Crown Molding 3 or 5 piece design questions/plea.

[Herbert Mulqueen]

I been working on an room, off and on for 5 years. The room is approximately 28 feet wide x 56 feet long and 10 foot side walls with a 14 foot cathedral ceiling.

The room has extensive raised paneled walls ending into a 5 piece chair rail.

What is left is the crown molding and the Brazilian cherry floors.

Any suggestions on what you design for the crown molding---3 or even 5 piece, would be most welcome. A one piece CM is not in the plans. All molding is painted.

Now after I purchased 80 % of the molding. I decided to either get a shaper or a router system.


Thanks for your help

Herb

[Mike Wilkins]

You must really love a challenge. 3 or 5 piece crown in a room with 14 foot cathedral ceilings????? I have seen photos of crown molding made with built-up sections of edge-molded boards, with boards attached both to the wall and the ceiling. The edge-molded pieces are attached so the molded edge is visible, each protruding over the piece below it.
You might check the local book store(Barnes & Noble, Borders) and have the sales staff check their system for books on trimwork. I have a couple at home which I will get the names of & post here(at work now).
Good luck and watch those fingers.

[Brett Nelson]

What is the style of the home? Sounds like you are going for a more formal traditional. If that is the case I have a great suggestion for you. Very traditional and is usually considered a 4-piece but would actually use about 7 pieces if you count the skeleton behind it.

Go to the link below, and you'll see how to do it. The proportions that Gary Katz uses are ok, but you can shorten that 5 1/2" soffit piece to make things a bit smaller depending on your ceiling height. Also, I would not use the profile for the crown #1 that he uses. That is a supporting profile and you should technically use a terminating profile for that piece. Something like an ogee or what is commonly called a french curve.

http://www.garymkatz.com/TrimTechniques/georgian_builtup_cornice.html

http://www.garymkatz.com/TrimTechniques/GeorgianCornice/illustration.jpg