skirting boards/cornie?

Barneysmom

Yep, my vote goes for coving,it looks so smart and finishes the room to perfection.

Gloomendoom

No coving at all in our house. No skirting some rooms either. It's not ultra modern either. Well, it may have been c. 1700.

ed110220

Depends on the style of the house I think. If it's modern in style (and I mean modern style, rather than just new) then no cornice or coving would be appropriate, otherwise I think it can just look unfinished.

Mine has a ceiling fillet which is a wooden strip about 35mm high at the wall/ceiling corner to provide a light, neat finish.

Very much go for what's appropriate for the house so nothing too minimalist if Victorian, nothing too heavy and ornate if 20th Century etc.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Mine's a newbuild in an old style. It has coving in all the rooms and looks far better for it.

I think that, considering you've got a lovely parquet floor, I'd want to keep the attention to detail up and replace the coving. Avoid the squeaky plastic stuff if you can - proper coving always looks better than a poor imitation.

anotherginger

Thanks everyone. Coving it is! It's a 1940s house and I don't think much has been done to it since the 70's.

All the coving that we have removed was polystyrene, so hopefully we'll get something nicer looking.

Yorkie1

The only semi-contrary observation I'd make is to consider the age of the house.

I have a 1930s house. Most houses in my road still have the picture rail, which I think looks great and sets off the proportions of the walls (height-wise), as well as allowing you to hang pictures from the rails.

My predecessor in this house put coving up everywhere and replaced the rail. I'd love to have the rail back to re-create the proper period features, but it wouldn't look right to have both, so I'm stuck with the coving (unless I go to significant effort to remove it and completely redecorate).

The coving looks fine, but it's not sympathetic to the house period.

cyclonebri1

Coving is often viewed as old fashioned, I agree with that, but being old fashioned I still like it.

Trouble is if you fit it in 1 room then it needs doing in all others or there is a real clash of style.

We can talk the boring quarter round stuff or decent ornate paster enhanced cornice.

That's where I'm coming in:D

No skirting board? they call them kick boards overseas and for good reason, ;)

Leif

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Coving is often viewed as old fashioned, I agree with that, but being old fashioned I still like it.

I suspect the reason for not fitting it on new builds is speed and cost. A good plasterer can get a good join without the need to spend an hour or two per room putting up coving.

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Trouble is if you fit it in 1 room then it needs doing in all others or there is a real clash of style.

In my opinion, it is okay to have it everywhere apart from the kitchen and bathroom, as they have their own definite style. But I do agree with you.