Crown Molding Is Out

[Zee09]

I watched a few builder videos and they claim it is so 90s and it can cost over $5k on a smaller house.
I know companies here that specialize only in crown molding.
I think it depends on where you live. May not be hot in Florida but it isn't history.

Builders probably don't have enough finish carpenters to install it.

 

[cptbarkey]

sounds like lazy builders. what the customer wants is what matters. My 1993 house is full of crown molding, it looks great too.

 

[jhellwig]

Finish carpenters are hard to find. If the drywaller is good they can make the corners look good but several cant so it would still have a place.

 

[BISCUT]

That sounds like an overall cheapening of a home cost as the prices and interest rates are pretty high. I did my own crown in my home and it sux'd but well worth the cost and time long term. I'm also in my 20th year at my home.

Gives me a similar feel of architecture. NYC is a S-hole right now but I was there yesterday for my middle kids basketball game. Love the old-school finishing on older buildings. It shows such a divine-human element you don't see in many Western US cities. Often the grid and architecture are so industrial it screams developers had no interest in humanity. That's just my lens.

 

[Zee09]

That sounds like an overall cheapening of a home cost as the prices and interest rates are pretty high. I did my own crown in my home and it sux'd but well worth the cost and time long term. I'm also in my 20th year at my home.

Gives me a similar feel of architecture. NYC is a S-hole right now but I was there yesterday for my middle kids basketball game. Love the old-school finishing on older buildings. It shows such a divine-human element you don't see in many Western US cities. Often the grid and architecture are so industrial it screams developers had no interest in humanity. That's just my lens.

The talent isn't there and they talked about $5k... sounds to me they are simply keeping the $5k themselves.
Another money grab and blowout artist .. Crown molding is so 90s...lol

 

[Kira]

I've heard wallpaper is OUT.

My personal take is, if a treatment is done right and tastefully applied, you don't go wrong.
However, I feel the biggest pitfall is that there are so many wallpaper designs available that the likelihood of selecting one "everybody likes" is impossible.

 

[joekingcorvette]

Crown molding is generally an upper end enhancement and is not cost effective for medium to low priced homes. Chair railing was a big thing 25 years ago and we took it when we remodeled a 25 yr old house. I actually like crown molding but it's not for everyone.

 

[xBa380]

The only place I have crown molding is in my kitchen (modern/remodeled kitchen) around my cabinets to close up the space above and it looks great. But I really don't like it in every room of a house, nor do I care for it overall.

 

[Zee09]

I've heard wallpaper is OUT.

My personal take is, if a treatment is done right and tastefully applied, you don't go wrong.
However, I feel the biggest pitfall is that there are so many wallpaper designs available that the likelihood of selecting one "everybody likes" is impossible.

I see a resurgence of it in Florida even in spec houses
I don't care for it myself as I have removed tons of it in the past.

 

[PimTac]

A lot of crown molding is that plastic foam junk. It looks good until you get close and then you realize that it was not the wood molding you expected.

 

[Zee09]

The trend here in the northeast is no natural wood look cabinets. White is in.
All realtors are running with this trend...

 

[demarpaint]

Quality crown molding is not cheap, and it takes skill to do a nice job with it. The builders today slap houses together like there's no tomorrow, and their help imo lacks the skill to do a proper job with it. So why bother adding cost and headache to a job? Just slap them together, break out the airless sprayer, and let the homeowner worry about a quality paint job and crown moldings after the closing on the house.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I would love to have crown molding.

 

[Kira]

What dermapaint said, plain and simple.
I've worked near this stuff a lot.
Good joiners work amazingly fast. They're good and often work with premium supplies. $$
The address has to be very near completion when you call in the 'woodwork guys'. It's easy to postpone or eliminate from the job.

Lament: In Popular Science magazine was reported an interior finish product called, "Cover Age".
I found some in the customer end of a wallpaper factory. They sold locally produced paint, their own products and little else.
The product was paper which was pressed/rolled with stippling/orange peel texture in 3 levels of roughness; mild, middle and coarse.

I used some to smooth a kitchen wall which had had cabinets removed. The section of wall was in your face.
A framed piece of scratched Formica would've been an improvement.
The Cover Age hardened with primer and paint and looked great.
I never saw it for sale again.

There were many damaged walls due to removed molding in my sphere.

 

[gfh77665]

I watched a few builder videos and they claim it is so 90s and it can cost over $5k on a smaller house.

Thats why they want to steer clear. Its all about the $$$$.
CM is still a very desired high end feature.

 

[gfh77665]

sounds to me they are simply keeping the $5k themselves.

THIS.

 

[gfh77665]

Quality crown molding is not cheap, and it takes skill to do a nice job with it. The builders today slap houses together like there's no tomorrow, and their help imo lacks the skill to do a proper job with it. So why bother adding cost and headache to a job? Just slap them together, break out the airless sprayer, and let the homeowner worry about a quality paint job and crown moldings after the closing on the house.

Yep, and they employ almost all "international craftsmen" from south of the border for cheap wages. No documents are necessary.

 

[JohnnyG]

Here in FL it's more common to see popcorn ceilings!
Mine has sparkles!
Who needs crown molding when you've got that!

Popcorn hides a LOT of shoddy ceiling finishes.

 

[Oro_O]

The trend here in the northeast is no natural wood look cabinets. White is in.
All realtors are running with this trend...

To me/this area, THAT is “so ‘90s.”
Odd how trends can be so regional, still.

 

[Zee09]

To me/this area, THAT is “so ‘90s.”
Odd how trends can be so regional, still.

Yeah like granite and stainless