Coving (Crown Moulding) for Dummies

Coving (or crown moulding for my American friends) is a great way to make those ugly joints and corners, where wall and ceiling meet, more interesting and finished. I personally think that it makes the whole room look better! Hubby and I have fitted coving  in 5 rooms of our current house and we have gained a little bit of experience along the way. As I'm of the idea that images are better than lengthy explanations, I'm going to give you an avalanche of pictures with hopefully just a few brief descriptions here and there -can't promise I won't get carried away with the writing though-.

Let's start by recognizing two types of corners: external and internal. It's important you assess your angles before starting as you'll need to cut your pieces differently.

These are the materials you'll need:

1) Sand paper 2) Polystyrene Coving 3) Lightweight coving adhesive -we used the cheapest one available- 4) Sponge 5) Spatula 6) Saw and mitre box

Start with the most visible angle. I used this guide for cutting them:

Source

I'd recommend you cut one set of internal and one set of external corners to use as a reference while cutting the rest. They're just for reference so they don't need to be too long.  Feel free to write on them so you know which way up they go up. We also put a reference for what side goes up in the mitre box. This should make the rest of the job easier.

Once the pieces are cut, sand the edges to make them as smooth as possible.

Now, at this point the pros would recommend cutting the other end of the piece in an angle as well  but we found that to be too complicated as it requires more measuring. We just cut it straight and it makes it easy to join it later on with the other piece. Don't forget to sand this side as well!

Cut the second part of your corner as per the reference above.

Make sure your corner is looking lovely like this one before moving to the next step. :o)

Apply the adhesive to the rear upper and lower edges of the coving.  Hubby thinks it has the consistency of Philadelphia soft cheese...

Take the first side and press it into place. Be careful not to dig your fingers on it as it will leave a mark. Remember this is just polystyrene and quite easily damageable ( if such a word exists!). Do the same with the other side of the corner.

I use two spatulas to remove the excess of adhesive that quite likely will squeeze out from behind the coving. You can then wipe everything away with a damp sponge. I even run my finger across them to help with this step. You can also use the adhesive to smooth out the joints.

That's the first corner finished! Continue adding lengths until you reach a corner. Carefully measure the length of coving required and, using the two graphics guide above, work out which cuts you need.

Important tip alert! (It will save you wasting several planks of coving trying to figure this out): For an internal angle, the distance you measure for the gap will be the longer end of the coving, which is at the top when you cut it in the mitre box but is the bottom edge when you put it on the wall.

Once you've finished putting the coving up it's important you give a couple of coats of plaster sealer.  The hardest bit here was getting the child-proof cap off the bottle!

Once the sealer has dried, it's time to paint your coving in the colour of your choice. As we like to live wildly, we've chosen white ;o)

I'm totally convinced that the secret of a great paint job are the brushes and rollers you use. I'm the number one fan of Harris brushes and products. I would swear by them! Their bristles are so smooth you could use  them even for your make-up -just kidding, maybe not- and they are very easy to clean as well. I have used them a lot in all our previous decorating projects but these gel ones we tried this time -thanks Harris brushes for sending them over- they are superb! No more sore index and thumb after cutting-in!

So, have you ever done any coving? Have you been brave enough to give it a go with the heavy, real plaster ones? If so, please let me know about your experience!