If you’ve spent any amount of time studying interior design, even if it’s for your own home, you quickly understand the importance of crown molding.
What used to be a patch job for uneven walls and stopping drafts has now become a key element in any design style.
We’ve got some of the best crown molding ideas and designs for your home.
- What rooms should have crown molding?
Classic rooms for using crown molding are the living room, kitchen, and dining room. Bedrooms can benefit from crown molding as well. It can be used to make a statement or enhance the ambiance.
- Where should you not put crown molding?
Crown molding is a design detail. Avoid it in rooms or spaces where there is a dramatic change in height, such as a room with a vaulted ceiling. As a rule, you’ll want to keep ornate crown molding out of modern rooms, especially kitchens and living rooms.
- Is crown molding still in style?
Crown molding goes in and out of style like any other design element. Because of its usefulness in creating continuity, there’s a good chance that it will continue to be considered an evergreen feature. There’s also a good chance it will increase your home’s resale value.
Let’s take a look at some crown molding ideas.
1. Crown Molding Unifies the Kitchen
Classic crown molding is a builder’s secret weapon. It’s often used to fill in the spaces between the ceiling and tops of the cabinets. To get this look, paint the moldings the same color as the walls.
2. Craftsman Brick Fireplace Crown Molding
A craftsman home is all about architectural detail and solid wood furnishings, so wood molding is the way to go in this home. The wood crown molding frames together the walls and the brick fireplace.
3. Crown Molding Adds Height to Cabinets
You can make any cabinets look custom built by adding traditional crown molding to the top. The wide molding at the top of the walls really sells the Hamptons-inspired study.
4. Hide Lighting Fixtures With Crown Molding
It’s common practice to attach pieces of crown molding underneath cabinets in the kitchen to hide task lighting.
You can use this crown molding idea in the bedroom by integrating the lighting around the perimeter of the room. It becomes both task lighting and mood lighting.
5. Hide a False Wall With Crown Molding
The soffit is the space between the kitchen cabinets and the ceiling. This farmhouse kitchen shows how crown molding can be extended to act as a simple wall.
This creates a smooth transition, saving the hassle of cleaning up there.
6. Double up in a Double Vanity
Whether by design or necessity, the double wide crown molding adds flair to an already luxurious bathroom. The double section wraps around a closet extension.
You don’t have to buy double wide crown molding. It’s usually cheaper to install a second piece of molding under the first.
7. Mirrored Crown Molding Idea
Another common crown molding idea is to match the look further down. The glass front shelves in this kitchen get a boost with the addition of crown molding that mimics the ceiling design.
By covering the soffit, no one can tell if the cabinets are standalone pieces of furniture or built in.
via Crisp Architects
8. Monochrome and Modern Crown Molding Idea
The nod to art déco trim, as seen in the blow up, gives us a modern feel. Most art déco stylized moldings and wood trim are recognizable by flat pieces built up in a step pattern.
Painting the modern molding the same color as the walls gives height to this narrow vanity space. The flat, stepped design heightens the illusion of a very high ceiling. We’re also in love with the trim and molding decorating the archway to the shower area.
via Feinmann
9. Trim for Tray Ceiling
A tray ceiling gets special treatment by adding crown molding between each of the wider sections. It plays on the illusion that the ceiling is higher than it really is.
10. Lower a Ceiling
Just like painting the molding to match the wall color makes the ceiling seem higher, painting it to match the ceiling makes it feel more cozy.
In this bedroom, the white color takes every advantage of the large windows.
via Cardea Buidling
11. Add a Trim Finish to a Fireplace
This fireplace makes full use of its height by adding crown molding to the ceiling. The molding at the top joins forces with the mantle to frame the TV.
12. Crown Moldings With Curtain Rods
Windows get a fresh and formal feel when they’re painted to match the wall. They provide the perfect backdrop to the curtains in this dining room.
The entrance is a visual surprise as the door and trim are painted white all the way to the ceiling.
13. Add Polish to Corners
The versatility of crown moldings makes it the perfect solution for finishing corners and odd angles in a room.
14. Frame an Interior Entrance
Crown molding is used in interior doorways for its style and function. You can see in this space how it’s used as a decorative ledge over the doorway.
It’s also used along with panel molding to define the narrow dining area. Adding an area rug further defines the room in an open space design.
15. Simplify With Cove Molding
A contemporary space such as this dinette area benefits from crown molding in a minimalist style.
This particular molding is known as cove. It performs the same function without an ornate design.
16. Cover a Soffit
Another simple cove molding covers the soffit in this kitchen.
By painting the crown molding in a glossy white, the curve helps catch and reflect more light into the room.
via Fiorella Design
17. Double up for Big Style
One of the biggest trends in crown molding design ideas these days is to paint crown molding a single color. You’ll want to do this to make a room feel larger.
In this case, the idea was to bring intimacy to the dining room without losing its sophisticated appearance.
This French-influenced dining room uses a recessed ceiling and different molding styles to ensure the crystal chandelier is the focal point of the room.
To imitate this style, try different styles of ornate crown moldings such as bead, pearl, egg and dart, or dentil molding. Flexible molding makes this job much easier. Notice here how the molding was used around the ceiling medallion to unify the look.
via Socal Contractor
18. Extend Kitchen Cabinets
This kitchen uses paint and stacked crown molding to unify the cabinets and appliances.
The arched space over the window is a prime example of how to tie together two separate sections of shelving and storage.
via MGA Architects
19. Cozy Cove Molding Idea
This nursery and play area feels very luxurious with its use of vintage pieces, textures, and a soft palette with gray undertones.
The use of cove moldings keeps the eye at the lower level, making the high ceiling less overwhelming to the littles ones that enjoy the room. The wide baseboard molding and panel moldings add brightness and make cleanup easier.
20. Crown Molding With Corner Blocks
Sometimes the easiest way to handle a corner while installing crown molding is by installing corner blocks.
The trim on the fireplace’s overmantel matches the wall trim, but extends outward. This allows the fireplace to remain a separate design element without disrupting the overall decor.
21. Crown Molding Finishes a Room
The white crown molding here is unadorned. It brings polish to the room without competing with the wood baseboards, window trim, and doorway casings.
Use this crown molding idea of painting the ceiling and molding classic white to bring light to a darkly furnished room.
22. Detailed Crown Molding Idea
The small touches in this kitchen include decorative pendant lamps, backsplash, and unique curved windows in the upper cabinets.
A decorative crown molding such as egg and dart resonates with the curves in the overall design.
23. Classically Tuscan Bedroom
The sitting area of this expansive bedroom showcases an elegance that is reminiscent of Old World Italy.
The classical moldings introduce the decorative trim ideas that you see in the Tuscan style without using heavy iron pieces that would interrupt the serenity of the room.
24. Showcase a Ceiling
When you want to accentuate a vaulted ceiling is the time to break the trend of painting the molding the same color as the ceiling.
Running a simple wood trim above the soffit and painting it to match the lower walls and molding elevates the eye to the top of the room.
The reward is a delicate pattern created by the large lantern lamp that brings warmth to the room.
25. Federal Style Has Traditional Roots
We’ve seen how crown molding can be used to hide flaws in a room’s design. Its primary use is to bring together the look of a room.
It’s used here as a match to the chair rail, batten, and baseboards of this transitional area. It can easily hide wiring for sconces in the hallway.
via Crisp Architects
26. Glossy Crown Molding
The crown molding in this living room is another example of how it finishes a room without detracting from the overall design.
Painting the crown molding with a gloss finish allows it to reflect the light from the elegant crystal ceiling light fixture. It’s also a subtle way to differentiate it from the plaster ceiling.
via Socal Contractor
27. Frame a Ceiling
Adding a soffit and wood trim is an easy solution for finishing off exposed beams, both real and fake.
The lines and curves make a dramatic statement in a room filled with substantial furniture.
28. Elegant Crown Molding Is a Surprising Element
A room with a neutral palette and sleek gray walls takes a surprising twist with the addition of ornate crown molding. It really stands out against the minimally decorated wall decor.
While it may appear to be a design that’s beyond your budget, moldings with intricate designs can be sourced at your local Home Depot.
via Neil Mac Photo
