History of Crown Molding and 3 things to consider. 

I live in a 1883 row-house in Brooklyn, with a Romanesque Revival facade. It is the nice white collar house of the era as you described. My "crown" is an in-situ plaster run. It is a simple large cove with a large bead above and a smaller below. The house is replete with fretwork, wainscoting, and elevated casings on the parlor level to add some context. Perhaps the discontinuation of crowns in the catalog is a result of preference to run them in conjunction with the plaster on lath walls? Maybe the proliferation of stain grade woods in a situation where the "crown" would have been painted to match the ceiling, guided this as well? The plaster work would also harken to the Italian masters which is something that would have aligned with period sensibilities.

I'm anxious to try crosseted corners on a project. I've made a few in my shop and they really are quite simple to make and add SO much more to casing. ( I love installing crown but you're right. It's always funny in a little 8' room)

I have had various failed business in my time and this reminded me of one of them. Lick and Stick Crown Molding®It came various flavors. Thanks for the history lesson. I had no idea crown molding wasn't as big a deal but when you said McMansions it all became clear.

Thanks for pointing this out. I can see that Mc Mansions promoted the idea that , the bigger the crown molding , the better the house, regardless of scale or other factors. That sure made things easier for the building industry.

Brent, it's challenging to express how much I enjoy your videos Bud. Don't comment enough in my opinion but, I'm here watching. Hoping all is well Bud, Dirty Jersey out!!

Always enjoy your content, thanks!

Interesting to understand your lessons from looking at US catalogues. Inevitably, it’s different over here in the UK (not better, not worse, just different). We wanted the ground floor of our large barn conversion (100’ x 40’) to be as open a ossicle. That translated into having an open plan dining, kitchen and living room area which is certainly not a style you see historically over here. However, we wanted the finish carpentry to work with most of the furniture I’ve made, bought and/or restored which is the UK Arts and Crafts - with a good nod to some mission style. With it now 90% finished, we are pretty happy with the result. We were influenced particularly by Standen, the beautiful A&C house near EastGrinstead, West Sussex looking at balance and proportion. Having said that, most of the architectural detail of Standen is painted, whilst we love timber. So we have picture rail throughout the ground floor which we milled using 50mm x 21mm European oak. We then made some very simple cornice/coving which could be described as 80mm soffit, 80mm fascia with a 20mm square section at the junction of these two. To complete, we made oak skirting from 210mm high 18mm thick oak veneered mdf, topped by a piece 30mm X 12mm (laid flat on the mdf so that it jutted out about 12mm) and then, finally, 30mm x 21mm solid oak on top. Everything has been finished with a smoked oak wax/oil. Mainly Rubio Monocoat but also some Heidleberg oil. 6 solid oak doors now and I’m half way through the first pair.

So informative. A needed perspective I had not thought of.

Would love to learn more about the proper proportions of moldings and crowns. If I would take a shot in the dark - I would assume that they are Golden Ratio related.

You can find your way to the front door in "great houses" by always going toward the fancier moldings. They used all moldings, including crown, to convey the status of a room and it's intended occupants. Your drawing room for guests would be more elaborate than the children's sitting room, and the servants were lucky if they got a picture rail. I find picture rails more useful than crown molding, especially if you have real plaster.

Thank you. I see picture rail and it is clearly better than some kind of crown moulding to set off a room.

Thanks, Brent!! The bastardization of lots of good design began with the McMansions

I love this content. WOW it’s well done

Great video thank you.

Should the crown moulding be made of wood or plaster?? I’d love to hear your thoughts on each.

My 1908 bungalow came with picture rail in lieu of crown molding (8' ceilings). The picture rail was originally hung about 1/2" from the ceiling. I did not like the dark shadow the picture rail cast at the wall/ceiling juncture. I had to replace the picture rail because a previous owner had painted over it with globs of texture paint for some reason. I opted for a narrow crown instead. It looks much better and seems to "make better sense." I've thought about rehanging new picture rail at the 7' height but never got around to it. I think in my smallish rooms that would have been "molding overkill."

I have crown moldings in my 1932 Spanish colonial house. In fact they are different in every room and they reflect local flowers & fruit including some flowering bushes that are all over the neighborhood. They are also a repeating pattern... This entire neighborhood was built on 4-5 floorplans but apparently buyers could choose what they wanted from a catalog, including floors and crowns. We also have mahogany baseboards & alcatraves. It's stunning but people often destroy all this as it's not "modern" which should be a crime.

What's the most important molding in the house? The shoe moulding? I can already see you cringing from the nails on the chalkboard.

What about plaster cove ceilings? My apartment & my mother's home both have plaster cove with a bottom reveal. It's very popular around here with 8' ceilings in homes before the 60s maybe, not really sure. They measure around 7" - 8" and are painted the same as the ceiling. I agree with you about crown molding often being too big, but I kinda like the large plaster cove. I think it makes the ceiling look taller. Here's a few questions for you. Do you known when plaster coves came about? What are your thoughts about it? Do you view it the same as crown, or as a ceiling detail? Is there a historic precedent for it? And is it possible that the molding catalogues weren't showing crown because of the plaster cove? Perhaps you could do a video on it. I would love to hear what you have to say about it. Another great video. I watched it at least twice on the build show. Glad you posted it here so I could comment.

Hmm. Interesting. What is your general take on crown with cabinets that run to the 8’ ceiling.

🕶🇺🇸

Everybody hating on crow moldings these days, but I love them every time I see them.

I'm just curious Brent, could it be that crowns didn't appear in many of the mill work catalogues due to the fact that they were often constructed of plaster? I grew up near the town of Plainfield, NJ, which was packed with Victorian houses. A huge number of them had crown moldings, but they were made of plaster. Seems they would have been in a separate catalogue along with rosettes and brackets. .

Boy , I wish you were my best friend .. lol😅.. I am sure you are so talented ! I am a very picky style person and ALWAYS know the look I want , which of course is the most exquisite expensive everything OLD Victorian or , French provincial decor .. Unfortunately I am not a millionaire, so luckily I am very artsy BUT when it comes to construction work FORGET it! ie , hammer , nails , screws blah blah .. I am a disaster! I can paint , chalk paint , create and all that .. ok here is my question… I wish I could send you a picture of the look , you will know anyway. What is the easiest, least expensive but that looks nice way That I can achieve DIY French style wall framing mouldings? I am thinking the fake wood flexable kind? But Should I buy the rolls of all different strips or a kit ? I want that beautiful detailed look of the old French style walls. Hope you can help me .. thank you and appreciate any advice from you 🙏🏻

For crown moulding on an exterior wall, (between the wall and soffit) are the rules the same as interior crown moulding?

So what’s the answer to the question of “what’s the most important molding?” I would argue the Casing is the most important. Your thoughts?

Is boiserie all decorative molding or just wall paneling?

Nonsense, a 3-1/2" to 4-1/2" size crown molding is perfectly fine on an 8' ceiling.

The word is pronounced Wayne Scott, not Wayne's coat. Wainscot, wainscoting.

Blah, blah, blah