Crown Molding

Crown molding is one of those little touches that can really give your rooms a boost. You can quickly turn your living room into an elegant and sophisticated living space with just a few simple steps. First you need to decide if you want the pieces to match your trim either by staining wood or painting one of the other common materials.

What is crown molding?

It's the decorative trim that fits between your ceiling and the top part of your walls. It comes in a variety of materials including wood (the most common), vinyl, and plastic. It's usually mounted at an angle of 45 or 38 degrees and is designed to form a triangle appearance at the top of the room. Most moldings are wood and stained to match the rest of the trim in the room around the doors and windows. Some is vinyl or plastic and are either left white or painted to match the room's decor. You can take it to the next level and install pieces that are designed to hide rope lights and other decorative elements to give your room an added touch.

It's commonly thought that if you are skilled enough to properly install crown molding you can accomplish pretty much anything in the home improvement world. While it looks simple and elegant, its surprisingly difficult to get the cuts correct so the ends meet up properly in the corners. This task requires difficult math and above average knowledge of a miter saw or miter box in order to get the angle and bevel correct. To get around this difficult task the industry invented corner molding, or corner blocks as they are sometimes called, which are decorative pieces that don't require any difficult angle cuts and allow each wall to neatly come together without the use of a saw.

One of the most amazing parts of putting up decorative molding is how much it costs. The material will make the most difference, real wood is more expensive but is generally thought to look better. You can easily spend several hundred dollars on fancier molding that has a difficult pattern, while plain molding with just a simple groove pattern is generally much cheaper. It becomes even more expensive if you're looking for a very wide pattern, which is usually achieved by fusing several individual pieces together to achieve the overall effect.

What if my walls and ceiling aren't straight?

This is a difficult issue, as most decorative molding materials aren't made to be bent along uneven walls. So you can use easy crown molding products that are more flexible and designed to work better with older homes. They don't work well with textured ceilings, which many homes have, but at least you have an option.

Moldings, whether crown or base, are a beautiful and easy way to enhance your rooms.