We are often asked if we have Victorian Coving by customers restoring Victorian houses, with coving as in many other areas the Victorians adopted a wide range of other styles and incorporated them into their buildings.
Victorian Coving was mass produced and arrived on site in standard lengths. The invention of gelatine moulds in the middle of the nineteenth century had allowed mass production of standard designs, whilst the simpler plain cornices used in bedrooms were run in situ by the Plasterer using wet plaster and a template.
Victorian Coving was often decorated in several colours with different colours used to pick out the various elements of the design; gilding was also applied to some of the more elaborate designs.
Plaster coving was an important part of Victorian interior design, often painted in a number of different colours that related to the other elements of the room, unfortunately much of the surviving Victorian coving is so badly clogged up with paint that it is impossible to recreate the original look and painting it a single colour may be the only option.
We have a number of different designs that recreate Victorian coving, they are made in exactly the same way as the originals, by hand in a mould, and once fitted and painted it is impossible to tell the difference.
It was considered very important to create the right impression when visitors came to your house with a grand impressive entrance hall, and Victorian coving played a part in this with the grandest most elaborate designs used in the entrance halls, with designs becoming more restrained as you moved through the house.
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