Whitney Houston once famously said “crack is whack.” I don’t think she had the ceiling of Clara’s room in mind when she said it, but hopefully she’d agree that the situation around Clara’s aqua-colored capiz chandelier could indeed be called “whack.”
You never saw this in any previous photos – nor could you really notice it that much in real life – but when installing Clara’s light fixture (which we got here for $50) we became well aware of this unsightly ceiling problem that was previously hidden beneath the larger based ceiling fan. So we finally got around to fixing it. And it was easy thanks to this $19 ceiling medallion that we got at Home Depot. Gotta love when a quick project doesn’t snowball into something nightmare-ish.
Sure, we could’ve spackled the cracks, but we’ve always toyed with the idea of a decorative medallion in her room (especially since we plan to paint her ceiling and add crown molding down the line) so the fact that adding one now would be both decorative and functional pushed us over the edge and we decided to take the plunge (two idioms in one sentence – how many bonus points is that?).
We went with a fairly simple bead-like bordered design, instead of a more ornate version, just because we figured it would fit the style of Clara’s room best (slightly feminine & slightly modern). And the 16″ diameter seemed just right for the size of her fixture. Plus, this version was a cinch to install. Basically I just had to remove the light fixture – which really shows off the crack problem:
And reattach the whole thing with the wires now threaded through the medallion. It looked a little something like this mid-project:
All I had to do after that step was screw the fixture back to the ceiling to hold everything in place. Since these smaller sized medallions are so light (they’re made of plastic, but look convincingly like carved wood once they’re hung) the instructions didn’t require any screwing or gluing to the ceiling to keep it in place. The light fixture itself does all the work. I guess that’s so the medallion can focus on covering up those cracks.
Someday Sherry wants to put some white paint on that metal ring to help it blend even more, but for now we think Ms. Houston would be proud of our crack-free results. Especially considering the whole thing took me about 15 minutes to do.
We also like that when the light is on it kinda makes the whole fixture look a bit more stately thanks to the ceiling reflections that “play” nicely with the new medallion.
It totally makes us excited to paint the ceiling and add crown molding down the line in there (even though the medallion is paintable, we think it’ll look best to keep it white so it pops off whatever soft ceiling color we settle on someday).
Have any of you guys used ceiling medallions in your home? Was it to hide a problem or just for looks?
Ashley @ sunnysideshlee.com says
looks great!
Caitlin @ Desert Domicile says
I’ve been wanting to add a medallion around the pendant lamp in my dining room. I painted the tray ceiling in there and it just seems like it needs a little something extra and you’ve given me the official push to make the medallion happen!
Ashley says
Her room is adorable and I really love your use of colors! What a nice and easy fix. Thank you for sharing.
Corey says
What a great idea! Normally I don’t like the look of ceiling medallions. However, now that I think about it I might just not like the chandeliers typically associated with ceiling medallions. With that chandelier it really works. Great job guys. Can’t wait to see the room once you finish it. Even if that means I will have to wait.
Jenn the Pen says
I can’t BELIEVE you put that medallion up there untouched! I know you have plans for it, but for y’all that’s almost unheard of! ;)
Lisa says
Usually I’m not a fan; when I saw the medallion thing I actually thought “Oh, no, please tell me they didn’t go there.” I love it though! It really fits with the chandelier.
Handy Man, Crafty Woman says
OH yes, ceiling medallions can cover so many things…we use them here, too.
Christina says
I can’t wait to see how you all fix the ceiling cracks- we struggle with the same thing in our older home.
Casey says
Love Clara’s new light (and perfectly placed ceiling medallion). I’ve never used them, but I’ve been wanting to hang a group of three or five ceiling medallions on my wall, yes I said wall, as artwork. I envision painting the medallions in something fun like yellow or lime green. And since they’re relatively inexpensive, even for the more ornate ones, this would be cheaper than some real artwork.
Chelsea@ThisFreshFossil says
We used one in our kitchen when we swapped out an old flourescent light (from the 70’s… and with the grease buildup to prove it! yuck!) for a more contemporary and much-needed ceiling fan (unfortunately there’s not AC vent in the kitchen.. poor planning, anyone?). A simple ceiling medallion took us 5 minutes to put up and covered up the much larger, gaping hole left from the flourescent light – while looking pretty stylish. Love those things!
~Chelsea
Malissa says
Wow, that medallion makes your (already very nice) light fixture look even more expensive and substantial.
Rona Sy says
I put on up in my sons room. His room is chocolate brown (ceiling and medallion included) with a baby blue chair rail. I loved it for his baby room but he just turned 3 and I’m thinking we need a change. :)
Great excuse for a panting party! If I only could decide on a color!
Kat Simplified says
I have a medallion in my dining room. I replaced an ugly faux french type chandelier with a 1950’s retro one. The 50’s fixture didn’t cover the entire junction box so a medallion to the rescue!
Missy says
I actually used medallions in a wall-art project via Design Sponge (http://knackstudios.blogspot.com/2011/02/roomage_16.html). I followed the similar design and spray painted mine yellow and hung them on the wall to fill up a HUGE empty space! It looks fantastic and different and was about $80 instead of $100+ for a larger piece.
YoungHouseLove says
Fun!!
xo,
s
Allison F says
I vote for a pale aqua ceiling to set off that lovely medallion and light fixture!
Allison F says
Oh how funny. I had no idea Clara’s old room had an aqua ceiling!
Carrie says
The medallion looks great! I used one in my master bedroom, but not on the ceiling. I painted it yellow and hung it on the wall above my headboard. I’ve been casually searching for a little round mirror to put in the center of it!
Martha says
This is brilliant! I am so glad you posted this. We painted our kid room long before we were pregnant and didn’t switch out the light fixture. Now it’s time to switch the fixture and I was dreading having to paint the ring caused by the difference in sizes. This solves the problem and is way cute! (Problem being a very relative term since it would have taken me ten minutes to touch up the paint.)
mya says
wow..i just blogged about this type of chandelier on my blog today..
Mya
http://inlieuif.blogspot.com/
J'Ann says
You guys never fail to amaze me. Never would have thought of that!
Darcy says
It looks great!
Rachel says
Gotta love a quick fix!
By the way, just spotted the mini smily face at the bottom right of the page… What the heck is that? i was disappointed to find out it wasnt a special hidden link like you find on some DVD menus to some funny/crazy page (you never know with you two) but still a fun find :)
YoungHouseLove says
I know! We wish it could take you to a secret YHL world! It’s actually put there by our stat tracking service. Isn’t that funny?
xo,
s
Robin says
I’ve seen that too and wondered!
Rache says
We used them in our living and dining rooms, around our ceiling fans. Our house is an old farmhouse from the mid-1800s, but we’re long-term renting, so we aren’t trying to make any expensive changes. ;)
Ceiling fans are ugly, but an absolute necessity in south Texas, especially since we rely [heavily] on window units for our air conditioning. ;)
graceful creative says
Is it plastic? On my computer screen, it appears to look plastic-like, and it seems that it would look better painted. (But maybe it’s just how it appears on my screen?)
YoungHouseLove says
Yup it’s plastic but it’s not shiny – so in person it looks pretty convincingly like a white painted wood medallion.
xo,
s
carolinaheartstrings says
Love your choices in that room. You have done a wonderful job in there. It is a room that can grow with her too!
Shaundra says
HAHA! Love the title!
Charmaine says
I’ve used a couple of ceiling medallions when we were changing some pot lights to hanging pendants over my grandma’s kitchen island. The pot lights weren’t centered so we moved the electrical boxes a few inches so that they were centered & covered the new hole plus the old hole with a spiffy looking medallion. It worked like a charm.
Ashley says
Last weekend the hubs and I tried putting up a medallion (from Lowes) around our ceiling fan in the bedroom… we’d only had it in our closet for 6 months :-) Unfortunately, the center of the medallions only come in one size and wouldn’t fit around the base of the fan. We thought about trimming a portion of the center so that it would fit but our plastic cutting skills are slim (and I thought it might take away from the polished look we were going for).
Are there any other options that y’all would use/make?
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm not sure. Anyone have ideas? I think our instinct would be to trim the center out so it’s wider as you mentioned, but it might be hard to do a good clean job.
xo,
s
lana @ make a house a home says
super cute tip! what happens if you want to remove it later (to paint the ceiling/replace it)? loving the idea (we have a similar problem)- but may not want to commit unless it’s removable. thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
In the case of this one it’s 100% removable and reversible (it’s not even glued or screwed to the ceiling, it’s just held up by the light fixture itself). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
sara says
looks awesome! We have one in our master. It was already there when we moved in with a ceiling fan. It’s like the only thing we kept when we re-did the room this winter!
Krysta says
I had the word Crack in my post this morning as well…except mine wasn’t about a ceiling crack…Weird. And the chandelier with the medallion looks so good! Clara is one sophisticated lady!!
Elisabeth says
One of these medallions saved my life when I renovated my kitchen in August. There was a large flush-mount light in the kitchen before, and I wanted to install a semi-flush version instead (to allow more light to shine onto the ceiling, making things brighter in the small kitchen). I took down that ugly flush mount light, and the ceiling was a mess. Spackle is not my strong point, so I opted for the easier fix and bought a medallion instead. It looks wonderful, and nobody knows what’s going on under there!
Tammy Wirt says
We used one in our kitchen. When we moved in it had a really ugly square box light fixture. We took it down to add something more modern, but was left with an open box. Added the medallion and it covered up the problem. :)
Jessica H. says
Nice One!!!! Have not used the medallions but think you guys found a cute way to deal with this issue. Painting the metal ring white is a sweet detail.
Way to go! I enjoy you guys so much and am right there with ya, DIY Rocks!!
elle C. says
We used a small ceiling medallion for an IKEA light that we hung above our bathtub. The light was originally one with a plug-in cord that hangs from a hook in the ceiling, but we cut the cord, wired it with our light switch, and used the medallion to cover the big hole in the ceiling. That light is one of my favorite features in our newly remodeled bathroom.
http://memoirsofawannabegypsy.com/2011/01/no-bidets-allowed-an-ugly-house-master-bath-reveal/mb6/
Hurray for ceiling medallions! I LOVE Clara’s capiz chandelier! Lucky baby!
Ana says
It was incredibly random, but I was listening to Whitney Houston when I pulled up your post. “How Will I Know”!
And I have a cracked area like that in the dining room ceiling so maybe your inspiration will prompt me to go pick a medallion up.
lonely wife project says
Wow! It made a huge difference. Absolutely love it.
Carole White says
I LOVE ceiling medallions! We have one in our bedroom to add some pizazz to our chandelier. I spray painted it dark navy blue to add contrast to the white ceilings & white trim & soft gray walls – it was just to dress things up though. We also have one in our dining room to hide the big crack around the chandelier there. GREAT camouflage & they look amazing. I get compliments on them both! Great choice guys!
Sara @ House Bella says
I haven’t used a medallion, but I could certainly use one in our master!
Karen says
I’m actually in the midst of this same problem in my house- I just haven’t decided on a permanent solution yet. I have a semi-flush-mount fixture, so I’m debating whether a medallion would work. I’d love feedback about it on my blog:http://wp.me/p14rab-a4. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one with these ceiling issues!
Lora says
In our last home, we had to move the dining room light in order to center it over the table. But that left the original light hole – but to fix it would have required not just a drywall patch but would have meant painting the ceiling as well. For the entire first floor. The first floor was one large (relatively) open space and I didn’t want to spend the money and/or time painting approximately 1700 sq of ceiling. Enter the ceiling medallion. I bought the largest one I could get my hands on and it just reached far enough to cover the original hole. Problem solved!
Tracey says
Ha! Glad we’re not the only ones who take “the easy way out” sometimes! ;P We just got a brushed nickel hanging track light fixture for our kitchen and had to use a medallion since we had the same ceiling-botch-job-due-to-unsightly-ceiling-fan-installation that you did. My hubby painted it with ceiling paint and slapped it up there. Practical AND classy. Doesn’t get much better than that. Medallions for the win!
Tanya says
That is so cute! Wish I could convince my husband to agree to a ceiling medallion.
Lindsay says
I’m new to painting and I notice that you use almost all no-VOC paints. Can you tell me why? I’ve been using SW Super Paint and have loved the way it looks and covers the walls, but I don’t think it’s low-VOC or no-VOC. Should I switch?
I like medallion, by the way! :)
YoungHouseLove says
We do it for health reasons as well as environment ones! Not only is it better for adults to breath in, but for pups and babies and the earth too. It’s less fumey, stinky, and still seems to cover just as well (thanks to the marvel of a few reformulations) so we definitely don’t regret making the switch. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Holly says
Yess!! We just used the same medallion in Audrey’s room with her chandelier! We love it =)
In case you wanted to peek at it : http://www.hollysrollercoaster.com/2010/12/new-chandelier-for-audrey.html
YoungHouseLove says
So sweet!
xo,
s
Chuluotababe says
Just curious what was causing the ceilng to crack? I’ve learned the valuable home owner lesson that if you cover up (or in my case just flat out ignore) a problem, it will become nightmare later on down the road (when it floods your house).
YoungHouseLove says
We believe that the drywall was just dinged up around the edge when they installed the ceiling fan since it had a wider base and was quite heavy (so in tightening it, it cracked the drywall around the circumference of the junction box). Thankfully no water damage or anything else seems to be going on! Whew.
xo,
s
heartartz says
Great fix!
But mostly I am glad you have removed the fan and put in a lighter fixture for the most adorable Miss Clara.
The crack occurred because the fan was too heavy.
We found out the hard way….there was a fan and ceiling crack in our son’s room when we moved in
When we or he turned it up to high, he used to complain that it wobbled and that it would fall on his head and “cut him up” (gross exaggeration). It was a lovely white girly one, so when we finally got around to redecorating the room we bought him a more masculine brushed nickel birch fan. My husband is not handy, so we hired a real electrician to remove the old fan and reinstall the new one. When he remove a couple of the screws the whole fan fell out. He told us it had not been properly anchored to a joist, beam, or any cross brace. It had just been a juncture box popped into the ceiling. For a light ceiling light that is OK. A heavy moving fan needs more. He climbed into our attic and was able to use a install a metal cross brace.
Yes, he went thru the rest of the ceiling lights and fans to make sure that they were secure.
Also when we installed our new HEAVY dining room chandelier he had to put in a metal cross brace.
We are just glad our son was never “cut up”
Handy fan installation tutorial.
http://www.easy2diy.com/cm/easy/diy_ht_index.asp?page_id=35720265
YoungHouseLove says
Yikes! That’s so scary. Thank goodness it didn’t fall on your son!
xo,
s
Megan says
We have medalions in the majority of our rooms from the previous home owner. I love ’em, but painting them while they are stuck to the ceiling (she attached with some major adhesive), can be a pain. Some day the rest of the rooms in our house will have them.
Kristina says
Just a fun fact. These ceiling medallions would have traditionally been made of plaster not wood, as were crown mouldings. The plasterer would make custom moulds to accomodate the size of the room and the height of the ceiling. It really is an amazing art. I’m a heritage conservation student eager to share what I’ve learned.
YoungHouseLove says
Love that fact! It looks even more like plaster than wood so I should have known. Haha.
xo,
s
Lindsay says
Thanks so much! I just finished painting my bedroom yesterday. Next time I’ll look into low or no-VOC paint!