Sherry is officially halfway through updating Clara’s canopy wall, and we can’t thank the 900+ people who commented with votes and ideas enough. We shared a bunch of mockups with Clara, and she ended up combining a few concepts. The kid has great taste, and we’re excited to show the finished photos once Sherry finishes shooting the space.
Before she dove fully into the canopy project, I had one thing on my list that I wanted to finish: installing chunky, double-wide crown molding along the ceiling. I took the shortcut and finished that job first, which explains why Sherry’s canopy update is still mid-process. She’s already got plans moving and should have the full reveal soon.
About six weeks ago we painted Clara’s walls and ceiling but didn’t bother to cut in where the white walls meet the pink ceiling, leaving a thin yellowed line of paint. That was intentional because I planned to add crown molding afterward — soft emphasis on “planned.” I finally got around to it.
We’ve installed basic crown molding before, but this time I wanted a beefier profile to match the existing trim in other rooms (dining room, living room, bedroom, office, and foyer all have chunkier crown). The builder in the rest of the house seems to have installed a piece of baseboard below many crown profiles, which makes the molding read thicker and more substantial. From a distance it looks nicely proportioned with the home’s other trimwork, like chair rails, paneled doors, and window mullions.
To recreate that look, I bought 3.25″ tall baseboard. Rather than buying wider stock that would mostly be hidden, I planned to float the baseboard a bit away from the ceiling and mount the crown above it. I cut spacers to keep the baseboard a consistent distance from the ceiling and nailed the pieces to the wall with a nail gun. I checked placement with a level because ceilings aren’t always perfectly straight, and I used a stud finder to mark studs so I could drive nails into solid framing for a secure hold.
With the first piece of baseboard in place, I held up a sample of the crown to evaluate the look. Up close the baseboard read a little thick, so we stepped into other rooms to compare and make sure it would fit with the house’s existing trim. We liked it, so I continued around the room. Installing the baseboard moved quickly; corners required basic 45° miter cuts and some 45° scarf joints where the boards didn’t span the whole wall. That was a helpful warm-up for the more complex work of cutting the crown itself.
For the crown cuts I used a crown-cutting jig to get accurate angles on the miter saw. Crown molding sits at an angle between the wall and ceiling, so holding the board at the correct angle on the saw is essential for tight, accurate corner fits. That part took a while — a mid-day meeting slowed me down — and I didn’t finish hanging all the crown until late in the evening.
The next morning I caulked all seams to make the installation appear seamless. I caulked the corners and scarf joints, plus the joins where the baseboard meets the wall, where the crown meets the ceiling, and where the baseboard meets the crown. That last step is key: it visually ties the two pieces together so they read as one chunkier piece of molding rather than two separate strips stacked on top of each other.
After the caulk dried we touched up with paint. Painting after caulking helps seal nail holes, hide seams, and gives a uniform glossy finish — caulk can look more matte and pick up dust unless it’s painted over. I had primed and sprayed the trim earlier in September when I had my sprayer out for another project, which saved time; if you don’t have pre-primed boards, a quart of paint plus caulk is a reasonable extra expense.
Here’s a detail of the finished molding. We’re really pleased with how it turned out. We weren’t sure a chunky white crown would pop the same way in a room with white walls, but in this space the effect is architectural and draws the eye up to the pink ceiling. The crown acts like a big arrow pointing at that focal point, which we love.
The project gives the room a more polished, finished feel. It wasn’t the most dramatic makeover, but it was satisfying to check it off my list. Clara likes “the wood things we hung up there,” and Sherry’s excited because she can move forward with the canopy design now that the molding is done.
Budget-wise, the crown molding cost $76 and the baseboard cost $61, for a total of $137. The boards came pre-primed and we used our existing semi-gloss trim paint; adding about $25 will cover paint and caulk if you don’t already have them. I used a nail gun, miter saw, and a crown jig to help with precise cuts — tools that make the job much easier and more accurate.
The only downside is that now I’m itching to add this beefed-up crown to the rest of the upstairs. We already have it in our bedroom, so that leaves two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a long hallway with some tricky angles. I’m surprisingly excited about that — probably the nail gun and miter saw speaking — but for now I’m happy to have this room looking more finished and architecturally interesting.