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Where Artistry Begins
Plaster cornice, coving, ceiling roses and mouldings made to match what you have or drawn fresh. Zavoré is based in Birmingham and our team works across the UK, Harrogate included.
Look up in almost any older Harrogate house and the ceiling tells you when it was built. For cornice and coving in Harrogate, Zavoré makes and fits new plasterwork, repairs damaged period cornice and runs new lengths to match the profile already in your house. We are based in Birmingham, where our Academy is, and our own artisans work across the UK. To begin, send photos of the ceiling, the room sizes and the postcode.
Harrogate expanded fast once the spa trade took off, so most of its housing comes from the Victorian and Edwardian years. Stone built villas and terraces near the Stray, the Duchy estate and Montpellier were built for people who expected a decorated ceiling in the drawing room and a plainer one in the bedrooms.
As a rule of thumb, Victorian cornice runs deeper and carries more ornament, Edwardian is often lighter, and anything Georgian tends to be restrained and classical. Rules have exceptions, so we study the plasterwork overhead in each room before deciding how to treat it.
Common problems are familiar. A run of cornice is cracked or has dropped, a section was lost when a chimney breast was removed, decades of emulsion have clogged the detail, or a rear extension has left a bare join where the old room meets the new.
When a house has been extended or two rooms knocked together, the new ceiling needs to read as part of the old one. A template is taken from the moulding that survives, new lengths are made to the same shape, and the join is blended so the eye cannot find the seam.
Where cornice survives in poor shape, we mend damaged runs, rebuild what is missing and clean paint out of the detail. Original plasterwork is worth saving rather than tearing out, because it carries the character of the house. Ceiling roses, panel mouldings, corbels and columns can be handled in the same way.
For simpler homes, coving is the plain curved profile, and cornice usually means the more detailed moulding with steps and beads. We fit both in plaster. If you have already bought mouldings, we fit those too. At the moment we do not sell ceiling roses or coving ourselves. See our main page on plaster cornice and coving.
Polystyrene coving is light and cheap, but the detail is soft and the difference shows in an older room. Plaster keeps a sharp edge, accepts paint well and can be mended along with the rest of the ceiling, which is why it is the right material for a period villa and for a listed house. A listed building may need consent first, so the owner should ask the council.
Many cast cornices and ceiling roses are fibrous plaster, meaning plaster poured into a mould with hessian scrim to strengthen it. Other period cornice was drawn along the ceiling by hand with a profile. Knowing which you have changes how the repair is done, and we look closely before we say.
Photographs and measurements come first, and they often settle the small questions. After that comes a survey of the room, looking at the ceiling itself, the cornice that is already there, any cracks or movement and how we will protect the room. We tell you plainly if a ceiling needs repair before mouldings go up.
Harrogate is some way from our centres, so the fitting is planned as a run of consecutive days with the team staying put, and we pin down dates once the sample and price are approved. Our cornice and coving installation page covers the process.
We teach what we install. Courses at our centres in Birmingham, London and Manchester are listed on the training page, and you can see how mouldings frame other finishes across our decorative work.
Mouldings frame everything else. Picking out a cornice in gold leaf is the craft of gilding in Harrogate, a mural below a cornice belongs with murals in Harrogate, and a glossy ceiling inside a moulded border is lacquered walls in Harrogate. Walls with sculpted interest may call for bas relief in Harrogate or sculptural plaster in Harrogate. Hall floors and bathrooms suit mosaics in Harrogate, a stone effect wall suits travertino in Harrogate, and gardens bring in artificial rock in Harrogate. Our decorative finishes specialist in Harrogate page is the overview, and Venetian plastering in Harrogate covers the smooth plaster walls that sit under a moulded ceiling.
Yes. We copy the shape of what is on your ceiling and run new lengths in it, so an extension or a patched corner joins up with the old work.
Often yes. Cracks can be filled, broken pieces rebuilt, and layers of paint cleared away so the original ornament shows again.
The two words overlap in everyday use. Coving normally describes a plain curve, while cornice describes the stepped, beaded and ornamented kind you find in period rooms.
In an older house we would say so. Plaster gives crisper detail and a better paint finish, and a damaged piece can be repaired. Foam costs less and weighs less, but you can see it.
We do not supply them at present. Our work is fitting, restoring and matching, and that includes mouldings you have bought from elsewhere.
Call 07592 929191 (Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm) or email sales@zavore.co.uk, and send photos of the ceiling, room sizes and your postcode. If a plaster finish will go on the walls below, the sample board is a good start.
Order a sample board tinted to your colour, or send photos and rough measurements of the walls in Harrogate and we will come back to you with the right finish and a clear quote.
For a quote, email photos and measurements of your walls to sales@zavore.co.uk or call 07592 929191, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm.
See every area we cover.
Our main services: Venetian plaster installation, limewash installation, every decorative installation, Venetian plastering courses, the limewash course and our decorative finishes.
We also supply the trade by post, wherever you are. The shop ships tracked across the UK, and the Academy teaches the finishes in Birmingham, London and Manchester.
Providing luxury finishes for the most prestigious addresses in the world
Venetian plaster, limewash, microcement, tadelakt, metallics, sculptural plaster and gold leaf, supplied and installed by our own team, with Venetian plaster taught at our Birmingham studio.
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