Is there a clean break between the kitchen and breakfast room? Maybe a beam or soffit or other barrier at the ceiling level? If so, and if it were mine, I'd paint it to keep it consistent with your cabinets. To me, a dark stripe at the ceiling, especially at 8', would be jarring. Always drawing the eye to it. In my current house, I have painted crown molding in my living/dining room, but just across the center hall is an ash paneled study. There's a natural break between the rooms. The study has the same profile crown molding, so it blends but doesn't match. I hope that makes sense. If you have a picture, that might help to visualize your space. Kathe

I truly appreciate all the responses and ideas. I am stumbling in the dark on this "small, easy, room upgrade" that began in freakin' June. I am thankful for any ideas, guidance, or suggestions offered. ChiSue - My home is 60+ years old and in some places the ceilings aren't quiet 8' tall. It was cobbled together by a man with a heavy drinking problem - seriously. I've met him. I've got a lot of restrictions here! LOL There are many good reasons I've named it "Little House of Horrors on the Prairie!" It lives up to its name. Just Got to be Me - No the room isn't manly; it really doesn't have a set "look." It's just a small "living room/TV room/breakfast nook off of the kitchen. Original oak floors (no bevels!), two windows, both are too big. The room is too narrow, 11'10" wide, and about 14" long for the living room area. Sage green walls, brushed nickel ceiling lights (2) and brushed nickel ceiling fan/light that goes with nothing except I love it. It looks like a steampunk view of an old aeroplane propeller. Peonies and Posies! - I really don't want to mix the trims, and if I do it won't be for long. I would like all the trim to be the unstained, satin finish color of the 60-year-old white oak floors, except for the crown molding. I ordered the trim from a small sample to try to match the new front door, which was also chosen from a small sample. I have baseboards for the entire room and moldings to go around two windows and two doors. The lumber yard salesman totally insulted me and I cancelled the door order from him. The trim was already non-refundable. The new door does not look good with the trim. Of course the new door is out in the garage right now so it's not too much of a problem - yet! LOL I love the door color; I don't care for the trim finish. It is non-returnable. Susan JF- I do have two women, who have painted two rooms for me, available to come Wednesday and "fix" the horrible paint problem. I'm choosing between two "sage colors" and may go with a cream color on the ceiling - if I can find an off-white/cream color with no yellow or green undertones. I have a painted ceiling in the den and the bright white crown against the "camel" ceiling is amazingly beautiful. I plan to leave for Arkansas in a couple of weeks. What's not finished before I leave will probably not get finished until Spring. Since the contractor and electrician show up for about 15 minutes every weeks, I know not everything will be done. I'm hoping the outside window trim, and the damaged steel siding will be fixed. That's about all I can hope for. My options are... - Install this trim, as is, and live with it until Spring. At least the windows will be trimmed and the cut plaster and protruding insulation will be covered. - Order new trim, finished without staining, wait a month or more for it to arrive, and then have it installed (hopefully) in the Spring. - Install the trim I have now and hope I can cover the too-red stain with cream colored paint. Since the two big dogs are in this room a lot I don't want to fight with the painted baseboards and moldings like I have to do in the three rooms that are "all painted trim." - Pray for a tornado.

You've got several problems. If you buy more of the same crown from your cabinet company, you'll still have to deal with the gap above the corner cabinet. If you raise the existing crown to the ceiling, it's very unlikely you'd find unpainted crown that matches it's size and profile, plus you'd then have to deal with a gap between the cabinets and the bottom of the crown. Here's what I would do. Choose the new crown mold you want for the rest of the room and measure it's height (how far down from the ceiling it comes). Make a mark on the wall at that height, then use a level to transfer that height to the stained crown and mark it. Then, trace the old, existing crown's profile onto the wall with a pencil. Now you have a mark where the bottom of the new crown will intersect the old crown, and another mark where the old crown will have to be narrowed to fit underneath the new. Carefully remove the stained crown from the corner cabinet. Next, build a frame above the corner cabinet that's the same height as the new crown, and that extends beyond the cabinet to the point at which the new crown will intersect the old. Now, install the new, painted crown around the kitchen and across the new soffit. Last, run the old crown through a table saw and cut it down so that it fits underneath the new crown. With me? This is a tough one to visualize.

Michele, for the closet, I had an old Frazee paint chip color wheel and selected the color Mythic Fire,7796N. If you are going to try this project, you should probably get a color wheel and find the best undertone match for the wood you want to match, or take a sample of the wood to the paint store to look at chips if you don't have a wheel. What matched for my stained cherry wood may not be the best match for your wood or stain color. Good luck!