How do I fix this coving, and wallpaper?

[redcurrant]

Some time ago length of coving, including round corner of window, fell off. It was replaced with plain panel, but has left bare ceiling which needs repairing with woodchip, and also the coving has now stopped at an odd angle. I'm not a DIYer but friend's offered to help. I need to paste woodchip so it blends in with stuff already there, plus somehow fill in the end of coving so it doesn't look so odd.

Any tips deeply appreciated!

 

[Chivas69]

If you can buy some wood chip the best way to try and blend it with the old is to tear it when wet and stick it over the old stuff overlapping. If the previous wood chip has a lip to it try and remove that first. Once painted it should all blend together!
Do you still have the old piece of coving?

 

[redcurrant]

No, coving fell off ages ago. Could I do wallpaper first or should I wait till coving's done? Thanks for helpful tips on blending in the paper. I'm aware it won't look perfect - just less of an eyesore than now.

 

[Chivas69]

Yes, can do it first. When I say rip I literally mean rip in odd directions at different angles and not a straight line!
Can you buy any coving similar to what fell off? It will be mitred into the existing coving so the angles will be fine!

 

[sparkwright]

To amplify what's already been said, the best thing to do is to put some coving up again.

Even if it doesn't match exactly, it will still look better.

If you aren't much of a DIYer, lightweight polystyrene coving is available. It wouldn't look perfect, but very easy to fit.

 

[Chivas69]

I'm guessing it fell off as it was stuck to the pelmet!

 

[redcurrant]

Yes, I came back from a previous weekend and whole coving has crashed onto sofa. From the state of the house (underneath fancy decor) I suspect previous owner was a not vg DIYer. I will let you know how it goes (or possibly not depending on what it ends up looking like). Thanks for advice so far!

 

[redcurrant]

OK, similar coving appears unobtainable - I had seen it in Homebase years ago. It's far deeper than average. So I decided to fill holes in, and got 500ml no nonsense lightweight filler, not yet applied. Then someone suggested stuffing with newspaper - ok so far as it filled the huge gap. Then a matter of wet or dry paper? Spray with glue before plastering? If wet, would it rot inside the plaster? Someone else said avoid paper and gave me wire mesh, which is difficult to cut or bend - fine for holes in walls, but not for a gap which juts out, I thnk.

2 previous decorators both said they'd just stick card on and paint over that. Do they mean cardboard? Seems very fragile.
Any ideas with newspaper/glue/soaking or spraying water before plastering? You can see from when previous decorator put up pelmet it wasn't perfectionist, but it's done the job ok. Just don't want it to fall off or cause further damage.
Thanks in advance for your time and patience!

 

[Chivas69]

I'd use a ready mixed sandable filler. Believe it or not I quite often use the 500ml tubs from home bargains. It dries rock hard and sands nicely. I'd recomend glueing some wood in rather than news paper and then filling with layers.
One other thing is to mitre each joint the opposite direction. This is usually how these would be finished, curving away from the pelmit rather than right up to it. Then fill in the ceiling bit and wood in the hole and fill again.
If this is a bit much though, build up gap with wood and layers of filler. Or pop in a slightly smaller piece of coving and filler over the top. When filler is wet you could always attempt the pattern with your fingers