Moulding - Key to riches?

Lisa and I are working on fixing up the little condo we call home. We're hoping to replace the darker wood moulding we have everywhere in the house now as it would go a long ways to lighten the place up. (See previous comments about a hobbit hole) It would appear, from my research, that moulding is what separates the upper-class from the lower class. It's not the actual wealth, but the impression of wealth. Moulding is the key here.

Let me give you an example. Almost everyone has base moulding. (This is the wood or plastic strip that runs around the whole house just above the carpet.) Base moulding is common these days in most mid-ranged priced houses. (in Seattle anywhere from 100k to 900k) We see it all the time and think nothing of it. It is part of the room.
The step to upper-middle class happens when you install crown moulding. This is the moulding that looks far more decorative that circles the ceiling. This can run the gammut from very fancy to something you might pick up at a local hardware store. Base and Crown = upper middle class. A step down from that, and one that is becoming more trendy as well, is the chair board molding. This is the moudling that runs around the middle of the wall about where a chair back would hit. It is often trendy to use this to separate colors or wallpapers.
When you buy a house that has all 3 mouldings you've successfully landed in the "rich" category. It is funny though that if you were to stop and think about the actual cost of moulding that doing all three to your house could be done fairly cheaply. (Lisa and I need some 273 feet of base moulding to do our condo, which looks like it'll come out to be between 120 and 150 bucks.) If one was to save up you could slowly build your home into a moulding heaven where all 3 mouldings could be found: Base, chair and crown. Then people would be confused when they came over as to which bracket you fit into economically.

~B.