I love white crown, but it is a personal preference.

I would use white crown molding but that is just my preference.

White.

White.

I like white crown molding;
it looks fresh & clean & keeps the lines simple.

Wood finished crown molding (to me) makes the room look smaller, makes the ceiling look lower, & draws the eye to the angle between wall & ceiling.

The only time (I think!) that I like stained wood crown molding is in a historic house with very very high ceilings, wallpaper, huge rooms, pocket doors, & coal burning fireplaces with fancy glazed tile surrounds & massive mantels.

I have white crown in all the other rooms, but their window and door trim, and base boards, are white too.

I was concerned about putting white crown above all the other lower moldings which are stained.

I prefer white crown, too.

And SylviaTexas - I want to live in that house you described! LOL

me too!
& everybody else!

better still? want to really make that white crown molding really pop? lose the white ceiling...even if add 2 parts white to one green it really makes it a "crown"!

I vote for white also ;)

No question in my mind….white.

8' ceilings are not considered as being high, so for that reason, I would do white. I think the stained might give it a visual of being lower.

Unless the room is "manly" even I who almost always chooses stained would say white.

noooooooooo, don't mix your trims! It would look funny. I have stained moldings, windows, frames, etc. and our crown molding is stained to match and it looks really nice.

Remember you can always paint it later if you really would like a different look, but you can't go back to stained unless you totally replace the molding.

Daughter had it installed...white.

White will visually 'raise' the ceiling. Stained will 'lower' it. New homes today have minimum nine-foot ceilings.

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.

Your house sounds a lot like mine. It's almost 60 years old and has low ceilings, too. I went with an off white color for my LR ceiling. The walls are coffee but more of a coffee with a whole lot of cream in it. lol No crown molding and I painted the baseboards the same color as the walls.

I mentioned the higher ceilings of today's homes because I assumed you wanted to make the room feel taller, less dated, more sale-able some day!

Caroline, that fan sounds awesome!
I'm surprised to hear that nine foot ceilings are the standard height now. In this day and age, when we're trying to live (Green) without wasting energy, I would think higher than eight as impractical. But then I'm nothing if I'm not practical.

you'll never go back to the "5th wall" in white...sure hope you can find a cream, or add a drop or 2 of the green...i'd probably love your quirky drunken walls, lol....

and I don't think that 9 ft are standard on all new construction... dd2 and her x had to pay extra for their 9ft ceilings...