I’ll start by saying that I don’t think every house needs crown molding. I grew up in a 100 year-old farmhouse, and my dad installed crown molding that did not fit the style. Normally I would not put it up in a craftsman, but our Union Hill house already had crown… which someone painted and textured over several times. I despised it. My options were to either take it down, damaging the walls and ceilings in the process, or slap some new crown over it. I chose the latter.
The existing crown was unusable – it was caked in layers of paint and texture. It had to go…
We left the crown project to the very end of the remodel. With the end in sight, I find myself asking if we should do a project ourselves, or if we should hire someone to do it quicker. I did this with the crown. After we received several estimates in the $3,000 – $5,000 range, I asked my husband if he’d be open to do just one room ourselves. I thought we could try a small, low-commitment room, and if cutting and hanging crown was terrible, we could hire out the rest. He agreed, and we planned out our timeline.
Tools we used
Here are the tools and materials we used:
- Miter saw: We recently re-purchased a small miter saw after two were stolen off projects. Since this was our first trim project, and we were unsure how much we wanted to do, this miter saw got the job done. After completing this crown and the rest of the trim in the house and closet, we did elect to upgrade to this larger Dewalt saw with better features.
- Crown: Our first requirement was to cover the gross old crown that was there. Our next requirement was to be relatively simple, perhaps matching the top detail of the door trim. This crown molding met both requirements. If I were doing it again, I’d consider a coved model with less detail.
- Tape measure, pencil, chalk line, level
How we did it
First, I would highly recommend allowing time to test your cuts. I gave myself a day to figure out the joints and decide if I would miter or cope the corners. Since I used primed MDF, I did not need a coping saw – mitered cuts with a little caulk would be fine. I took a full day to do test cuts and measurements, and I’m glad I figured things out before I started the project.
At the end of my test day, I estimated that it would take 4 days for my husband and I to complete the project. Now, I am talking about 4 days over weekends and PTO days… we both work full time. Also, our days are only about 5 hours since we have a toddler and childcare to work around. Those 4 days for a 900 sq ft apartment could be shorter for someone with more time. It ended up taking five days with caulking, so our original estimate was pretty close.
New crown up in the bathroom. So much better….
We started off with the smallest room, then did a few square rooms before we tackled the odd-shaped bathroom and kitchen.
Installing crown on an angled wall
The kitchen presented us with our only real challenge – a slanted wall under a staircase.
The staircase to the upper apartment created an odd angle in the kitchen
My options were to either put the crown flat against the wall, or build a vertical surface and hang at an angle. I chose the latter because it seemed more elegant and frankly easier.
We nailed four of these supports to create a vertical base for the crown. These are actually outside corner pieces that I found and cut… probably not the best solution, but using this hack was much quicker than making them.
After we installed the supports, we cut and hung the crown – see the featured image to view the crown on the supports. I then put a thin veneer over the bottom to cover our work.
We had a leftover piece of veneer that almost fit perfectly on the exposed supports
Once installed, we finished the job with caulk and paint.
Overall, I am thrilled with the results. As with other finish work, it seemed intimidating, but with time and patience it was easy to execute.
