Wardrobe coving/cornice

[Jothetaxi]

we've spent so long planning the joinery in our home. In two of the rooms the plaster coving was going to run across the top of wardrobes. The wardrobes were designed with this in mind.

 

Plaster coving guy has come to fit the coving above the wardrobes and has discovered the ceiling is out, meaning there will be a large variation and the coving won't be straight.

 

I would appreciate any thoughts on how to finish this.  We could add a timber cornice to the top but that would mean cutting back the coving. 

Absolutely gutted that years of planning have come to this on the day of fitting.

 

Any help appreciated.

Edited yesterday at 12:31 by Jothetaxi

[Nickfromwales]

Filler panel to match the wardrobe doors, scribed in to the coving.
 

I never have the coving finish to the panel as it’s a pig to install ‘in reverse’ plus then it can be installed /removed easily. 

[Jothetaxi]

Thanks for the reply. This is the only room where the coving fitter has taken the coving past the joinery line. In other rooms he stopped it short so it can be finished before it hits the wardrobes/joinery.  I have no idea why he did this here and it has made it more complicated.

 

Just wondering if he can cut the coving away vertically.

 

You can see the line where the coving would not sit straight on the joinery.

What a headache.

Edited yesterday at 13:48 by Jothetaxi

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Jothetaxi said:

What a headache.

Shame they couldn’t use a spirit level when setting the ceiling out….  

[Mr Punter]

I think you will need to cut the plaster coving square and scribe an infill to the ceiling.  They will need to do the ends anyway so hopefully will be doing a decent job.  If there is a cornice on the wardrobes (I can't really see from the photo) it may need to be removed.

[torre]

Are you sure 100% it's all the ceiling not the wardrobe off level? Not sure if this is new build or reno but for a new build that seems quite a lot for the ceiling to be off.

 

I'd probably try and return the coving into the wall (like this) a few cm away from the wardrobe and keep everything flat above the doors, so there's no obvious line to highlight the height difference. Harder to do now as you'd have to cut back what's there at 45 degrees.

 

I appreciate that's not the finish you wanted though. If you really want to run the coving above the wardrobe doors then you could experiment with finishing just the bottom section of coving neatly but further away from the wardrobe and then just carrying the rest over the wardrobe, as it might be a bit less jarring without the bottom end butting up against the wardrobe.

[Jothetaxi]

Thanks very much for the replies. The house has been refurbished and this is where the garage was, so imagine the ceiling is following some of the original joists when boarding. We're on a very tight timeline now so could have done without this.

 

Wardrobes are dead level. 

 

Thanks for the detail on the return for the coving - that is what we plan to do;  It is working out who can actually cut the coving away, as we are on a very tight timeline. The coving guy says he can finish the end with the return detail and that will look more intentional.

 

Agree with Mr Punter about the infill to the ceiling.  I think that is what they will do.

 

Frustrating with all planning involved.  

[Nickfromwales]

2 hours ago, Jothetaxi said:

this is where the garage was, so imagine the ceiling is following some of the original joists when boarding

First thing out of the box is the trusty laser. Saved my arse soooooooooo many times.

 

Hopefully the return coving will be perfectly acceptable, and you'll need to fast-forward to a year from now when you (actually) no longer even look at it. Too many people get utterly lost in these micro-details, and then come 12 months later, life has returned to normal, and these things are of zero consequence anymore.