Painting over ceiling cornices

[Gustav]

I'm about to paint over ceiling cornices and would like some advice....... I want to apply gloss paint but am nor sure about what to do with the current coat of emulsion on the cornices. Can I just paint an oil based undercoat and then apply the gloss top coat? or is there any other preperation involved? This forum has been a life saver - thanks all.

Gustav

 

[Gustav]

Is Zampa out there anywhere?

 

[Zampa]

Yeh, there shouldnt be any problem in doing that...thats what I would do.

Id give it a nice sanding down first though because the brush marks in the emulsion are bound to be rpetty evident and will show up quite badly through the gloss.

Oh and if the cornices are polysterene......dont use oil based gloss...it increases the danger if theres a fire.

One question....why gloss?

 

[Gustav]

Thanks Zampa. I thought that cornices were supposed to be gloss..... I wanted to make the end of the wall and beginning of the ceiling really defined. How are cornices normally painted/treated? The cornices are plaster and are a bit unveven in places - which I'm happy about but I'm a bit worried that gloss will really show up all the imperfections..... Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks again
Gustav

 

[Zampa]

Well its persoanl choice and preferences really but cornices were meant to imitate plaster work..and plaster is normally flat and powdery looking.

Doing them with gloss may make them look a bit plasticky...like they are made from upvc..and as you rightly pointed out the gloss will show the imperfections up badly....adding to the 'effect'

I dont even like vinyl silk on cornice..but that really is just me..everyones taste is different

One thing to bare in mind....if you gloss them....the heat rises in a room.....it will yellow quicker than other areas.

Eggshell doesnt look to bad in my opinion....certainly a lot more natural.

I would say 99.9% of cornices are finished in something other than gloss...normally matt emulsion.

But thats not saying that is correct....its just other people preferences...

At the end of the day its your house and your choice.

You may look at it in a year or so and say...'that zampa bloke was right'.....you may say....'im glad i didnt take that blokes advice'...

There are no right an wrongs really...

Oh just had a thought....if you want to make them more defined have you considered using colour to do this?

 

[Gustav]

No I haven't considered using colour yet and god knows why I thought cornices should be gloss....... I should go and have a look at a few other places. But you'd recommend an eggshell on the cornices? sorry about the stupid question but is eggshell water based?

 

[Zampa]

Yep.....you can get water based or oil based eggshell....the water based one is a little more shiny.

I would reccomend a matt emulsion myself.....but theres no harm in using eggshell.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

I've just put up new coving in my kitchen, and have painted it with Dulux Kitchens and Bathrooms. This is a "soft sheen" finish. I'm not familiar with eggshell - it may be pretty similar. It looks bloomin' great, if I may say so myself!

Dulux also do soft sheen in most of their standard emulsion colours.

It has just a bit of sheen, without looking like plastic. The odd bump that there is (in my otherwise brilliant coving!) is hardly visible from the ground.