Does Crown Molding Add Value To A Home? (Find Out Now!)

If there was ever a hallmark of Victorian glamour at home, it’d have to be crown molding. Crown molding is there to help add an elegant touch to a home’s walls, often giving the area where the wall and ceiling meet a more regal appearance. Pretty as it is, people often assume that it doesn’t add value. Little do they know they may be wrong about that.

Crown molding has the potential to add value to a home, provided that it suits the architecture of the home. However, the ROI that you get from crown molding is not as high as most other projects. Hiring a professional can easily turn your ROI negative if you are not careful.

Does the idea of adding crown molding get you a little bit worried? I understand. It’s kind of a major deal. Our guide will make your decision easier.

For the most part, adding crown molding will not take away value from your home. So, on that front, you don’t have to worry about it being a liability. However, trying to figure out how much value it can add will change on a dime. You need to remember that molding is more popular among vintage homes, Victorian houses, as well as brownstones.

According to most adjusters, crown molding will only add around $500 to the value of your home. Many adjusters will not even see it as a true increase in value, simply because it is considered to be a minor adjustment.

This means that you really shouldn’t expect crown molding to be a major value-adder to your home. Or at the very least, crown molding will be more of an aesthetic perk than it will be an investment in your home.

Crown molding is one of those projects that you can arguably DIY just as well as most professionals could. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t have the option of having professionals to do it. Adding crown molding typically costs between $3000 to $4,500 for a typical home. That’s about $7 to $20 per linear foot.

As you can see, it’s easy to have the cost of crown molding outweigh the amount you would get back in home sale price. So, in its own way, it could be more of a liability than people want to admit.

Both paint and crown molding are meant to help you gain more of an aesthetic boost than anything else. They also are meant to offer up a fresh breath of air for your home’s appearance. With that said, both paint and crown molding can have their own perks worth talking about. More specifically, they both offer a new, fresh look for your home.

If you want to raise your home’s value, the truth is that both crown molding and paint can help you do that. However, it seems like paint tends to be the winner here. Painting your room can lead to a far better outcome in terms of both demand and looks.

I’ll be honest. Crown molding is not the type of home improvement project that you should do as a way to boost the value of your home. It just doesn’t pan out well in terms of cost when you look at how much you will have to pay for it. While it won’t remove value from your home, the truth is that it’s basically a “neutral” project from a home value perspective.

If you are currently debating getting crown molding for your home, the best thing I can tell you is that you should analyze why you want it. Do you want it because you’re selling off your home soon? If so, you’re probably better off giving your house a coat of fresh paint. Do you want to do it because you like that Victorian chic vibe in Better Homes and Gardens? Well, have at it.

Related Questions

Does crown molding make a room look larger or smaller?

It all depends on how the crown molding is used in the overall design of the room. In many cases, crown molding can make a room look smaller than it really is, especially if the molding is darker than the rest of the walls, or if it is a bit too large for the room’s appearance. However, it can also help add a little visual space if it’s “white on white” and uniform in appearance.

Should baseboards and your crown molding match?

Contrary to popular belief, your crown molding does not have to match the pattern or cut of your baseboards. In some cases, it actually makes more sense to have contrasting molding. This is especially true if you want to make your molding into a major architectural focal point or if you want to add painted touches to it.

Is it okay to use crown molding in a bathroom?

Though crown molding is popular in almost every room in your home, you should never try to add it to your bathroom. Or rather, you should never try to add wooden crown molding to your bathroom. If you try to install wooden molding in your bathroom, it’s going to become a moldy mess—and that’s not the type of molding you want to see happen!If you want to use crown molding in a bathroom, you should look for plastic or metal crown molding. Your crown molding has to be waterproof if you want to have it in an area where steam, showers, and other similar stuff will be present.