorative trim underneath the crown molding using a strip of narrow trim below that to complete it off.
Gauhar ZH
Do you need to use the identical molding throughout your home?
The short answer is no.
This is the slightly longer answer: In case you’ve got a uniform ceiling height throughout the home and your rooms are similar in ratio, then using the same molding can create a nice flow. In this living room they have lasted the same molding from the entryway. Not only that, but they have used the molding as the cornices for its window treatments, providing them a seamless look.
If your home has 14-foot-high ceilings in the entryway and living space, but changes to 9 feet in the bedrooms, vary the dimensions of the moldings to be in correct proportion with the scale of these chambers.
Allison Cosmos
Could you have crown moldings in case you don’t have high ceilings?
Most of us live with much lower ceilings than in the past several examples, but it does not mean we can’t have crown molding. One just needs to continue to take into account the scale of this space and the style of the home and furnishings.
My guess is that this room has 8- to 9-foot ceilings. The moldings are proportioned nicely to the height of this space — they look to be approximately 5″ wide — and the profile of the molding is quite simple which functions together with the transitional design of the furnishings and art.
The moldings create a nice frame round the metal painted ceiling and crystal chandelier.
Willman Interiors / Gina Willman, ASID
Deeply stained wood moldings are often found in conventional homes. But in case you’ve got a contemporary home and need the heat of stained wood crown moldings, employing a very slick, flat profile makes the wood look very contemporary.
Solomon & Wu
Using simple or flat profile moldings for contemporary interiors isn’t your only alternative. This new line of crown moldings and door and window trims is a brand new style for architecturally modern homes. This profile breadth is very fine for the height of the ceilings in this room. It’s spacious enough and contains an intriguing pattern to fit the style of the room without overpowering it.
Elizabeth Gordon
This area’s ceiling is just a shade over 8 feet tall, then lower than standard height since it slopes down in the sides. Technically, crown molding is used in the junction of the wall and ceiling, but in this room that could have been very low and in a strange angle. By continuing the wall shade up the walls onto the ceiling and putting the molding in from the edge of the ceiling, so it provides the illusion of taller walls, thereby making the space appear taller. The molding is likewise not so wide — my guess is 3 to 4 inches — therefore it is not too heavy for the scale of this space.
J. Hirsch Interior Design, LLC
Does the crown molding need to coincide with the baseboards?
Not exactly, but it needs to have a similar visual weight. It looks funny to have large crown molding with tiny baseboards and vice versa. If you’re likely to upgrade to add crown molding and you’ve got little 3-inch baseboards, you’ll want to replace those too with deeper ones.
This room reveals an almost perfectly matched width for crown moldings and baseboards. Regrettably, I really don’t understand the ceiling height, but again, this looks to be no more than 9 feet tall, and may be just a bit lower.
How about you? Do you find yourself adding crown molding?
More: Intriguing New Ideas for Moldings and Trim