Carpenter Bob Ryley visits the project house to install the WindsorONE crown molding in the dining room. The five-piece crown molding assembly requires careful measurements, and a selection of electric- and hand-powered saws for a successful installation.

Here's another great tip from BobVila.com. If your home doesn t have the style you wish it had, adding crown molding can help. It can mask any imperfections between the wall and ceiling and add formality, polish and a sense of history, literally crowning the room. Installing crown molding can be a tricky job and probably isn t for beginners. But for those with basic carpentry skills and some patience, it can be a very satisfying do-it-yourself project. Before you start, set up a short scaffolding using sawhorses and planks so you can reach the ceiling and move easily while you work. To avoid wasting expensive molding on mistakes, cut one-foot-long test pieces. Experiment with cutting them to the correct angles and use them as templates: The key is to know which edge is the outside of each cut. Keep it simple by cutting molding in position on the saw using crown stops. Most pros only use a compound miter saw on the outside corners, which are the most visible. For inside corners, use a coping saw. Use real wood molding for this job because manufactured materials will chip if you cope them. Perhaps most important, how do you know which edge is the top of the molding? Look for the ogee, the common element in most crown molding that looks like a wave. It goes closest to the ceiling. Find out more at BobVila.com: The ultimate home improvement web site! BobVila.com 2008

Crown molding adds a touch of elegance to a room. Before installing, make practice cuts to gain confidence.

Here's another great tip from BobVila.com. You can literally cut corners on jobs like installing crown molding with the ingenious coped joint. Instead of calculating miter and bevel for all the angles in a room, save that for the outside corners, which you see most. For inside corners, you can cope the joint. First, install two parallel walls of crown without calculating any angles; just cut them square to the adjoining walls. Ensure a great fit by cutting those first pieces just slightly too long and springing them into place. After you ve cut the adjoining pieces at a 45-degree angle, coping the joint simply means removing the meat behind the leading edge so it will fit perfectly against the profile of the first piece. First, you mark the leading edge with the side of a pencil so you don t lose it as you re cutting. While a coping saw is the traditional tool to use, if you re having trouble, check that the blade is tight or try reversing it so the teeth face the wrong way. Or, here s a hot tip: Use a 4 1/2-inch handheld grinding tool with a flexible sanding attachment to quickly grind away the back of the joint. To clear any remaining imperfections, attach sandpaper with spray adhesive to a short section of molding, following its contours. Run this along the coped edge to clear any remaining obstacles to the perfect joint. Find out more at BobVila.com: The ultimate home improvement web site! BobVila.com 2008

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