Crown molding: is it worth adding to an older Long Island home?

What crown molding actually does

Crown molding is the angled trim that runs where the walls meet the ceiling. Most Long Island houses built from the 1960s through the 1990s, the capes, high ranches, split-levels and colonials, came with plain baseboard and simple door casing and nothing at the ceiling. Adding crown is one of the few changes that makes a room look more finished without moving a wall.

It also covers a common problem. In older houses, the corner where the wall meets the ceiling is often cracked, uneven or painted in a wavy line. Crown hides that line completely.

Rooms where it’s usually worth it

• Living rooms and dining rooms. These are the rooms guests see, and they tend to have the most open wall space for crown to show.
• Entry halls and foyers, especially in colonials with a center hall.
• Primary bedrooms, where a medium profile adds some shape to a plain box of a room.
• Kitchens, where crown can run along the top of the cabinets and tie them to the ceiling.

Where it may not be worth it

Crown isn’t right for every room. In a basement with a low ceiling, it can make the room feel shorter. Small rooms with lots of corners, like closets and tight hallways, add a lot of cutting for very little payoff. And rooms with a drop ceiling usually get wall trim or reglet trim (a recessed edge that leaves a shadow line) instead of crown.

Ceiling height and size

The profile has to fit the room. A big, stacked crown looks great in a room with a tall ceiling and looks heavy in a room with a standard eight-foot ceiling, which is what most capes and high ranches have. In those rooms, a simpler, medium-size profile usually looks right. In a cape, the upstairs rooms often have sloped ceilings, where crown gets tricky. Sometimes it’s better to run it only along the flat walls or skip it upstairs.

When we come out, we can hold up samples so you can see the size against your actual ceiling instead of guessing from a picture.

Wavy ceilings and walls in older houses

This is the part that decides whether crown looks sharp or sloppy. Older ceilings sag a little between joists, and walls lean. Crown sits against both surfaces at once, so every dip shows as a gap along the top or bottom edge.

On a good install, small gaps get caulked and painted so they disappear. Bigger dips may need the ceiling or wall flattened first. On some jobs we skim coat (a thin layer of joint compound spread over the surface to smooth it) the area near the ceiling before the crown goes up. It’s more work, but it’s the difference between crown that looks built in and crown that looks added on.

Painted or stained, and what it’s made of

Most crown in painted rooms is MDF (medium-density fiberboard) or finger-jointed pine. It paints smooth and costs less than solid wood. Stained crown needs real wood and tighter joints, since caulk can’t hide gaps. In bathrooms, PVC crown handles moisture better. Crown is usually painted to match the ceiling or the rest of the trim, and we can do that as part of the same job.

Does it help when you sell?

Buyers notice rooms that look finished. Crown in the main rooms, along with fresh paint, clean baseboard and good doors, helps a house photograph well. It’s rarely the only reason a house sells, so think of it as part of getting the main rooms right rather than a stand-alone investment.

Next step

If you’re thinking about crown, it helps to do it along with any baseboard, casing or painting you have planned, so the trim all matches. Our trim and crown molding page shows how we cope the inside corners and fit the joints. Call 631-745-9982 or ask for a price.