The current standard seems to be to match everything throughout the house except maybe making the crown smaller with a lower ceiling height. That's probably what I would do with a one foot difference between floors.

If it was a large house with say 10 ft on the first floor with decreasing heights, , the classical precedent would be for the larger mouldings on the first floor, with simplification as one ascended.

Is it 5" base and 5" for windows and doors? or 5" base and 3 " for windows and doors ? 5" for windows I think would be to wide. For base ok.

Use a 5 inch base skirt, and 3 " window trim everywhere. Crown nothing on the second floor and unclear as to what you are doing on first, where crown is going , what size etc

Yes 5 inch base and 5 inch windows and doors is an option.

Jan we were going to do 5 inch crown on the entire 1st floor

My concern was doing 5 inch base on 1st and 3 inch on 2nd would look odd but I guess it’s not something you really notice.

This was just something we didn’t really budget for as we spent a lot already on everything else.

So you guys think 5 inch on windows and doors is unnecessary for the first floor?

So if I did

5 inch crown on 1st floor
5 inch base on 1st floor
Standard casing for windows and doors entire house
Standard 3 inch base on 2nd floor

Upstairs is just bedrooms and bathrooms

Will this look okay?

A five inch BASE.......needs no more than a 3 inch window casing!

It will look too heavy

A five inch BASE should be used both floors, and same THREE inch on windows.Also both floors

I can't comment on whether you should even have crown molding, or where : )

Thank you so much Jan. Just trying to cut costs where I can without compromising the appearance as we weren’t expecting to spend that much on molding. I know there probably built in upcharge from builder for this so that doesn’t help.

If I don’t go 5 inch base for upstairs and just do 3 inch base for upstairs, will that look silly? I just feel that for the money it’s not worth it since the upstairs is bedrooms which will be surrounded by furniture and stuff so is it actually necessary?

I think it's more important to have consistent base and window/door casings throughout a home. You can have different crown moldings in different rooms, in fact you don't need crown molding at all if you don't want to. Bedrooms are separate from each other and from hallways and downstairs, so the crown can be whatever you want. It's important that all of the molding is in proportion to the scale of the rooms.

So are you disagreeing with what Jan is saying regarding a 5 inch base and standard 3inch window/door molding

As a general rule for myself the larger the crown the better.

So 5 inch base and 5 inch crown molding with 3 inch window/door molding will look okay?

Not disagreeing with Jan at all. Use the same 5" base throughout the house, and the same 3" window and door trim.

On another note, what style trim is the builder offering? I'd choose the simplest one, unless you're doing a period reproduction.

Would you be okay with doing 3 inch base on top floor since it’s just bedrooms if money was a concern or? I just can’t see value of upgrading upstairs when bedrooms are blocked by furniture anyways

You aren't going to save enough to compensate, for overthink and oddity and inconsistency!

5 inch base all over the house- both floors

3 inch window casing......all over the house, as above and that will include your door casings

Crown - I would skip second floor,easy to add much later, especially bedrooms.

I would NOT recommend window casing width match base height. !

A five inch door and window casing? Needs an EIGHT INCH BASE SKIRT!!

I was going to type exactly what Jan stated ^^^^^ here.

IMO, base should always be larger (5" in this case) than window/door trim (3") and crown (3"), if present. If it was my house and I wanted to save a little, I'd reduce the base trim on second floor (3"), but keep the same window/door trim (3").

Really depends on style of architecture. This would be all wrong for Modern Architecture, for example.

I think that’s what we will do Virgil Carter. I respect and appreciate everyone’s opinion with this!

I would not ….

if its 3 k extrao over Ten year stay ? Its 300 bucks a year!!!

versus shoulda woulda !

5" for windows I think would be to wide. For base ok.

Gee did I do something wrong since my window trim on my second floor with 9' ceilings is a 1 x 6 or 5.5" wide. Oh well.

BTW: My base on my second floor is a 1 x 8 or 7.5" high.

For the OP, I'd do the standard on the second floor and upgrade to the 5" just for the first floor base since money is an issue. Personally, I'd skip the crown for now and add it later if needed.

As others have stated, you don't want your base to be the same width as the windows and door trim. The base should be larger than those.

@cpartist, there is nothing right or wrong, just personal decision. If you read, I wrote " I think, it will be too wide." My opinion is based on my experience. In my house I have a few small windows and 5" window casings would look absolutely out of proportion comparing to window size. Other thing to consider is the style of the house. If it helps, picture from my house 5 1/2 base and 3 1/2 window casings.

It would help to know what style the house is.