crown moldings

It depends. Scale is important, but overall design is also key. The crowns have to "make sense." They should relate to door casings (the mouldings framing doors) and baseboards. Just slapping a crown moulding up that relates to no other design element is unlikely to yield a pleasing result.

A heavy egg and dart or dental moulding is also probably the wrong choice since they are heavier types wed to particular eras of design. A more simple cove type design or variation on that may work fine. See they examples offered by Dykes Lumber for instance (you can find them on line).

For crowns, if you decide to go forward, I strongly recommend MDF as opposed to wood since MDF will not expand and contract as the seasons change, thus causing fewer cracks at the seams. Aslo, do not be deceived by the relatively low cost per linear foot of mouldings. The expense comes in the labor needed for proper installation.

One tip: for smaller rooms and shorter ceilings, keep the moulding small, with not too much detail.

http://hirehis.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/maddoxroom1.11142251.jpg

Keep the moulding and ceiling the same color (preferably white), but it does look better if the walls aren't also the same color, otherwise the effect of the moulding is pretty much washed out. If you prefer white walls, I'd suggest keeping the ceiling and mouldings "super white" and the walls a notch or two in either the "cool" direction ("bone white" or anything tending towards a grey) or in the "warm" direction ("antique white", or anything with a touch of yellow for a more golden, creamy white).

Good luck!

I had simple crown mouldings from Dykes in an 8' ceilinged postwar co-op. Not a bad look at all.

Thanks. Very helpful.

I also ripped out the 20yr baseboards, and put in new ones from Dykes (I think they were quite a bit higher than the old ones). That worked as well.

I guess MDF (?) instead of wood on baseboards as well?

People don't realize how essential baseboards are, until you see crappy ones. I toured an open house this summer -- an "architect designed" $1M apartment on Fifth Avenue that was actually occupied by said architect, that had the crappiest woodwork I'd ever seen. For "baseboards", all he did was slap down 3 inch by 1/2 inch furring strips, and for "crown mouldings" he slapped up what looked like 3/4 inch picture frame strips. Looked worse than doing nothing at all!

Here:

I think I had 264 baseboards - http://www.dykeslumber.com/catalog_index_pages/base_caps.htm

http://www.dykeslumber.com/catalog_index_pages/crown_mouldings.htm - 164 or 175 crown mouldings

That's my concern. I'm talking about a small apartment so the cost of doing it right won't be a huge expense, but doing it wrong will have a big impact on the small space. I'm relying on a contractor (not a designer) for ideas so this is helpful -- at least now I have some information. Think I'll stay away from the crown and focus on getting very nice baseboards. Can you hide cable wires under the baseboards? Wood or manufactured wood?

While you're at it, might as well change the flooring.

Bingo, that's exactly what we did with the cable in our old apt.

I think our baseboards and crown mouldings were primed MDF.

Material for baseboards is not as certain a recommendation as MDF for crowns. MDF will resist swelling, warping, bowing, etc due to heat and humidity changes, but it is also softer than wood. It will chip more easily if you have tykes throwing their toys into the walls, riding bikes into the walls, or doing whatever destructive annoying things children do (I don't have any, btw). My partner and I are extremely easy on an apt and opted for MDF bases and have had no problems at all, but I'm always nervous if anything gets near them and maybe if I had to do it over again I'd have gone with wood bases.

With baseboards, even on an 8'3" ceiling that I have, the 8" high bases look terrific. Don't forget the "shoe" moulding strip that goes against the floor up to the baseboards to finish the look.

If your looking to upgrade in other ways that won't disrupt the entire household too badly, changing out cheap doors is another nice improvement. Good solid, heavy doors with fancy hinges and doorknobs can make a place feel much more luxe and really appeal to buyers. (Trustile doors (sold by Dykes) come in zillion combinations of personalized choices, for example, and if you don't need too many, getting fancy knobs from company like Samuel Heath (sold at Simons Hardware) is great--they feel wonderful everytime you touch them.

The most dramatic baseboards I'd ever seen were 18" tall (yes, practically up to my knees). Of course, they only looked appropriate because the shortest ceilings in the house were 15', and the doors were all nine feet!

I have crown molding in most of my postwar apt with 8.5' foot ceilings in every room but the second bedrrom and they really make the ceilings look higher and the rooms less boxy. I suspect the molding played a part in my initial attraction to the place.

KW: I hate "shoe" moulding or "quarter round" moulding with a passion. If your floors are perfectly level, no need to hide uneven floors with this.

I have primed poplar crowns & bases right now. No problem with warping (it's been 2+ years).

nyc: you are lucky on two counts. First, most people don't have "perfectly level" floors. Many apts. have hardwood that is quite serviceable when refinished but in older buildings where pretty much nothing is perfectly anything. I agree about the 1/4-rounds-icky. I prefer a 1/2" inch little cove or variation. Second, your experience with wood crowns is the exception rather than the rule. Most people--even with high end jobs--end up with the GC revisiting them 12 months later to correct some cracks in the seams of wood crowns.

"KW: I hate "shoe" moulding or "quarter round" moulding with a passion."

An alternative, although more difficult, is to use a 1/8" to 1/4" x 2" to 3" (or even more) piece which will add a "step" to your base mouldings which will look like a detail as part of the base. then you need to cope that piece to your floor variations, which isn't that difficult if you are a reasonably good carpenter.

My general rule with wood vs MDF or other man made products is if you can touch it, use wood, if it's high up enough that no one will touch it, MDF or other synthetic is fine.

Funny, though that no one has mentioned plaster at all.

KW: I don't have perfectly level floors and I suffer mightily every time I have to look at the quarter rounds. Plaster: hoho. Good luck finding people who can do that for you. Not impossible, but hard.

"Good luck finding people who can do that for you. Not impossible, but hard."

Only in this current (last 10 years, ok) climate of 80% of people in the building "trades" having no real training and being picked up as day laborers on street corners in Jackson Heights (not 100% sarcastic).

Baseboards can really take a beating so I think wood is the way to go - just vacuuming can bang them up.