Step away from the crown molding—unless it tracks with the character of your home or you are good at eclectic

There’s a podcast called “How Did This Get Made?” which features several comedic actors dissecting terrible movies and bantering over why and/or how exactly these ridiculously awful and seemingly implausible projects get greenlit. Paul Scheer, one of the participants, described it as film executives and creatives being like (something to the effect of), “Hey! Kids like skateboards! Yeah! Yeah! They like dogs too! And like, talking ones! Let’s make a movie about a talking dog who rides a skateboard! Yeah! That’s A GREAT IDEA THAT WILL MAKE US MILLIONS!” And then what gets made is an unwatchable hot mess. But, like, that pile of bad tropes still got made and exists in the world in spite of its inherent lack of quality.

RECLAIMED WOOD BARN DOOR + POPCORN CEILING = NO. Two eras THAT DO NOT GO TOGETHER.

This basically happens in houses too. But instead of talking dogs who ride skateboards, some—what I will call “space-shaping professionals” (architects, designers, builders, house flippers, etc., i.e., people whose job it is to create spaces for others’ consumption) and/or layperson DIYers (i.e., those of us who watch too much HGTV and think we can do what they do on the TV) be like, “Crown molding! People like that, right? And, and SHIPLAP! People LOVE shiplap! LET’S PUT IT EVERYWHERE. BUYERS WILL PAY TOP DOLLAR FOR THE SHIPLAPS.” So regardless of the age/style of the home, its context, and/or the quality of the product, trendy visual tropes get slapped together and called “good.”

It’s not good.

For example, a rustic reclaimed barnwood accent wall has no business being in the dining room of a formal 1960s colonial. In addition to looking “of an era,” in a few years’ time, it looks out of place in relationship to the rest of your home now—unless you’ve converted the whoooooooole look of your buttoned-up colonial into a rustic ranch-y vibe, or your whole space is already a solid mix of ecclecticity (Ecclectricity? Name of a disco supergroup, perhaps.). My $0.02 is that when you’re trying to blend anything in a space, style-wise or color-wise, you need to either 1) keep everything similar in style and/or color palate, or 2) have enough of a mix of eclectic things so that there is a balance of contrast. In short, ALL SAME(ish) or ALL DIFFERENT(ish). OTHERWISE YOU JUST LOOK BAD AT MATCHING. I don’t want that for you!

All I’m saying is consider the context of your home—its age, its style, and the mix of styles you have implemented therein—before you reach for the crown molding etc. Don’t just use it because you saw it on the TV and a certain presenter happens to have a fondness for it.

DO NOT USE MEDALLION MOLDING UNLESS YOU LIVE IN A LEGIT FARMHOUSE PLEASE AND THANK YOU. Also this molding isn’t relevant to this era of home. Nor is the style of the door. Nor do I think the style of the door and the molding go together, really.