Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 196 Comments

Covering Drywall Cracks With A Ceiling Medallion

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.”

Medallion Before

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.

Medallion Package

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?).

Medallion Package Close Up

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:

Medallion Uncovered Box

And reattach the whole thing with the wires now threaded through the medallion. It looked a little something like this mid-project:

Medallion Attached

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.

Medallion After Close

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.

Medallion After Off

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.

Medallion After On

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).

Medallion Full Room

Have any of you guys used ceiling medallions in your home? Was it to hide a problem or just for looks?

Comments

  1. Michelle N says

    Love it! I’m thinking about using a few ceiling medallion for my wall. I found some really cute decorative ones on Amazon.

    I found this today on Design Sponge, it’s an old post but still worth talking about…they made their own capiz chandelier out of wax paper. I’m sure you could even melt crayons in between the pieces of wax paper to add color. How cool is that?

    http://www.designspongeonline.com/2010/08/diy-project-brennas-paper-capiz-shell-chandelier.html

    Reply

  3. heather s. says

    I have one in my dining room that I installed years ago. They also sell them in two pieces so that if you are nervous about taking down the light fixture you can slightly loosen the base of the fixture and slide the two halves around the base before re tightening the base to the ceiling. I then added a little caulk to the pieces where they met and you can’t even tell it wasn’t one piece.

    Reply

  4. Wendy says

    I used one in my bedroom to cover up the fact that previous homeowner hung a ceiling fan off-center–oh, and hung that fan with only two wood screws into the ceiling joist! Love the light play on the ceiling in Clara’s room!

    Reply

  6. Angie says

    Love, love, love medallions! The only thing is, our house is uber modern, metal siding and all, and no crown moldings or anything like that. I have been on the hunt for a medallion that won’t look out of place. Is there such thing as a *modern* medallion???

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’ve definitely seen some clean-lined simple medallions for sure. Stay tuned since we might just be blogging about one tomorrow- hint hint.

      xo,
      s

    • Harinee says

      The master bedroom fixture?!! You guys are fast – this would around the time I’d have finished unpacking, if it were me.

  9. Rebecca Foxworth says

    We live in a fixer-upper right now, but even our “new” home that we bought in 1994 and sold in 2003 had flaws and stuff we had to compensate for. And hey, this looks great! Good work, guys!
    (I think that type of design is called “hobnail”. I have some “hobnail” plates and bowls that have the little beady thing around them.)

    Reply

  10. Caroline says

    Love this! We added one to our baby girls room also, it looks soo cute! We painted it the same color as the walls (pink) and it really pops and looks so cute! I love all your ideas!

    Reply

  12. Nina says

    I just bought a medallion as well to hide a gap around the base of the light fixture. I have primed and painted mine. Looks so much better than the original plastic, it almost looks like plaster. But I still need to attach it to the ceiling…

    Reply

  13. Michelle says

    I spy a breathable bumper!! After you lowered the crib was Clara getting stuck between the crib slats? I’m debating the breathable bumper myself. I’ll probably wait, and get one as I need it.

    Reply

  14. Missy says

    The more intricate ceiling medallions make great wall art. One can of primer and another of spray paint and I have a wall with character!

    Reply

    • Missy says

      Ok, something is “wack” about my computer or the website cause my comment was spliced in two and posted at different times! My ISP is a very strange beast… :)

  15. Christina says

    I have an odd question about your crib. We are looking at the same crib actually except in all espresso color but we were nervous about the height since it seems so short (I’m 5’7 and hubby is 6′) Have you guys felt like its low at all? Or when Clara was an infant did the highest mattress level seem low to you? Maybe not as much of an issue for Sherry as John being taller and all. Its just scary buying online without seeing something first! Also since you’ve now had it for a while and its been through a move how do u think it’s holding up and are u still happy with your purchase? Thanks!!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      John’s 6′ tall and he never had an issue with the crib height at all (and I definitely didn’t have one, haha). Maybe try taping off the height of the crib mattress on the wall and standing near it to get a feel for it? You’ll definitely have to do some bending when you lower the mattress no matter how tall the crib is, so maybe just see what you think about that top setting. As for the move and how it’s holding up now, we still love our crib and Clara seems to as well (she’s peacefully sleeping there as I type this). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  18. kristin blake says

    I actually have three of those (in different sizes) and I hung them up on the wall at the end of our hallway. It gives your eye something to look at :) They are hung with just a simple nail that fits into a small hole my husband drilled into the backs of them (without going too far so he didn’t drill through it!). I love the look it gives the wall. Something different!

    Reply

  21. Amy says

    We used a medallion to help us recenter the overhead lighting. Like your new ranch, we also use the intended living room as the dining room. The table placement is off center for better traffic flow. Nonetheless, we used a great chandelier with a sheer drum shade and swagged it from the junction box (also room center) to center of table. The medallion covered the scars from the old ceiling fan.

    Love your blog…can’t wait to see your dining room.

    ~Fellow RVA ranch owner

    Reply

  22. Jane says

    I have the exactly same medallion in my home office (which used to be a baby room by the former owners). I wonder if they put the medallion there to hide something…

    Reply

  24. Katie Truelove says

    Whoa! I could see how that crack could have turned into a nightmare fast– good thinking. I might have been skeptical seeing it in the package but I think it looks great in the room- especially with the light on– you’d just think it was part of the chandelier.

    Reply

  26. Nicole says

    Yes, we have used one. We built some cabinets in our multi-purpose mud room/office/pantry and their addition made the light fixture no longer in the center of the ceiling. We needed a really large one to span the gap so we actually bought one of those big plastic round trays that you put under a large plastic planter. We spray painted it white and it worked like a charm.

    Reply

  27. Rachelle says

    Loving the blog! I just happened to come across it as I was googling decor ideas and themes for my livingroom (I have red couches). I really want to do a Caribbean/Beach feel, but nothing was popping up, then TA-DA…your kick ass blog appeared and now I’m hooked :) Thanks for sharing. I was checking out all the cool “to do” lists that you posted as we’ll be in Richmond this weekend…we live in Newport News, but it’s nice to venture to another town on the weekends. Again, thanks for sharing your blog. Hugs. ~Rachelle

    Reply

  31. duvetgirl says

    Here in the UK we call then ceiling roses, rather than medallions, which I think is a slightly nicer name (no 1970’s chest hair connotations!) but they certainly do an awful lot of give a room a finished look. It’s all in the details :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, I love learning things like that from you fancy international folks! Roses definitely sound sweeter than medallions, thanks to the whole chest hair thing- haha.

      xo,
      s

  32. Cheryl says

    We had to do this in the basement of our townhouse (when we took the old (large) ugly fixtures down, there was a big hole in the ceiling next to one of them! Apparently when building the house, they didn’t do the ceiling drywall correctly (ugh). Since we had two fixtures, our trick was trying to find 2 in a store that were both large enough and plain enough (they can be so ornate they need a fancy room or traditional decor) to work in our basement. It was a great quick fix though, and we didn’t have to figure out how to fix this big but not dangerous problem :)

    Reply

  37. sonya says

    I put one similar to yours up when I installed a chandelier in my bedroom sitting area. Mostly to give it a more “finished” look, but it probably conceals some marks left behind by the old “boob fixture” it replaced. Dontcha just love boob fixtures! At first I was worried it would look cheap because of the plastic or I’d be able to see a gap between the medallion and ceiling, but no problems, looks just like crown molding!

    Reply

  38. Jenn(ifer) @ heim-elich says

    Over here (Germany) ceiling medallions and crown moulding are made from styrofoam (the new ones obviously), really easy to paint, cut and glue to the ceiling – absolutely DIYable…

    Totally unrelated:
    Love your new about us picture and text

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That’s so interesting about the styrofoam! Who knew?! But I bet it’s so light and easy to install! And so glad you like our little sidebar update.

      xo,
      s

  40. StaCy says

    Is that a bumper pad on her crib? I can’t quite tell but it looks a little thinner than the traditional bumper… I found our son face planted into his bumper this morning, snoozing away. Scared me to death!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yup, it’s a breathable bumper from Babies R Us, which keeps her from getting a leg or an arm stuck, but is still nice and thin- almost like mesh. It was recommended by our doc thanks to lowering the whole SIDS risk, and we know Clara’s already almost 10 months old, but we’re just so nervous about those things!

      xo,
      s

  41. Cyan B says

    When we moved into our house, there was a medallion in our living room, under a ceiling fan. We removed the fan and the medallion to put in a prettier, better fixture and the medallion had been glued on. So we now have this ring around our fixture of what looks like torn off wallpaper. The ceiling is textured (I know, awful, I hate it), so we have had a hard time getting the paper off without leaving flat spots in the texture. Any ideas on how we can fix this? Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Maybe ask around at the home improvement store? They might have simple tools or products to help retexture the ceiling over those flat spots to blend things in!

      xo,
      s

  42. leah says

    We used one when we installed an “new” old chandelier in our bedroom too. The old fixture left a large ugly circle that was unfinished so we had to cover it. It looks so much better with the medallion just like Clara’s. Totally cool.

    Reply

  44. Kelly says

    We replaced a light in our kitchen and the base was smaller than the opening. It’s been this ugly, gaping, icky presence for a while now. This is genius! I had no idea these existed! Well, looks like I’m off to go grab one and a can of spray paint to match the silver light base!

    Reply

  45. Diane says

    Looks great!! I have always loved ceiling fans but I also like to do things a bit differently so I had a faux painter come in and paint one around my dining room chandelier..looks great but for total effect I need a round wood edge which we have had trouble finding. Any ideas on where I can get half round molding to go around a circle?

    Reply

  46. Deena says

    We have used them to transfer can lights into regular fixture boxes. Above our front door was a can light and in the hallway a can light. I wanted a more substantial light fixtures in each place so when my husband removed the can and replaced it with an electrical box, we used these instead of redoing the ceiling around what used to be the can. Above the entrance we got a chrome chandelier and we have white ceilings. I didn’t want the medallion to take away from the fixture so I spraypainted the medallion chrome and it looks like part of the fixture!

    Reply

  47. Tina says

    We did, in our dining room, the last owner of the house left this hideous rose & brass colored light that really messed up the ceiling, so when we switched out the light fixture for something more modern (and pleasant to look at) we saw the medallions and thought, “hey that would look sooonice!” and it does! You can see it here: http://www.teebliterary.blogspot.com and click on house tour!

    Reply

  48. Courtney says

    Looks great! We LOVE ceiling medallions, we always put one in when we replace a fixture. We have a old house with lots of historic detail and I think ceiling medallions add to the historic vibe! :)

    Reply

  49. annabelvita says

    Next time I visit my friends’ holiday home I MUST take a picture of the incredible (awful) moulding and ceiling rose in one of the living rooms. It was really ornate (flowers and leaves) and sometime long ago (guessing 70s based on the rest of the decor) someone painstakingly painted all the different bits pink, blue and green. It’s unbelievable. If you go in that room all you can do is stare at it.

    Reply

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *