Crown moulding adds class and elegance to nearly every room in a home. Because it’s generally viewed as an accent to a room, it can often be overlooked in the design process when constructing new homes.
Generally, crown moulding is installed at the crown of your room — where your ceiling and wall meet — but that’s not the only place it can be used. Mantels, cabinets, and bookshelves can all have their design enhanced by this versatile moulding.
Not only does crown moulding enhance your room with an elegant flair, it can also be used to hide irregularities in your ceiling or walls, like uneven textures, cracks, or areas where the paint is too thin or missing.
Crown moulding comes in a variety of materials, colors, and designs. When added throughout your home, your designs and styles don’t need to match from room to room. You can be free to express yourself throughout your entire house!
Because crown moulding is meant to be seen, it’s generally suggested to use it in the rooms of your home that get the most traffic. Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can use this moulding throughout your home.
ENTRYWAY
The entryway is likely to be the first place you and your guests will see in your home. Why not dazzle them with the elegance of crown moulding?
Consider using elegant/traditional crown moulding in your entryway. It will set the tone for the rest of your home with an eye-catching first impression! Archways and door frames are good options to add additional moulding to in the entryway.
DINING ROOM
Dining rooms are another opportunity to impress your guests and add elegance to the look of your home. As the place to socialize and spend time eating with your family and guests, the dining room begs to look beautiful.
Dining rooms are often smaller and mostly have room for the table, ceiling lighting, and a bit of furniture. Because of that, it’s best to use your crown moulding in this room to draw attention to the focal point of the dining room. It can act as a subtle accent to your space instead of the centerpiece.
LIVING ROOM
In most homes, the living room is most often used for entertaining guests. Crown moulding is often about showing off flair and drawing attention to the walls, ceiling, and shelving, so what better room to show off the beauty of crown moulding? It can give your guests something to look at in your living room and will give the room a more finished look.
In your living room, crown moulding can shine by helping to draw a distinction between your wall and ceiling with intricate designs. It can also help draw more attention to accent walls if the moulding is a different color. Consider adding crown moulding around windows, your fireplace mantel, bookshelves, or any built-in storage areas in your living room.
KITCHEN
Whether it’s for the holidays, a birthday, or just a get-together, kitchens get a lot of foot traffic in most homes. Adding crown moulding to your kitchen can add an air of sophistication.
Crown moulding can be used in a traditional manner to accentuate the edge of your ceiling in the kitchen, but that’s not its only use. If you use smaller crown moulding around your cabinets and your windows, your larger moulding can help frame these areas.
BEDROOM
Adding crown moulding to bedrooms is all about making the space more appealing to you. This can add the illusion of additional height, which can be helpful if a bedroom feels crowded. It can also be used around mirrors to add more detail to the room.
If you have a lot of bedrooms, consider starting your project with this moulding in either the master bedroom or any guest bedrooms.
BATHROOMS
Seriously, you can put crown moulding anywhere in your home!
Bathrooms often have a lot of cabinets, doors, and mirrors, which can all be accented with crown moulding. Placing it around the top of your room can also give your bathroom the feeling of being larger than it is.
WHEN TO AVOID CROWN MOULDING
As we’ve seen, crown moulding can be used in just about every room of your home. If you really enjoy the look and feel that it gives, you should use it! However, there are a couple of situations where it doesn’t really make sense.
Ultimately, this comes down to ceiling height. If you have vaulted or cathedral ceilings in a room in your home, it’s best to avoid crown moulding in those areas. Similarly, if two rooms in your home meet and the height of the ceiling varies from room to room, it’s best to avoid it. In both situations, your moulding may detract from the look of your rooms — at the end of the day you want to add aesthetic value, not take away from it.
If you’re ready to install crown moudling in your home, the team at Big C Lumber can help. We stock the most popular types of mouldings. In addition, our custom millwork and cabinet facility has more than 1,200 custom moulding knives to create nearly any moulding profile you’ll ever desire! Contact us today to find out how you can add elegance and style to your home with crown moulding.