Since its inception, crown molding has been celebrated for making a statement. Not only can crown molding frame a room in an aesthetically pleasing way, but it does so to the extent that it extends the overall style of that room as well. At first, this may seem like a bit of an overstatement. After all, crown molding is a relatively minor detail within the scope of a room: not to mention that of a home. And yet it completely contributes to a space’s aesthetic contours. In fact, it is well worth considering the innumerable crown molding styles and what effect they have on aesthetics. Consider the aesthetic of your room before selecting your crown molding. There are likely a wide number that will suit your style needs in a near perfect manner.
Victorian Styles
If you live in a Victorian style home, or simply privilege Victorian furniture and detailing, there are a number of crown moldings that will perfectly suit your needs. Victorian-style crown moldings tend to be more flat in dimension, and yet privilege latticed and intricate detailing. This detailing will likely make use of swirls and parallel shapes.
Victorian style crown molding looks beautiful in rooms with vintage furniture and prints. During the Victorian period, furniture was far from being oversized or gargantuan in proportion. If your sitting room makes use of Victorian furniture as well as natural woods and pastel accent colors, you will likely want to invest in Victorian style crown molding. These crown moldings will create a sense of unity and cohesion in a room that already provides a beautiful glimpse into the past. After all, the Victorian era lauded a sense of balance and restraint. These perfectly balanced crown moldings are just subtle enough to make any guest feel as though they are about to have tea with Charles Dickens.
Southern Styles
To this day, crown moldings remain an important and highly popular feature of homes in the Southern United States. In fact, a style of crown moldings is actually named after this area in America; namely, colonial Georgian crown moldings. By incorporating these colonial style crown moldings into your home, you leave visitors with no doubt that they are in the presence of real southern taste and dignity.
Colonial style crown moldings tend to be quite large and substantial in proportion. With many layers, like a beautiful tiered cake, colonial crown moldings look best in rooms that are themselves quite large. More specifically, this detailing works best in a room with high ceilings as its width takes away from the height of a room. You will also note that these crown moldings not only line the ceilings of distinguished southern homes, but also occupy a certain place above doors as well. Colonial Georgian crown moldings sit with distinction atop the entrances into a room. With a scroll-like detail, these details make a doorway look like it belongs in a beautifully dated southern novel. Again, these crown moldings are the key to taking a look to the next logical level of cohesion and unity.
Modern Crown Moldings
Last, but certainly not least, are the thoroughly modern crown moldings that currently inhabit some of the most beautiful homes in North America. Modern crown moldings tend to adopt a bit more of a minimalist character. They are not as wide or detailed as more traditional crown moldings, but have a more geometrical significance. If your home is more contemporary in style, you will want to incorporate these more simplistic crown moldings into your sitting room.
How and where might you implement these simple crown moldings? Well, interior decorators suggest that in modern rooms, crown moldings be placed beautifully around the borders of their high-vaulted ceilings. Doing so does not take away from a room’s height. Rather, it draws the eye to the height and sheer character of a room. In a modern room, you may also want to create a border around your windows with crown moldings. Doing so again creates a sense of simplicity and cohesion in the room. Instead of risking the appearance of being a haphazard detail, crown moldings around the windows create the sense of a purposeful aesthetic.
Contrary to popular opinion, crown molding does not simply work in homes that are either antique or antiquated in character. While crown moldings have been known to grace vintage homes, which privilege a simpler time in our history, this detailing continues to serve an important role in thoroughly modern homes. Knowing this, you will want to consider the many different crown molding styles and what effect they have on aesthetics. Once you have done so, you can make both an informed and an educated decision as to how you might incorporate crown moldings into your home so as to establish a more cohesive aesthetic.