Install Crown Molding, step by step

Feeling too nervous to install crown molding yourself? We were too. But we simply installed crown molding in our daughter’s bedroom and it was surprisingly low-cost to pull off (less than $100!) and straightforward to execute. *PATS SELF ON BACK*. All it takes is the right tools and some attention to detail.

pink bedroom with crown molding and title Adding Crown Molding

So let me back up, tell you how I did it, and explain why installing crown molding went from one of my most dreaded projects to one I will surely be doing again.

before and after of pink girl's bedroom with and without crown molding on ceiling

Steps To Install Crown Molding

We will provide a more detailed photo and video walkthrough below, but here are the basic steps to installing crown molding in any room:

Select your crown molding
Determine the angle of your cuts
Set your cutting platform

Adding Crown Molding: Video Walkthrough

The photos in this post will show you how we installed crown in our daughter’s nursery, but it was so straightforward that we chose to do all of the other bedrooms too. So in the video below you can see each step in detail as we install crown molding in her big girl room.

Note: You can also watch this video on YouTube.

Selecting Your Crown Molding

I picked up standard 3 5/8″ crown molding from Lowe’s because it appears to be what the previous owners installed in our other rooms. It is nearly the most affordable option available. There are other options with distinct profiles as well. Or, you can use this straightforward trick to make standard crown molding look thicker.

crown molding from Lowe's laid out on floor acclimated to house climate

Each 8ft, pre-primed piece was about $9.50 so, including a couple of extras to cover my butt, my total material cost was $72.

Tools & Materials Needed

You can cut and install crown molding by hand, but plain power tools make this project MUCH faster. We used a miter saw like this one and a nail gun (the ones photographed in this post are no longer available, so I have updated these link to our current go-tos).

Miter saw
Nail gun
Kreg Crown-Pro
Measuring tape
Stud finder
Pencil
Caulk & caulk gun
Paint
Short handled paint brush
Ladder or step stool

We already had a saw and nail gun on hand, but we did purchase the Kreg Crown-Pro. It was the real hero of this project!

How To Use A Kreg Crown Pro

I had read strong reviews of the Kreg Crown Pro and considering my enjoy of the Kreg Jig, I figured it was worth the $30 price tag to give it a go. Spoiler alert: I enjoy this thing.

kreg crown pro box with angle finder and crown cutting platform

Once assembled (which takes all of five minutes) it looks like this. It creates an angled, adjustable platform so you can cut your crown molding at the same angle that it will sit against the wall. Sounds plain, and it is, but this is a large assist when it comes to cutting crown.

To find the angle the cutting guide should be set at Kreg includes an Angle-Finder tool so you can determine the “spring angle” – or the angle at which the crown leans away from your wall. Apparently, most moldings sit at either 38°, 45° or 52°. Mine was 38°.

Angle finding tool close up for cutting crown molding

Then you simply use the red guide on the underside of the Crown Pro to match.

Underside of Kreg Crown Pro tool to show angle setting

Now the cutting guide is ready to assist you cut.

Determine Your Wall Angles

Before cutting anytime, measure and record the angles of each corner of your room. Walls are not ideal, so son’t assume every corner is exactly 90°. And these not-quite-right angles can mess you up if you are not careful. Thankfully, you can use the same angle finding tool for this task.

John measuring corner of ceiling wall with angle finder tool

So after measuring and recording every angle, I could figure out how my miter saw should be turned to give me the right cuts. Luckily most of my corners were quite close to 90°, so I could set my saw at 45° (half of 90°) for fairly much everything.

For the non-so-ideal corners there was a bit of extra math involved that I will not get into here because it depends on how your particular saw is labeled, but the instruction booklet that came with the Kreg has a strong illustration for this.

Sketch of bedroom with angle measurements marked

Measure Your Wall Lengths

Next, Sherry and I took precise length measurements from corner-to-corner of each wall using a tape measure. This goes MUCH faster with an extra set of hands or you could purchase an inexpensive laser tape measure tool.

Sketch of bedroom with wall lengths marked for crown installation

We made a sketch of our room with every measurement to assist us stay organized while we began cutting.

Set The Angle of Your Miter Saw

Since you will be cutting your molding on an angle, you will need to swing your miter saw blade to the left or right. Which way depends on what kind of corner you are adding molding to (inside vs outside) and which side of the corner your piece is going into (right vs left).

inside versus outside corners marked on ceiling of bedroom wall

Luckily, the Kreg Crown Pro has a handy guide on the bottom. It shows exactly how your blade should be angled and where you should place your wood to get each of the four most popular cuts.

corner diagrams on Kreg Crown Pro molding tool

While you are getting the hang of this, be sure to double check this guide before starting a cut to make sure you’ve got your saw set correcting.

Cutting Your Crown Molding

The other essential thing to remember when cutting is to put your corwn molding pieces UPSIDE DOWN on the Crown Pro. This means the edge that sits against the ceiling is down on the bottom of your saw.

Crown molding ready for cutting on miter saw with kreg crown pro

So with my measurements all taken, my Crown Pro all set up, and my saw blade angled I was at last ready to get cracking, er, crowning.

John using miter saw to make cut on crown molding

And remember the old adage: measure twice, cut once. Or, leave a little extra on your first cut. You can consistently shave off a little extra wood. You cannot add it back!

Nail Your Crown Molding In Place

Securing your cut crown pieces to the ceiling is straightforward, especially if you have a nail gun on hand. The one pictured was picked up for our Hands-on board and batten project, but we have since upgraded to one that does not require an air compressor.

John nailing crown molding to ceiling using compressor and nail gun

We used 2″ 18-guage brad nails and placed a nail about every 12-16″ inches, hitting both the top and bottom edges of the crown. This keeps it tight to the ceiling and the wall.

Corner of crown molding installed against ceiling with small seam at corner to be caulked

I think it took me simply about 2 hours to get all of the molding cut and nailed in place this time.

How To Make A Scarf Joint

One shortcoming of the Kreg tool is that it does not address scarf joints. That is when two pieces of crown meet along a straightaway, not at a corner. This happens when your wall is longer than your piece of molding. I could only fit 8ft pieces of crown in my car, so I had three of these joints in the room.

You will get a more seamless transition if you overlap the two pieces (like below) rather than simply butting them together.

Scarf joint in crown molding where two pieces of molding overlap

To achieve this, you will want to cut one side like an inside left corner and the other like an outside right corner. Or you can do switch left and right listed above, as long as they are opposites.

Finish With Caulk & Paint

Once everything is hung, you will want to caulk the seams, gaps, and holes before you point. We used white paintable Dap caulk. Use a caulk gun in the following places:

Where the crown meets the ceiling
Where the crown meets the wall
Where two pieces of crown meet
Any nail holes (you could also use wood putty or spackle for this)

This will assist hide any places your walls or ceilings are flat, while also giving you a seamless surface to apply paint.

John adding caulk against ceiling where crown molding has slight gap

See, much better. And the stuff is not even painted yet!

Wrapped up ceiling corner with crown molding installed after caulk

After the caulk dried, we used a small angled paintbrush to apply a coat of semigloss paint that matched the rest of the trim in the room.

girl's bedroom with pink walls blue carpet and crown molding installed

Total Crown Molding Project Cost

Our material cost ended up being $67. Add the cost of the Kreg Crown Pro ($30)and my total project cost at simply $97. Not bad! We have seen sufficient house listings that say “crown molding throughout” to know that it is a pleasant selling point – and now we are one room closer to a fully crowned house.

pink girl's bedroom with crown molding on ceiling

More Crown Molding Projects & How-Tos

Since first publishing this post, we have tackled a few other crown molding installations – include how to make beefier, more fancy looking molding. Check them out below:

Does anyone have any tricks to their crown molding installations that they’d like to pass on? Or have you had a similarly discouraging first experience with crown, only to crack the crown molding code on your second attempt?