Victorian crown moldings, corbels, and ceiling medallions

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Victorian corbels

Victorian corbels are typically vertical brackets that are somewhat heavily ornamented and give the appearance of supporting the structure above it. So in essence Victorian corbels are a decorative bracket. In the Victorian era the designs went far beyond utilitarian, often featuring female figures, Egyptian motifs, lions, and Greco-roman acanthus leaf designs.

Victorian crown molding

Victorian crown molding was installed at the juncture where wall meets ceiling. There is a wide variety of styles and sizes of Victorian crown molding ranging from massively large to rather diminutive. Simple designs would include Greek Revival type dentils and more complex designs include such elements as carved acanthus leaves within a stamped ground. There are also fluted, completely smooth, beaded, twisted, lamb's tongue, twisted rope, twisted vines, ogee, bead and barrel, and the ever popular egg and dart motif.

Installed views and visualizing layouts

To stimulate your imagination we offer a large selection of pictures for your viewing pleasure showing how these pieces such as a Victorian crown molding can be fit together and finished to give a truly impressive final result. We also show the same series of pictures, but with links from the individual pieces to the associated page where you can check the size, price, etc. Speaking of size, you'll notice that most of the pieces have been photographed on a background with white squares. We do that to help you visualize the dimensions of the piece. Each white square is one inch by one inch. It is a good idea to cut out piece of paper with those dimensions and tape them to the wall where you plan to install them. That way you can get a good idea of whether the proportions will be correct or not.

drawbacks of conventional wooden ornament

Exterior applied wood ornament like Victorian corbels, as incorporated in structures in the late eighteen hundreds, was often a maintenance headache, although beautiful when kept at the peak of perfection. The multitudinous wood joints were notorious for attracting water, which could be followed by wood rot. Caulking could be used to seal the joints, but this would need to be renewed often. Resin is impervious to the problems associated with wood, and although not as romantic as wood, once coated with paint is impossible to distinguish from wood without the added benefit of X-ray vision. Since our original pieces that the molds are based on were originally carved out of wood you'll find that if you look closely at the painted surface you can often see wood grain impressions.

Construction method and installation

These pieces can be screwed, glued, or nailed just like wood. In fact, when looking at installed pictures you may notice that some pieces have been modified by removing parts of the design. Your imagination is the limit, there is a lot of flexibility.