What is the style of the exterior elevation? I personally feel that unless a home is very modern, inside and out, that it looks unfinished without crown molding. I have seen examples of homes that have traditional bones, but were decorated in a modern style, with gorgeous modern art and furniture. These homes have thick crown, but it usually doesn't contrast with the wall. I would worry about resale...if this is in a neighborhood with similar homes future buyers would expect crown,

I like crown molding and believe it has its place, but I think it should be put up purposefully. In your situation, no, I would not have it put in.

As for resale value, you or the future owner can slap on some crown easily and cheaply.

I would go to Houzz and put in modern house....look at the styles and see what you think....You can also put in search engine crown molding....I think a picture is worth a thousand words always.....I just this week decided on 6 1/2 baseboard and 4 1/2 crown molding...I have a european looking home in the southwest desert, it has to be about you love.

You can always add it later.

I'm too into crown to give an objective opinion....but a skimpy crown is by far the worst look of all...so if you are going for it, make it ample.

How big is the two piece crown? I can see it in the foyer, but if it's more than 6-7 inches would probably be overkill with 9' ceilings.

Just a bit of clarification - I don't really want crown molding at all, ample, or not, wide or narrow. My question was more about if I don't get it will I be hurt in the long run which the simple answer seems to be that I can add it later. I've been to the Houzz site someone suggested before posting here, and it looks to me like a great site if you ALREADY have elaborate molding that adds value to your historic home. The builder happens to include a certain amount of crown molding standard, but since I'm building the house to have a minimalistic style I worry that if I take it because it's included, it'll clash.

I guess some follow up questions are
If it becomes important later, how expensive is it to put up?
If I do put it up later, will it be obvious that it was an after thought and not original? Does crown molding settle with the walls or anything else?

Thanks for your opinions guys!

From my local (Virginia) craigslist:

Whether you are looking for crown molding, chair rail, shadow boxes, wainscot, window & door casings, columns, etc...please contact me, I will supply the material, and install it for a very low price,
Sale of the month: 2 rooms of 3 5/8" crown molding installed in any two (2) rooms for $ 299.00.
The crown molding is pine wood, finger joined, and already primed.
All of the trim that I supply and install is made of wood, not particle board or pressed wood.

It can be installed at any time. It won't look like an afterthought.

If it is not what you want, then don't do it. No matter what choices you make now, something will be out of style when you decide to sell. Build it for you, and unless you are planning to move in a year or two, don't worry about it.

I am not a fan of crown moulding in every situation. It certainly would not work in my home, for example.

There is no saying for sure what it would do down the line, but I don't see that stopping people from buying your home if you don't put it up.

If you don't want it, dont' get it. I feel the same as Les stated.

We have gone through the same thoughts as you with our home. I may put moldings in our Master BR but that will most likely be it.

I'd say no, I don't particularly like crown moulding with modern. I have eclectic furnishings and went without the crown and glad that I did. To be honest I'm getting tired of the emphasis put on it. Unless you live in a Newport mansion, I feel the emphasis should be on the arrangements and the accessories and art.

I'm torn. I'd never dream of leaving out baseboard, but that represents a change of surface from plaster or wallboard to flooring, so perhaps it is more necessary than crown, which joins same material to same.

But how about trim around doorways? Are you going to have that? Around windows? If you are, and if the crown is finished the same way as these moldings, I think I'd take the crown.

If you like a modern look do a modern look and therefore, no crown. You can do an interesting ceiling without doing crown.

Ihad it in my last house built in 70s like it,now I live in 1790s house it looks perfect here.

All of these things originated as a way to cover the junction of dissimilar materials.

The most pure of modern/minimal designs have No trim, including door frames, window frames or base. (There is usually a very narrow reveal at the floor often called a museum reveal.

However, this type of modernism comes at a very high price, because the junctions and seams between things need to be perfect.

The easiest one to leave out in a typical modern build was the crown, since it is generally a change of plane only, not materials.

I was just about to say something similar...the effectiveness of a modern space without crown is completely dependent on the quality of the finish work at the junction of wall and ceiling.

If your builder's drywall people are finicky, and if you are going to use some tone of white, and continue it onto the ceiling, I'd say you can leave it out. But if not, you might consider using crown that is in the same style as the rest of your trim moldings.

Unless your room is ultra modern, I would so some sort of crown. Something simple. A room looks unfinished to me unless there is crown moulding, jmho.

I was recently viewing pics on cote de Texas ( ' an Acadian home') , and thought of this post. The home is not modern. It is a typical cote de Texas Houston house. It is elegant and somewhat RH -ish in it's muted tone on Tone walls and moldings. Very understated, and a very nice compromise.
IMO only, it would take a very architecturally specific design to not benefit from moldings.
P.s. my imperfect ipading ( self correcting grrr)makes me nuts...sorry!
Marti

A few above have said exactly what I was going to--- finish quality is all about transitions between disparate materials. And to that I would add the transition between different planes--- for example, between walls and ceiling. There are plenty of examples of modern homes with crown, both traditional moulding and very minimalist moulding. Whether or not the lack of moulding will hurt future resale depends on one main point: do your neighbors have it? If so, yours will need it to be comparable.