Coving has long been in use as a fancy way to transition between the top of a wall and the ceiling. It can frame a room and add a traditional feel to period and new builds. But there is more than one way to do it. Here are five contemporary coving alternatives for your home.
If you have an older, period property that requires renovating you don’t have to restrict yourself to tradition. Cutting-edge design sees new ideas working in old spaces, bringing homes right up to date.
So, whether you enjoy smart lighting, or want something classic, discover five contemporary coving alternatives for your home.
Change the Mood, Change the Light
LED is the low-energy light of the moment and you can use it to good effect. If your ceilings are in good order then this coving can add certain drama to any room.
An illuminated uplighting cornice can take any room and make it a contemporary space with a modern feel. The coving doesn’t come with the lighting, so it will need sourcing from elsewhere.
Choose a rope light that changes colour, or pulses around the room, synchronising to your choice of music. Fancy lighting and multi-colours can take a space from a chill-out zone to a party paradise at the press of a button.
Use Contemporary Coving Alternatives and Colour to Create Zones in Your Home
You can use contemporary mouldings to carve out and delineate spaces within a room. Highlight your sleeping area or make it part of the transition between two distinct spaces in an open plan setting.
Use coving to create dramatic statements in an otherwise featureless ceiling. Downlighters and inset ceiling lights can only do so much to add character and enhance mood.
Take a square-edged, stepped coving and use it to give rhythm to an otherwise bland stretch of ceiling. Employ subtle colour changes to define different areas.
You can buy this style of coving at most DIY retailers, but you will usually have to order it, so make sure you know how much you require before you begin.
The Bespoke Design That’s One of a Kind
There is nothing in the design rule book that says you have to go and buy anything sold as coving. What if there’s nothing that looks like what you want?
The good news is that there are no limits. With a little imagination, anything is possible, from a minimalist flat-panel frieze to a timber moulding made up from a selection of trims.
As an alternative, some companies will happily custom-make any MDF moulding you require, as long as the cutters exist to make your design a reality. You can make your own contemporary coving alternatives for your home.
Dado rails, designed to protect a wall from chair back and other damage can also look great when repurposed as a coving. This one from British maker Davuka, with its geometric parallel grooves is a great modern choice.
You don’t have to go with plaster, polyurethane, or polystyrene products these days to get that solid contemporary feel either. Timber merchants can cater for your coving needs, but you get what you pay for.
A supplier of quality timber mouldings will likely begin with pine at a minimum of £10 per metre, but it is less likely to have twists or a multitude of knots or other imperfections.
A Practical Place To Hide Services
If you need to box in ductwork, either venting for a kitchen or bathroom, make a feature of it and decorate the boxing. Or you could use a practical product designed to take all services. You can fit a lighting circuit behind the coving, cabling for your media wall or anything else that is best hidden to give a sleek, modern look to your home.
With a design of this sort, it is always a good idea to fit small access panels for when you might want to upgrade existing services or add cabling. Where there are electrical or plumbing services fitted, access to junction boxes and joints is essential.
Embrace Tradition and Move Up To Downton Abbey
Traditional, simple curved coving can be dull, so take a leaf out of a Stately Home designer’s book and upgrade to a super-decorative coving. This one from Orac Décor would look superb in Downton Abbey and could be right at home in your living room too.
It is lightweight and can be installed by any competent DIY enthusiast. Check your local big-box DIY store for availability before you decide to invite Lady Mary for afternoon tea.
Made from super-lightweight polyurethane you can glue it in place in minutes and it’s ready to accept a paint finish straightaway. No priming required!