I didn't know it was a trend at all! It's a fine finishing point on a ceiling. The style of the crown moulding may change, and it may even be something that some people want and some people won't notice at all (which is probably why it is kind of faded away). But I can't imagine it ever being out of style at all, and I can't imagine "no crown whatsoever" ever being something the masses explicitly ask for.

None of my 2018-2019 projects have crown. The rustic home has three ceilings with shiplap and beams, the more contemporary are high & flat.

I don't think it CAN go "out of style" since it was never "in style" in the over-the-top way that things like shiplap are.

Trim style, proportion, and location all OUGHT to be dependent on the style of the home, room size, and formality. If the style of house supports it, then it SHOULD have crown. Or picture rail, or plinth blocks between the mopboards and door molding.

So, what sorts of houses do you design? SHOULD they have crown and people are opting to not use it? Or are you focusing on styles that shouldn't really have it to start with?

That would be dependent upon the style of the moulding, the style of the home, the desire of the home owner, the recommendations of the designer, and budget. Not sure if everyone dreamed of having it in their home, but crown moulding can add to the ambiance of a space, contributing to the design of the home and budget.

It all depends on the style of architecture of the building.

There are styles where crown molding may be appropriate. And there are styles of architecture where crown molding is not appropriate.

It has nothing to do with a trend.

Understand and know the difference.

Our current and previous home were both quite contemporary designs. Crown molding would have looked out of place in both of them. To me, it's a matter of what type of style you prefer - and crown molding looks fine with more traditional homes, (and, I daresay, in McMansions) but just plain silly in most contemporary ones.

To echo what others have said, I don’t want it in our new build; it doesn’t help to achieve my desired aesthetic. But I absolutely acknowledge and appreciate its place in the proper setting.

Agree that crown molding is appropriate in certain styles of homes--Georgian and Federal colonials and colonial revivals for example. But I always cringed when Joanna Gaines suggested crown molding in those Texas ranch houses she renovated :(

It also depends on the "crown" in question. Even a simple farmhouse (and when I use that term, I mean this:

Not this:

Needs a little bit of this, sometimes:

What it does not need is this:

Which brings us to the question, who are you designing for?

If you are dealing with a clientele that enjoys a creative approach to design (into which the terms "modern" "farmhouse" "fresh" and "updated vintage style" do not intrude) you could suggest creative use of molding and crowns to dress the rooms in architectural delight:

If you are planning swaths of suburban tract homes, they're going to get on Pinterest and regard this as the apothesis of "trim."

In International Modern, crown moldings are verboten.

Walter Gropius home, 1937.

In worthy-built English townhome wannabes, the more the merrier.

Hand-painted plaster crown molding.

That's lovely, worthy. And likely well suited to it's environment.

If budgets must be scaled back, I can see crown as one of the first things to go on the chopping block, with the intent to add it a few years later. Maybe this partially explains what you're seeing?

Crown molding is beautiful in my opinion. A 'majority' of homes built these days are by tract builders and they eliminate crown to save money to make the 'most' profit!!! It's 'sickening'!!!!!

My last house was a custom designed, custom built, contemporary house. No crown molding. No tract builder either. Go figure.

Crown moldings have gone in and out of style just like other stylistic ideas but the eclectic approach of today treats all design features as being appropriate in any and all situations so its difficult to say when anything is "out of style" unless builders eliminate it from their upgrade list.

A crown molding is derived from the "cymatium" portion of a Classical cornice with an ogee or S-curve "cyma" above a small cove-shaped "fillet". Historically, Classical detailing was common in the Colonial, late Queen Anne Free Classic, Shingle, Colonial Revival and Neo-Classical styles.

Victorian style houses were usually decorated with wallpaper that required wall trim at wall openings and at ceilings. The ceiling trim was often a simple picture molding from which pictures were hung from a wire or brass rod. The molding might be a half inch from the ceiling or lower with the wall above the molding painted to match the ceiling. The area above the molding might also be a plaster cove. It was common to attempt to reduce the height of a wall with moldings or a band of wallpaper at the ceiling.

A picture molding is often placed about a half inch below the ceiling but when there is a crown molding, a picture molding might be 4" to 6" below the crown molding creating a "frieze" panel further emulating a Classical cornice.

A modern reason to add a molding at the ceiling might be to hide any future cracking from shrinkage or just to give some definition to a tall wall. A less classical and more modest alternative to a crown molding for the purpose of softening the wall to ceiling intersection might be a "cove" shape.

A modern reason to add a molding at the ceiling might be to hide any future cracking from shrinkage

Mounting the crown onto the walls only is a way to disguise truss uplift.

Better yet, avoid it in the first place using the methods suggested here by Building Science Corp. (BTW, this is the source of material plagiarized around the net by self-annointed building experts.)

I love crown molding but I tend to be drawn to very traditional homes which probably are more likely to have crown molding? I think it finishes off a room and gives it a little touch of something extra. I even put it in my master closet. same crown throughput with very simple profile. I don’t feel that it is one of those things that goes in or out of style as much as it may be determined by the style of the home as several posters mentioned above.

as always, thanks for educating us Res!

It would be more accurate to say that the style shift away from traditional home styles is responsible for crown not being used as often. The strong shift towards Modern home styles is also not going to be a lot of fun for builders who are used to concealing tract workmanship behind molding and caulk.

There almost are not enough skilled trades to build even crappy begabled bumpout tract houses these days. Much less crappy random stacked cardboard boxes “modern” tract houses. Something is going to have to give.

My guess is the coming recession will again wipe out a lot of builders on the low end and high end both. Those that survive, again, will raise their prices, again. And then, just possibly the next boom after the recession will have an influx of people under 30 working on those very very expensive homes.

Something is going to have to give.

In my experience, it's the homeowner who gives....

"That is within our standard tolerances," is the national anthem of poor tract quality. A homeowner makes a complaint, and the first thing out of anyone's mouth is, "That's within our tolerances." But of course, you don't know this until after you close and you're trying to remedy warranty items.

Master bedroom return vent cock-eyed by 30*, so that it is clearly not parallel to the wall/ceiling junction? Standard tolerances.

Hallway wall so warped that baseboard is far enough away from tile to necessitate 1/2" (yes, half an inch) of caulk? Standard tolerances.

Master tub chipped in several places, and master shower acrylic sidewall punctured resulting in "repaired" (visible only after dog slept up against it all night) 3/4"x1" hole? Standard tolerances.

Wavy sheetrock? Standard tolerances.

Mesh backing on mosaic tile backsplash sticking out all over kitchen, and simply painted to match the wall? Standard tolerances.

Cabinet surround for refrigerator bowing and coming away from wall, because someone cut the panel too long and decided to squish it in place? Standard tolerances.

More and more, consumers are asked/forced to accept junk. Eventually, I think either folks will get fed up with it and just stop buying new-construction tract houses, or we'll become so desensitized to it that it'll just be "the nature of the beast," and collective standards will drop further. My money is on the latter, unfortunately.

I agree with ILoveRed - in the right setting it just makes a room look finished. And I LOVE the simple profile Holly shows. Sadly, since we're building a PNW modern style house, it's just not a fit with the style of house. Sigh. I so wish we could reasonably have more moulding, but it just doesn't look right.

There's nothing preventing you from using a simple ceiling molding; it doesn't have to be shaped like the cornice of a Greek temple. If the ceiling is wood, it would be difficult to avoid perimeter trim even if it were only a 1x3 or a quarter-round or some combination of flat stock.

The popularity of crown molding is to some extent because its relatively inexpensive and fast to install.

.

In my house, no crown but a picture/hat rail placed at the top of the doors/windows to tie the rooms together. Above the picture rail I did exactly as RES suggested and painted it the same color as the ceiling. Ceilings are 10' and visually it helps to bring the ceiling down to human scale without also making the ceiling feel lower.

And in my 1898 house that my kids grew up in, we had a nice meaty but simple crown molding. Ceilings were 9.5'

If budgets must be scaled back, I can see crown as one of the first things to go on the chopping block, with the intent to add it a few years later. Maybe this partially explains what you're seeing?

Exactly the answer I was about to type out.

"Crown molding is beautiful in my opinion. A 'majority' of homes built these days are by tract builders and they eliminate crown to save money to make the 'most' profit!!! It's 'sickening'!!!!!"

UGH, give it a rest with your anti builder rhetoric.................

When you speak of tract builders, you are speaking of developers. Any developer will offer crown molding as an upgrade for a handsome profit. The choice is always that of the buyer. If you want to complain, pick on buyers who demand the cheapest possible house.