While in pics my molding appears to be similar to the walls, they're actually very different in person. The walls have a significant amount of texture and color in them and the wood is of course smooth and shiny and different in tone. I also have the opposite in my victorian where the crown molding is painted but the doors and trim are not. Again, no racing stripes. Now in that last kitchen....we don't see the kitchen well. Personally it does get that racing thing visually from a computer because it appears that the chair rail, base board and crown are all the same, with no differentation in the wallcovering or color between, hence the stripe. Now closer up we might find that the lower area has a texture that defines it....which might make it work nicely in person, but on the computer, it does look terrible. But that's the chair rail. Remove it from the pic and you have no race stripes. Boring room maybe :P But no stripes ;) IMO Painting that molding would do nothing to effect the stripe issue. Painting the walls (lower) a different color to accentuate the molding would solve the issue immediately :) But it's again a different issue since the OP does not have a chair rail problem. I have several rooms with different molding colors on the window verses the crown, as well as rooms where the crown and the toe don't match. They look lovely. No stripes :) just nice finishes designed to work within the room they're in. The reason the house flows well though is because I kept the main trim (windows) the same color. In this case the OP can do either and either will look nice. Because the mantle build out is the same color as the molding it would flow well together, but given it's also a specific item (mantel) it can have that furniture look by painting the other molding and leaving it the wood tone on the actual mantel portion. Mantel? Mantle? Manaties? gad I'm a spelling idiot!

Thanks for all the help. I'm adjusting my mind to the idea of a really dark ceiling and trying to imagine how the room will look when the room isn't being used as a "theater". I probably should have said in my original post that this our general rec room and will probably also act as the grandchildrens' "dorm" at some point. This room also has two windows and a glass door to a porch. I was planning on using white plantation shutters in the rest of the house and I don't think the white plantation shutters will work well for light control. Since these windows will be very visible from the street do you think it's important to keep the window treatments uniform or can I do something different on these windows from the rest of the house? I'm definitely way out of my comfort zone on this and any help will be appreciated.

Don't cont. the molding into the vaulted area. I have the MDF molding in one room as the walls were so "unplumb" ( if that is the term LOL) that there was no way to flex the wood to do the wide molding that I wanted. it looks wonderful after painting. I would do it right since they are going to the expense of painting and they are going to have to live with it a long time. If the painting is going to be right then it will last years. i sure would hate to look up at ugly poorly done crown every single day in that great old house. Averaged over the time they live there it is worth it to do it right. Hope this helps. c

I've got simple board and cove on mine, to match my own simple bungalow window and door trim. Sorry, I don't have a better photo on hand, but you get the idea: Do try to match your current house molding if at all possible. In my experience, compared to the prices that commercial cabinetry companies demand for molding, it's comparatively inexpensive to have matching crown custom cut at a woodshop, as long as you do all of it at once. (They charge one set-up fee no matter how much you'll be having done.) Since you'll be painting your cabinetry (I think?), you can have it made in a more inexpensive wood like pine or alder. Enjoy! Your plans look lovely so far.