I live in an old house that was virtually stripped of its moldings in the 1970s. It was an act of modernization, ever so popular back then when it was the style to simplify. My house, however, was built in 1867, when trims were considered the finishing touches to a room. It would have been considered bad taste not to have a fancy wooden or plaster molding crowning the upper walls.
On the parlor floor, where the public rooms of the house are located, crown molding survives only in the dining room and library. It offers a glimpse of the well-conceived decorative trim that once dressed the 12-foot walls. The adjacent room—which we plan to use as a small family sitting room—had some insignificant 2-inch trim that looked very out of place by comparison. Upstairs, it appears that moldings were never installed, making the 10-foot-high ceilings look naked.
Before I could find a suitable molding profile, I needed to educate myself on a variety of fronts and turned to the folks at Good Millwork to help me understand the four terms that are bandied about in millwork selection: height, width, thickness and projection.
GoodMillwork.com
Next, I needed to learn some basic rules:
