Crown Molding Installation…Kitchen Makeover Redux

Hey, so it’s been awhile since we visited the thrifty transformation of my mom’s kitchen. My last episode of the kitchen makeover saga was the installation of the travertine subway tile backsplash...and that was back in the fall! I’ve been slowly making my way through multiple projects, including transforming a charming bookcase for all of mom’s cookbooks, painting the adjacent dining room, adding a shelf…but mainly I just kept putting off the crown molding installation along the top of the cabinets…because I simply didn’t know how to do it. This is the before picture, with painted and glazed cabinets ready for their crown. They just look so square…

I had attempted crown molding cutting in the past, with miserable results. I just couldn’t figure out all the angles…until I found Sawdust Girl on Pinterest!

Crown Molding Illustration Courtesy of Sawdust Girl

This tutorial with the photos and graphics is simply the best with the most complete and least confusing instructions for the proper installation of crown molding. My post today is not actually the how-to, I am leaving that to Sawdust Girl to show you the way…to a crowning achievement! I am simply sharing a few do’s and don’ts for your reading pleasure. I downloaded these pics onto my phone for easy reference as I went along. I referred to them continuously while I was trying to figure out which way to mitre and bevel.

Outside right

Outside left cut:

Crown Molding Outside Right via Sawdust Girl

As I was trying to figure out how exactly I was going to find 36.1 and 33.9 for my bevels and miters (kind of sound like I know what I’m talking about, right?), I looked more closely at my Ryobi Miter Saw and lo and behold, the numbers were right there on the saw! With a locking position for each one-woo hoo!

With a sigh of relief I started my measuring and cutting according to Sawdust Girl’s instructions. It made me feel a little better when I was reading her instructions and she said that she gets confused every time she does these cuts! So, its not just me…

The first cut may be the deepest, but the last cut is the scariest. This is the final cut to the exact measurement of the length of the piece. Fortunately my little Ryobi Miter Saw has a laser beam that helped keep my on the straight and narrow : ) Too bad that laser couldn’t make the cuts as well…

This is the money shot, the one you cannot screw up or you have to start over. Which I did, more than once, despite Sawdust Girl’s best efforts to guide me.

NOTE: A big DON’T. In the middle of the installation, DO NOT offer to cut some wire flower stems in your little miter saw for your mom’s spring flower arrangement she is working on in another room…because you’re procrastinating and not cutting molding. They will melt and get all twisty and stuck in your saw blade.

Which require an hour of your time to take the saw apart and remove the twisty wire.

Once the cuts were made, it was time for the installation. Now, with short pieces, its pretty easy to hold it with one hand and hammer it in with the other as long as you hammer the nail into the trim 1/2 way to get it started. (Well, actually its not that easy, and I am totally getting a nail gun, despite Coach’s fear that I will somehow maim myself with an errant shot.) But with the long pieces, its near impossible to attach one end if the other end it hanging down. Sometimes you just need your mom…to use her fabulous zebra broom stick to hold up the other end while hammer yours into place.

There…installed crown molding!

I finished one section, then had to leave for the day. When I returned the next day to finish up, I was delighted to discover that the molding I had installed was still hanging proudly on the cabinet! Yay! I finished the install, using a hefty amount of spackle to fill up those nail holes and even out the corners…which were not quite as perfect as I would have liked. But, hey, that’s why they invented spackle, right? So here is the finished molding, my crowning achievement in the Thrifty Kitchen Makeover, all painted and glazed to match the cabinets. Is it perfect? Heck. no! But it looks great and mom is loving it…and that is all that really matters.

A special thanks to Sandra Powel AKA Sawdust Girl , my new DIY BFF, who gave me the courage to make those cuts and finally finish the crown molding installation! Just a few more tweaks and we’ll be ready for the final reveal. Hope you achieve something special today as well! Susan