Repurpose Regular Molding Into A Stunning Display Shelf For Artwork And Decor

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Practically, crown molding is great for covering up imperfections like cracks and paint bleed between your wall and ceiling, but its main appeal is decorative. Whether plain or with dentil, egg-and-dart, or pearl and bead trim, crown molding adds sophistication to any space. You'll often see molding used outside of the ceiling as decorative trim for doorframes, windows, and fire places. The shape of crown molding, smaller at the bottom and wider at the top, gives it a shelf-like quality that also makes it a great choice for — you guessed it — shelves. 

Using regular molding as a shelf is a current wall trend that will add dimension and style to your rooms. Matching your shelves to molding already in the room gives it a high-end built-in look, but won't cost more than regular shelving. In fact, if you have any molding left over from a recent installation, it won't cost a dime. Molding makes stunning floating shelves and is much easier to install than when used as ceiling trim, because you don't have to cut to fit around corners. You can also customize the look in many ways to make it work for any room in the house. 

Molding comes in wood, foam, polyurethane, or even peel-and-stick varieties. Because the molding for this project is not just decorative, but intended to hold weight, you should stick with the traditional wood. To properly install crown molding, locate studs and mark with a pencil. Use a level to make sure your shelf is straight (this Firecore magnetic level is a budget-friendly $6.99) and nail into studs using a nail gun. You can also add a construction adhesive to the back of shelves for extra hold. Fill nail holes with a wood filler like Boncart wood putty, which is white to match most moldings.

The look is so popular, you can now buy pre-made shelves that mimic crown molding, like the Kiera Grace Madison classic crown molding floating wall shelf. Or order molding pre-cut in the size of your choice. Emulate the ceiling molding by running the shelf the entire length of the wall, or opt for only a few feet. You can choose to match the shelf to the molding already in the room (if any exists) or go a different way. Since you aren't using as much as you would to trim an entire room, feel free to go bold with your molding shelf's style and color.