My mom did exactly as Melissa suggested in a few rooms and it was fine.

Move the vent down if you must have crown. It's simple.

Most transitional homes do not need crown and look awkward with it installed. Reconsider how it fits the house as a whole.

I have a deep crown in my master -- at least 9 inches, and it is notched around the vents the way Melissa described. Using a 3" crown might look worse since it would drop the white down from the bottom -- and it might still not fit smoothly at exactly 3 inches. You might sill notch or have a gap.

I've never had crown with an 8 ft ceiling. What I can't tel you is whether the 3' or 4.5" is good or better absent the vent. I sure wouldn't go any deeper.

Do a google search for 'crown molding around vents' to see some ideas.

We also have 8' ceilings. When we bought our home two of the bedrooms didn't have crown molding...unlike the rest of the house. We had it installed and it really made a difference. The crown pulled the eye up 'lifting' the ceiling. They put 5" crown in the bedrooms...no vents in the way.

Thanks all, We do have crown molding in most of our home (kitchen, dining room, great room) so I think it would be nice to continue it in the MBR. I like the notching idea...never even occurred to me. Thanks !!

Is this what you have in mind ? (I googled it).

Yes...that's a definite option.

It’s a BAD option. Treating the whole interface as an afterthought screams poor design. Either do no crown, or have the duct moved.

I would leave the vent white if the crown will be white.

I think moving the vent might be too big a job for the man I was going to hire to put up the molding...?? Yes, I would definitely be leaving the vent white. Here is a photo of what someone else did with a similar dilimma as me. Not sure if I like this or not, seems to draw more attention to it in a not good way.

Notching or offsetting the crown will call attention to the vent. Moving the vent down is likely not a major endeavor although you may need to find someone else to take care of that task. If you dont want to see the vent, paint the vent the same as the wall color and consider painting the ductwork a dark color in a matte finish so light wont reflect off the shiny metal.

This is how we do crown when faced with something like this

Obviously moving the vent would be ideal. All I can tell you is my mom's rooms looked much better with the notched crown than no crown. No question. I think you should do it.

I think we'll do it....it's a MBR so only my husband and I will be seeing it.

;-) !

Those notches and bump outs look about as terrible as I’ve seen anything look. Ms. Wheeler nailed it, to me it looks like a group of children decided to build a house and this is what happened.

I'm voting to move the vent or not bother. Vents can be moved but you may need a different person to do it. Crown is supposed to look rich, not patched.