Crown Molding adds an air of detailed sophistication to a room
Crown Molding is pretty basic in the world of remodeling but nonetheless important to cover. Consider this Crown Molding 101. While not all styles of homes will call for crown molding, almost all homes benefit from good molding. In some cases, the molding will simply be around doors, windows and floors but then you (my readers) all know this stuff. The kicker is that when well done, molding can dramatically change the look of a room; adding both depth and value to your remodel. Want to do something to your renovation that will carry big improvements with small costs, then crown molding is your friend.
Wood Molding vs. MDF or Pre-Fab Molding
For today’s renovator there are countless options in the world of molding from pre-fabbed crown and corner molding (holy lose-the-miter-saw-and-buy-the-corner molding!) to the traditional wood molding. In my experience, you can often get away with an MDF type of mold on the upper crown molding but I would hold off on using it around doors, windows and as a baseboard. Unless you truly are one of those ‘hanging from the chandelier’s’ type, the crown in your room does not need to withstand wear & tear the way floors and doorways do. By using MDF uppers, you can save the money and put it elsewhere (hello Kitchen!).
What am I getting myself into?
Expect to spend anywhere from 6 to 10 hours installing crown molding in a small to medium room. The size of the room is not actually a major time factor, rather the number of corners will be the major time driver. Thinking about your entire house… you should probably be writing this blog! Definitely possible but you’re talking about more than just a weekend project.
How exactly does one do this?
Installing crown is only slightly more complicated than running baseboard. The variety of different joints and saw cuts, including a coped corner joint, an outside miter, a square cut, and a scarf joint, are best done with a coping saw and power miter saw. With practice, you should be able to make tight, long-lasting joints. Without practice, buy Caulk! (my personal favorite home improvement item). Rather than go through each and every step here… I’m simply going to send you over to a couple of my favorites: 1) the Bob Villa site where they layout the necessary steps from planning to install in great detail; or 2) great step by step instructions by Patrick St.John. These are both excellent resources, but for those of us that have never read a direction in our lives, this project is not rocket science. Do a couple of practice corners before getting going, then cut your pieces and layout the materials and vada-bing, vada-boom: done!
What to expect
- Results – Immediate!
- Cost for a small – medium room (assuming you have tools) $100 – $150
- Payback 50-70%
- Other: cussing and trips to the hardware store factor: low
As for hiring it out?
Yes – definitely an easy one for hire. While you can do it yourself, you can also leverage the skills of a trim carpenter to do this work for you. To get your money’s worth, I’d still recommend MDF uppers. You can expect to pay anywhere from $400 in Kansas City to $800 in Silicon Valley for the same room that yourself could do for about $150.
Great stuff on crown molding – what happened to the Father Day Eve plan? Did the room ever get painted? And did the father paint the room?