Crown molding is often viewed as one of those magical fixes that you can use to accessorize your home with very little work. In a sense, this is true: Crown molding is fairly easy to install if you have a power nailer and a power miter saw. After installation, crown molding looks great and adds an air of timelessness to many homes.
Yet crown molding is not suitable for every style of home, and it certainly can be overused and misused. A house aiming for a modern look is not well suited for crown moldings. In short, you want to avoid having elaborate, stacked crown molding in a plain, flat house with no other ornamentation because it simply not fit the style. At the same time, simply adding crown molding does not give your home an instant classic style. And you need to keep the rest of the house commensurate with the crown molding. Crown molding is only one feature of classically styled homes—most also have wainscot, baseboards, bulls-eyes, and other types of trim.