We’ve long disclaimered pictures of our kitchen with “oh, and we still need to add crown molding.” But that stops today! The unfinished edge where the wall/tile meets the ceiling…
… is no more!
Let’s get a little closer…
Wait, let’s rewind so I can attempt to tell you how we got there. For all of those who have been wondering about that dark line above our pantry (a few folks asked if the beam was sagging or if there was a hole) – it’s just another spot where we’ve been missing crown molding. Since there had originally been cabinets to the ceiling along that entire side of the kitchen (including one that wrapped around that beam), we’ve been stuck with a few crownless areas since we took those cabinets down in November. So they look dark and crag-y without trim to lend that finished look.
But before we could start installing crown molding, we had to make a quick fix to our hood. In a rush I had used some regular duct tape to seal up the vents on my hood. Hey, it’s called duct tape, it has to work in ducts, right? Wrong! A few smart commenters expanded my tape knowledge on my hanging post (and kept me from having some ventilation issues down the road) by reminding me that I needed to use the real metal foil tape stuff instead. So I took a moment to pry off a few pieces from my wood cover…
…and shimmied my hand in there enough to remove the bad duct tape and rewrap everything in the legit foil stuff.
But enough about tape. Let’s talk crown molding. This will be a bit hard to explain (and the fact that I took less-than-stellar pictures of this process won’t help me), so bear with me:
Our kitchen has three types of crown for some weird reason. There’s traditional crown around the perimeter of the room – except that it’s very very slightly smaller on the fireplace half of the room (nothing you’d ever notice with the naked eye unless you were literally holding them up next to each other, but thanks to the beams they never touch so we didn’t even detect this phenomenon until we tried to fill in a few crown-less areas and learned it was slightly different). Meanwhile, the beams just have a thin cove molding on them except for one side of one that randomly has thick crown running across it – so strange!
So our challenge was that we had to replace small bits of all three and remove the way-too-thick trim on that one mismatched beam. Because redoing the entire room from scratch would actually have been a big project and a pretty pricy undertaking since all the beams that would have to be trimmed out on each side would add up to the equivalent of about four rooms’ worth of trim.
Further complicating things – none of the molding seemed to be the standard stuff you can buy at Home Depot, so we couldn’t just fill in the gaps with fresh pieces from the store. The only thing saving me from having to re-crown the entire room? I had carefully saved every single piece of crown that we took down with the cabinets.
Of course it needed some primer and paint to keep flashbacks of our old woodsy kitchen at bay (we like Zinsser Smart Prime when it comes to painting wood trim since it can bleed through and ruin your paint-job if you don’t use a stain-blocking primer first). Then we followed that with a few coats of off-the-shelf white from Behr (the one with paint + primer in it, so it gave us great coverage with stain-blocking primer underneath it). Why did we use that paint? It was what we used for the rest of the trim in the kitchen back when we painted the paneling. It’s a really nice crisp white color that layers in nicely with our white Corian couners.
Now for the bad news: I was short a few pieces. Wop wop. My leftovers of this large sized crown weren’t enough to fill the gaps around that side of the room. Then I had a flash of brilliance (or used ordinary common sense that any human being would possess) and realized that the odd mismatched beam with the thick trim on one side was the right size for the job. So I could steal it from there and replace it with store-bought smaller trim (which exactly matched the stuff on the other beams- or was at least really close). Then the whole room would have trim that actually appears to make sense and I wouldn’t be short on trim to finish the job. Talk about lucky breaks. That weird mis-matched beam actually saved us from having to re-crown the entire kitchen.
So the good news was that I had another big, long piece of crown to use to fill in all the spots that needed filling in. And the bad news was that the kitchen was actually looking a lot uglier at this point:
Now this is where my photos start to get terrible. I don’t know where my head was (actually I do – I was in a post-book photo shoot fog). So forgive me that this isn’t really a “how to install crown molding” post and more of “here are fleeting snippets of how we did it and some pics of the finished product.” Maybe next time I’ll be a better documentarian (we’ve always wanted to put crown in Clara’s room along with the other two bedrooms on that side of the house, so we promise to take better photos and actually share a step by step rundown when we do). And in the meantime, here are links to some of the tutorials that I learned from (since this was my first time and all). I read the ones here, here, here and here.
Cutting was interesting, to say the least. You have to cut crown at the same angle that it will sit against the ceiling – i.e. not laying flat. One of the tutorials suggested temporarily gluing a piece of guide wood to your saw table to help hold the piece of molding at the angle. I took a picture of myself starting to try this, but it never really worked for me (I didn’t want to use heavy duty glue and ruin my saw, and the lighter duty stuff I had wouldn’t cure thanks to the cold temps).
And even once I figured out how to make those cuts (just by holding things by hand), I still wasn’t done cutting. I still had to use a coping saw to get rid of some extra overhang that would prevent my corners from sitting flush. See that going on below? All of the tutorials suggested marking the edge with a darker marker to help ensure that I was cutting as close to the edge as possible. I guess it helped.
Being my first time, things went okay – but I’ll admit my cuts weren’t perfect. Nor was my ceiling perfectly flat (oh the joys of an older home). But everything was sufficient enough that a little caulk and paint ended up finishing it off really well. Whew. So here are my first few pieces in place (without caulk and paint yet, obviously).
Despite having primed and painted all of the pieces, the general banging around that happened during the cutting / coping / hammering process got them fairly beat up.
No biggie, I knew we’d have to break out the paint anyways for nail holes and more obvious spots (like where we would be replacing the big crown on that one beam with smaller cove molding).
Speaking of cove molding, remember how I was missing just a small section on the other side of that beam? Well, I had hoped the new stuff that I got from the store would match… but I wasn’t so lucky. Turns out our existing stuff wasn’t a standard size. So that one whole of the beam ended up needing to be replaced with something slightly larger. Thankfully since each side of the beam runs into thicker crown around the perimeter (and doesn’t meet other beam trim on the other side) the difference isn’t detectible at all (it’s one of those you-can’t-tell-unless-they’re-next-to-each-other-things). So although it might sound annoying to replace one side of a beam for a small missing piece of not-standard cove trim, it was muuuuch better to replace the side of one beam instead of six sides of beams and ten perimeter pieces between each beam and around the rest of the room. In short: it could have been much much worse.
And I did get lucky when it came to the small section of missing crown on that side (remember how it’s slightly smaller than the rest of the crown in the room?). In a last ditch effort to keep from having to replace all of the crown on this half of the room, I found a single piece of matching molding in a trash bucket in the basement. I was never so happy to see old orange-y trim in my life.
So here are those pieces installed and caulked over. The shot below sort of demonstrates how the thinner trim along the beams meets the thicker trim around the room, so I hope that makes sense now. And yes, this is the only picture that I ended up snagging of the whole caulking and painting process that Sherry and I tackled over the course of a few hours. Basically we just used white paintable Dap caulk and a caulk gun to run some beads wherever we need to fill things in, smoothed them with our finger, waited for it to dry, and painted it to keep it all looking seamless.
So let’s just fast forward to some afters, shall we?
It’s a small change, but it makes a pretty noticeable difference in our opinion. Minus the empty fixture hole in the ceiling above the sink (and mismatched dishwasher) you could almost be tricked into thinking this was a finished room now. Although the real game-changer will definitely be those cork floors – which we’re more anxious than ever to get in there so we can call this kitchen done-zo. Slowly but surely.
Oh yeah, and since everything came off the shelves when the trim went up, of course it didn’t all go back up in the same way. In other words: Sherry had a grand ol’ time playing around with a few things – like adding two more frames, eliminating some stuff that we realized we weren’t using very often, and just playing around because it’s her idea of a good time). As for a few of the frames that are actually hung, we used 3M removable picture hanging strips (which meant no holes in our tile and an easy-to-remove-whenever-we-want result).
Oh and since some of you requested a photo of the window to see the slice of “breathing room” on each side that finally makes it looked balanced, here it is. Once we have a nice gleaming pendant light hanging down in front of the window it should be pretty darn charming. It’s a nice little airy spot since the wall of shelves is a pretty big focal point, so not filling up every square inch of every other wall feels like the way to go for us. We’re also toying with something on the window (roman shade or blind) so we’ll have to keep you posted.
We’re thankful that it’s a far cry from the crazy off-centered deal that we had going on for a while before the tile and shelves went up to restore the balance:
Here’s another shot from a similar angle where you can see more of the crown.
And another:
So that’s where we are. Next up: finding/hanging a pendant over the sink, finishing the peninsula with some decorative wood molding, installing the dishwasher, and finally adding those cork floors so we can call this 3.5 month marathon done! Oh yes, and doing something to the side of the pantry and possibly altering the stools is at the very end of the list (not sure how the cork will change things so we don’t want to jump the gun on either of those things).
What did you guys do this weekend? Any trim hunting/cutting/hanging? Or open-shelf tweaking? Or metal-foil-tape using?
Kim says
The room is looking great!!! Can’t wait till you have the new flooring.
Question – The right side of the beam looks like it had molding all the way around, are you going to do the same thing to the left side?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes! We still have to add that 4″ piece of trim molding that goes under that one beam- just didn’t have any on hand. But the next time we go to Home Depot we’ll grab it!
xo,
s
bhh says
Finishing touches and details make all the difference . . . Bravissimo!!!
Suggestion: maybe replace outlet covers with stainless steel ones
Question: where do you keep your sponge/dishrag?
YoungHouseLove says
We have a little wire holder thingie that sticks to the side of our stainless sink with suction cups and holds our sponge out of sight (its on the inside edge). And our dishrag is usually just folded on the counter (sometimes I realize it’s time to wash it before we take pics and toss it into the laundry pile- haha). As for the stainless outlet cover idea, it’s definitely something we’ve been considering! Will keep you posted!
xo,
s
SherriEakin says
Loving it!! This whole kitchen is so bright and cheerful! :)
Suggestion for the light over the sink: I honestly like the look of the window without anything blocking it. If you are having trouble finding a pendant that fits in with the rest of the decor and doesn’t compete with the cool pendants you have over the peninsula, I think it would look just fine with another can light up there. Just a thought – take it or leave it! Haha!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, definitely a possibility if we can’t find something that looks right!
xo,
s
Rebecca @ the lil house that could says
A little caulk, a little paint, let’s make it what it ain’t!… words to live by :)
We’ll be installing our first crown probably next weekend. Eeeek!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I love it. Good luck with everything next weekend!
xo,
s
Ellen says
So much better! Hard to believe such a small thing makes such a difference, but I’ll tell you… I’m a crown molding believer now! Nice work, guys.
Ericka says
I think I may be in love with your kitchen. Yes, I’m sure I am.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Ericka! Come on over!
xo,
s
Sarah says
Ahhh!!! I love it! It’s soooo bright and air-y and clean. Looking at the pictures I instantly feel relaxed and happy. Like I might enjoy doing dishes in there. :)
How did you hang those pictures on the tile wall?
YoungHouseLove says
We used 3M adhesive strips since they’re 100% removable (no holes in the tile! Yay!)
xo,
s
Teresa @ wherelovemeetslife says
wow, the crown actually makes the wall look smaller.. or shorter? Isn’t that an odd phenomenon? I like it though, it is getting closer to a finished room. Now I am anxious for those floors… I am curious how that will level the playing field for the white…
Lizzy says
I love seeing these “minor” updates making such a huge impact! I can totally relate to measuring/cutting/fitting crown moulding – it can make you dizzy!
We made a lot of progress on our kitchen this weekend – including a “minor” update to our side door and reframing the opening to our living/dining room (we had to make it a few inches narrower to accomodate a larger base cabinet). http://anexcellentadventure.blogspot.com/2012/02/lighten-up.html
YoungHouseLove says
Looking good!
xo,
s
Katie says
We installed crown molding as well this weekend. As owners of a 1960’s house, trim & molding are always challenging. I don’t blame you for not doing a “how to install crown molding” post. I am not sure I could explain to anyone else; it becomes, cut a little here, sand a little there. Wood filler became our new best friend! I am loving the kitchen updates and cannot wait for the floors…
Brianna says
You know, for the first time since I’ve started reading YHL, we did a similar project at the same time – trim in our den (door frames, baseboards, and faux wainscoting).
The crown moulding looks great!
YoungHouseLove says
Niiiice! Congrats Brianna! Sounds like you were so busy!
xo,
s
Krystal says
Crown molding definitely makes the difference between unfinished and finished looking, but it would literally drive me bonkers to have to go through all the work you guys did to try and match things up. I have never been so thankful to live a short drive away from a millwork warehouse, where we have bought all our trim and crown. An 8 footer will cost you 25 cents…10 to 12 footers will set you back a whole 50. Rosettes and corner blocks are a bargain at a nickel (the beauty being that you never have to worry about strange angle cuts, and it looks cleaner in my opinion). That place is heaven I tell you.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s amazing! You’re the luckiest gal!
xo,
s
Reenie says
Love it :)
Rachel Tatem says
The difference is amazing!
Sarah says
WOW…you have to be the most patient people ever.
Jessica D. says
So excited to see the cork floor go down! What a difference that alone will make, I’m sure you guys know that! Looking beautiful, so serene and tranquil with a pinch of YHL quirkiness :)
Megan I says
Oh my gosh, it looks amazing! It makes a huge difference. Great job!
Ginny @ Goofy Monkeys says
Wow – that molding looks so great! Whenever I think of crown molding I think of something heavy and ornate, but a simple profile like that can polish off the space without dominating the design. Well done!
This weekend I did a few Valentine’s day projects (which I blogged about).
We also put up a new ceiling fixture in the kids’ playroom – no post on that yet.
Have a great Monday!
Devon @ Green House, Good Life says
Looking great!
I’ve installed more crown molding than I care to remember (and hope to never do it again). No walls, old or new, are ever perfectly straight/plumb/square. Did you use the technique of running the first piece from wall to wall (no miters) and then cutting the ends of the next pieces that butt into them? I couldn’t tell from your description and photos, but it looked like it from the coping cuts. I found that to be a much better way to get a good fit than trying to miter everything at 45 degrees. Oh, and crown molding screams out for a nail gun. When gravity isn’t on your side, a nail gun makes it so much quicker and easier (and isn’t as rough on the crown).
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, that definitely helped! All of the things John read said that was standard and helped things lay better! I’m sure a nail gun would have been awesome though! Next time!
xo,
s
Linda says
Valentine’s Day coming right up – just saying a nail gun might be the perfect gift!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- you never know…
xo,
s
Alicia says
The kitchen looks amazing. Great work. What I’m wondering about is that wide open area above/behind the stove. I know it’s a ventilating area, but something tells me you’re not going to leave such a large swath of wall blank for too long. What’s the plan? Kitchen tool rod? Framed print(s)? Do tell.
YoungHouseLove says
Probably something! Just not sure yet and we love that tile so it might take a bit of time to pull the trigger! Haha.
xo,
s
Katherine says
Wow! Beautiful. And now it’s time to enjoy a romantic Valentine’s dinner together. Be kind to each other and get something pre-cooked or ordered in……and not mess up the kitchen just yet.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I like the sound of that!
xo,
s
Patti says
Love it, everything is looking so great. How did 3.5 months go by that fast? Incredible!
YoungHouseLove says
I know right? I can’t believe it’s February already. Wasn’t it just November of 2011?
xo,
s
Constance says
Wow! It’s looks so lovely – excellent work and so fun to see it coming along.
One quick question (which you may have already answered at some point), have you considered making the brackets on the cabinets white, leaving only the pulls silver/pewter? For whatever reason, whenever I see the room my eyes go right to them and it’s the first thing I notice. That might say more about my brain than your kitchen – I think I must be conditioned to the way most cabinets are now built with the brackets inside, rather than out. That said, I think making the brackets blend in with the cabinets would look very nice and crisp.
Just a question and matter of taste — it’s looking good!
YoungHouseLove says
Not sure I understand what you mean by the brackets on the cabinets. Oohhhh wait, you mean the hinges don’t you?! Oh that’s just a personal preference thing but we couldn’t get them hidden (wouldn’t work with our half-sunk doors since routing them out would cut right through the door) and we didn’t want white hinges with stainless hardware because we thought it might look odd and mismatched. We love them all the same finish, but it’s just a to-each-his-own call I think! Hope it helps!
xo,
s
laxsupermom says
Your crown really finishes your kitchen off nicely. The kitchen looks amazing! Do you know if the previous owners are following along?
Looking forward to seeing what pendant you end up choosing. I’m halfway surprised that you 2 aren’t DIYing a nifty colander light or something like that.
YoungHouseLove says
We do think they read (sometimes they facebook us) – they seem to love following along and not having to break a sweat themselves! Haha.
xo,
s
Jennifer (iffles) says
It’s amazing how much crown molding really finishes out a room – it looks fantastic!
Hey, maybe you can settle a debate between my mother and I. I have a living room with beautiful original woodwork that has never been painted! It looks fantastic, and I have no plans to ever paint it. But I also want crown molding in this room and my mother says I can’t because I wouldn’t be able to match the stain, and putting up white crown molding would look bad with the stained woodwork everywhere else. But I think white crown molding would look ok still – or at least, I hope it would. What is your opinion on the matter?
Btw, you can see the room here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cutiemoo/5646405870/in/set-72157626434326465/
YoungHouseLove says
I think white crown would look gorgeous in there! Especially if the color appears in a few other places (ex: a white accessory or two).
xo,
s
Kim @ Yellow Brick Home says
Aah, crown molding makes everything look better!
I was so excited when I saw this post and was ready to take notes – and then I read further and realized you already had most of the molding! Ha, oh, well! We need to install some in our home studio, and it’s been an absolute nightmare – it’s the first time we’re thinking about hiring out a professional. We just cannot wrap our heads around it…
Everything is looking great!
YoungHouseLove says
We’re going to do the crown from scratch in Clara’s room and a few other bedrooms so we’ll have to document that better since it’ll be from the beginning!
xo,
s
jess says
WOW! You guys are so close. Congrats on all the progress. Crown molding is a B****!!!!
Christa Mae says
That crown seriously makes all the difference in the world!! You wouldn’t even know that you guys aren’t done yet (save for the hole for the new pendant).
I’ll admit, though. Ever since you announced your selection of dark cork flooring, that’s the part I’ve been looking forward to the most. Let’s get that show on the road!! :)
I spent this weekend buying an inordinate number of owl figurines to feed my personal obsession [and to accessorize my un-paintable rental] :) My kitchen is nearly accessorized to my satisfaction (since we can’t remodel ANYTHING) and my living room is not far behind :) It feels amazing!
YoungHouseLove says
Buying an inordinate number of owl figurines sounds like a good time to me! Haha. Congrats on the new “friends”!
xo,
s
tracy says
The kitchen is so lovely! The crown really polishes it up. Makes me excited to see how it will improve my own kitchen.
rhonda says
I love how it’s coming together. My favorite view now for some reason is at the sink now that the shelves are up and loaded with all that cute stuff!
Jen_nifer says
The crown molding looks great! Am I the only one who thinks the frames on the open shelves makes it look a little busy? I want to see that gorgeous penny tile in between the stacks of dishes!
YoungHouseLove says
It definitely seems like a personal preference thing! Others have commented that they love that we added the frames, so I think it’s just one of those to-each-his-own things that makes decorating so personal and fun!
xo,
s
Christina says
Hey guys! Crown molding is so intimidating to us!! Thanks for explaining it in detail, it will help us out. By the way, your all’s hard work is SO paying off!! Your kitchen looks beautiful and I am sure you feel such satisfaction in doing much of the work yourselves.
About your gorgeously accessorized shelves, where did you get your blue and green glasses? They are so pretty and fun!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Christina! They’re from World Market ($2.99 each!). We’ve seen similar ones at Anthropologie for something like $8!
xo,
s
Firesparx says
Sorry if you’ve answered this already in a previous post, but when are you expecting your floors to go in? Are you waiting for them to come in stock or were you waiting until everything else was done?
YoungHouseLove says
We have our cork floors already but just don’t want to do things like work on crown molding or trim out and paint the peninsula after laying them because we worry about getting paint on the floor during those steps (we did have some drips while painting the crown this weekend). So they’ll go in last (most likely as soon as a crew of five folks for book shoots aren’t in our midst- haha!).
xo,
s
emma says
This weekend I finalized & purchased paint for two rooms – easier said than done!
I was also researching molding last night – we have 2 small eves in our bedroom and I’m having trouble figuring out if we can add crown molding or not, any thoughts? My online image searches have been unsuccessful.
Kitchen looks GREAT! So crisp and polished!
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, it’s hard to picture. Maybe post a pic on our Facebook page and ask folks what they think?
xo,
s
Katherine says
Can’t. Wait. for the floor……….!
:-D
Stacy says
Great job John! The molding looks great and really pulls the room together. Good thinking saving all of the pieces and recycling. I am so amazed by how much you guys have been able to accomplish in such a short time and with so much going on around you. Seriously need someone like that around my house.
Melanie says
The trim really brought the room together! I was wondering where you got the glass canisters that are on the countertops with sugar, flour, and I think one has goldfish? I looked on your where you got it page and didnt see specifics. I love those! We have ceramic ones that I’m kinda over. The clear glass is ideal! Thanks.
YoungHouseLove says
Those are from West Elm a while back! My BFF’s mom got them for us for our wedding!
xo,
s
tracy a says
i agree with many other commnenters…a world of difference! who knew such a little thing would make such a huge impact!!
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
Love the crown! We weren’t working on any projects this weekend, but the fun begins on Wednesday when we close on our first house!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow! Good luck and have fun!
xo,
s
Elisa @ What the Vita says
I think it looks great so far… the crown moulding really made a big difference, just like I (and you) knew it would :) Just one thought – the hood looks a little high, but I know you followed recommendations – maybe you could add a small art above the stove.. but not too big that it covers the beautiful penny tile? I think that would make the hood look less high.
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, we keep thinking about hanging art there but love our penny tile too much to pull the trigger just yet. But we’ll keep you posted!
xo,
s
Jenny says
WOW! It looks amazing!!! I can’t wait to see the floors go in. This entire remodel has been pretty inspiring to watch unfold. Maybe there is hope for my creepy kitchen yet!
http://[email protected]
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- there’s totally hope!
xo,
s
GretchenF says
It looks wonderful!
I’m sorry if this is a duplicate, but have you seen all of the recipes for DIY chalkboard paint? It’s just a mix of paint and grout. You can choose any color and kind of paint, which means you aren’t wedded to black. Might be a fun thing for your pantry.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, looks fun for sure!
xo,
s
Wom Mom Ethne says
Looks great! I’ve always wanted crown molding too. In-laws did it in the girls’ bedroom at their house. So spoiled.
Gaidig says
Looking good! Isn’t it amazing what a huge difference those seemingly small finishing details can make?
Also, I really like the addition of the large framed piece on the top shelf. That whole area was feeling a little empty/short, and I think it feels better balanced now.
Melissa says
Your kitchen looks amazing! Can’t believe it’s the same kitchen from a few monthes ago.
Kristen says
It’s amazing what a difference crown molding makes in a room. You have officially inspired me, I’m going to head off to Home Depot to get some going for my kitchen. As always you guys do amazing stuff!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Kristen! Good luck!
xo,
s
bria says
WOW, you guys! what an amazing transformation from your previously panelled kitchen to THIS! you are giving me the guts to tackle my own kitchen renovation!!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Bria! You’re so sweet!
xo,
s
Jen says
As always, I am totally impressed by your hard work!
John,
I have to tell you that I think your exhaust hood is my favorite piece in the room. That side shot of it in this post really highlights what a great job you did building it. You really are talented with figuring out and getting ‘er done.
I am totally inspired by you guys. I hope you get a vacation soon! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Jen! I’m so proud of John for that hood so I love reading comments like yours out loud to him and watching him beam! John is so modest that he always shrugs things like that off, but I can’t tell you how great of a job he did! Proud wife!
xo,
s
Lynn van Slyke says
I can not believe that is the same kitchen. What a transformation. You have truly out done yourselves this time. Beautiful job =)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Lynn!
xo,
s
Gavin S. says
The kitchen looks awesome! Way to go. Hope your weekend was fab and that you’re recovering from all the book photo craziness. How did you fix that big hole in the ceiling above your range hood? I’m sure the crown molding helped cover it, but I feel like it was big enough that you probably had to do some extra cover up, too, right?
YoungHouseLove says
That was the same method we used to patch our other ceiling holes (blogged about last week or the week before I think). They sell these little mesh sticky patch things that really help! We made a video about it too if that helps!
xo,
s