DIY Project - Crown Molding...Part 1

New Year's Day we started working on our first DIY project of the year. We're adding crown molding to our main level [living room, family room and kitchen] and I thought it would be fun to journal our progress here and share some tips and pictures. It's really been a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. I can't believe how good it looks!


Difficulty Level ~ HARD

Purchased supplies:

• 12" Dual Compound Miter Saw - this made it a lot easier for Jeff to cut the crown molding angles
• 16 gauge finish nailer [air] - no hammering for us ;D
• 2" finishing nails
• Angle protractor
• Paint
• Paint brushes / supplies
• Saw horses
• Additional ladder - 2 are really needed
• Caulk
• Wood filler
• 2 primed contractor packs of base board trim [120' each]
• 2 primed contractor packs of crown molding [60' each]

Supplies we already had:

• Brad nailer [air]
• Brad nails
• Chalk line
• Tape measure
• Level
• Air compressor
• Ladder
• Pencils

Jan 1

• We painted 2 coats of white paint on several pieces of trim
• Researched how to terminate the ends [we're using 3 separate pieces of trim]

Jan 3

• Measured and marked where ceiling and wall trim will be hung for all of family room [we used a chalk line and will not use it for the rest of our project - our walls and ceilings are not level and square, so it wasn't really accurate and the chalk line was just a BIG mess!]
• Started hanging the trim [first the ceiling, then the wall, then the crown] - hung the trim pieces in whole family room and 1/2 of the kitchen; only hung 1 piece of crown in the family room
• Painted more trim and crown pieces