Putting up coving, wallpaper and painting - which order!?

[DIY_Beginner]

Hello all,

I have stripped the walls in the spare bedroom and realised that the top of the walls are in pretty poor condition and therefore will probably need to put up coving. I am also wanting to put up lining paper and paint it. Just confused which order I should do this all in, in order to get the best finish and result. Is it paper first then coving on top, or coving first then paper up to the bottom of the coving.

Thank you very much in advance for your responses.

 

[Daz223]

I have no idea how to do what you're asking as I'm a beginner myself, but I'm sure these fine gentlemen will be able to help you here.

 

[spice]

Its best to have the coving up first, as there will be a little bit of mess on the walls with the adhesive, specially if he is a messy bu55er lol
Then hang your lining paper up to the edge of the bottom of the coving,, when finished lining, and the paper is completely dry, get some decorators caulk and a gun, and go round the top of the lining paper/under the edge of the coving with the caulk very carefully.

This will give the coving a nice clean finish as well as the top of the lining paper, and cover any gaps at the bottom of the coving.

 

[Nige F]

well said and if you paint the small "ledge" of the coving in wall colour and then go over the concave face of the cove again in ceiling colour (white)you save having to cut in under cove.....and get a straighter line

 

[DIY_Beginner]

Great advice - thanks very much guys.

 

[Rubyblueshoes]

We can't afford the coving we want just yet but we have someone who will line our walls for free if we do it this week. Is it possible to put the coving up afterwards, even if it means it will take longer to make it look nice? Or will it just look awful?

 

[emilybronte]

We can't afford the coving we want just yet but we have someone who will line our walls for free if we do it this week. Is it possible to put the coving up afterwards, even if it means it will take longer to make it look nice? Or will it just look awful?

No, it will be fine as long as you clean off any glue which strays onto the painted wallpaper before it (the glue) dries. Then you will probably have to touch up the paintwork by cutting in to the bottom edge of the coving again.

You could ensure a neater job by painting the coving before you put it in place rather than after.

BTW I would never paint the lower edge of the coving the same colour as the walls - it needs to be white. Anything else is an aesthetic abomination! All three surfaces/dimensions of the coving need to be the same colour to preserve the visual integrity of the coving and its 3D effect. Besides which I cannot think you will get a straighter line by painting one surface of it a different colour, than by cutting in from below. It is harder to stop two different coloured paints contaminating each other on an exterior angle, than on an interior one, as anyone who has ever painted the edge of a door will know.

 

[misterhelpful]

It's perfectly possible to put up the coving at a later date as long as you clean up the adhesive immediately, as emilybronte says.

Strictly speaking though, you should cut away the lining paper so that the coving is attached to the wall rather than the paper.

 

[joe-90]

Personally I'd give coving a miss altogether and use a lightweight filler Red Devil/Wickes to repair it. Coving is so 1980s.

 

[emilybronte]

Personally I'd give coving a miss altogether and use a lightweight filler Red Devil/Wickes to repair it. Coving is so 1980s.

Not necessarily! The coving in our rental property is a thing of beauty and very 1890s - but then it is a large Edwardian semi.

I agree, the nasty plain coving people put up in newer homes is very 70s/80s. But what goes around, comes around. It'll be retro soon and highly sought after, like prawn cocktails and spotted dick.

As long as black and white large-flowery feature wallpaper is consigned to the big Dustbin in the Sky at that point, I won't mind.

 

[emilybronte]

It's perfectly possible to put up the coving at a later date as long as you clean up the adhesive immediately, as emilybronte says.

Strictly speaking though, you should cut away the lining paper so that the coving is attached to the wall rather than the paper.

You do bear a brain!

However...cutting away the lining paper before attaching the coving sounds to me like something that could end in tears for DIYer..and you can't cut it away AFTER, of course. As long as the paper is stuck down really well with mediaeval fish-bone glue or something, it's not going to bring the coving off the wall, is it?