cornice – Page 2 – Carlow Cornice

Centrepieces are ART!

An new trend we’ve seen in a few bars, restaurants and interior design stores is the use of Centrepieces or Ceiling Rosettes to provide a powerful design statement for a wall. We have Centrepieces started at as little as €15.00. If this is something you might like, pop in to our showroom just south of Carlow town and we’ll help you to plan it out.

Why not just go all in, Centrepieces everywhere!

Or go sleek, just one statement piece, this works so well with the ”shabby-chic” look

Try a coloured background and some metallic paints

Want a more Zen like home with an oriental feel, try this design and colour scheme

We have similar styles to what you’ve seen here, and much much more, any size and any design is possible, just let us know

Abandoned houses – something to sink your teeth in to!

Continuing the spooky theme from last week, we have picked something to really sink your teeth in to. Abandoned buildings sets the theme, and even the thought of restoring these could give you a freight! Perhaps you have seen an old house in dire straits wondering if there would even be a point to try and restore it and saving the original cornice and centrepieces. There’s pretty much nothing we cannot do and below are some interiors we’d love to get a go at!

Restoration of cornice in Bank Of ireland in Mullingar — Above is a ceiling we helped restore for Bank of Ireland in Mullingar. With a lot of love and affection, we got the cornice back to its former glory.

Abandoned house, staircase, cornice, restoration — An amazing staircase just waiting for restoration. The way the natural light flows in through the dome is absolutely spectacular

abandoned. staricase, restoration cornice — Another stair case, also flooded in natural light. This is from a building in Idaho, US, that has been restored

abandoned, hall, cornice restauration — More light again, see how beautifully mirrored the ceiling details are in the flooring in this corridor

abandoned, window, overgrown, cornice, restoration — This picture is like a true fairy tale, and is a detail of library. The details above the bookcases would come out perfectly in plaster

Enjoy your weekend, and don’t be afraid to contact us!

Preparing for Halloween

In order to get ready for Halloween Carlow Cornice & Mouldings has dived deep in to the dark depths of the internet to find some pretty scary places, with beautiful cornice, centrepieces and plaster work.

This is Denbigh Asylum, or North Wales Hospital, completed in 1848 it could room 200 patients with psychiatric illnesses. Victorian asylums is frequently featured in horror movies and novels, I can’t help to be fascinated by the beauty of the architecture in the places were they put to most marginalized people in society. As much as we love restoring old buildings and get out all the detail of the plaster work, I’m happy I don’t have to get on to this site. The hospital didn’t close until the mid 1990’s and performed lobotomy on patients well in to the 1940’s. Oh, and it is supposedly haunted to.

Take flight to Germany, and have a look at another institution. This is the Military Hospital in Beelitz, Germany. The hospital started as a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients and became a military hospital in the First World War. This is were Adolf Hitler was treated for a leg wound acquired in 1916.

Looks like the setting of a romantic movie, unfortunately I’d say it contains more amputated limbs and gangrene…

Happy not to be on that examination table. More than likely the ceiling would have been framed by some ornate cornice.

Truly hauntingly beautiful. You can still make out the fantastic detailed plastered ceiling.

Perhaps to beauty of the ornate cornice and plaster mouldings helped with the healing process?

Moving down on the continent, take a trip to Chateau Miranda in Belgium. A Neo-Gothic castle, it has been abandoned since 1991, and the owning family is refusing financial aid to restore this once orphanage, wonder why…

Look at this two fantastic rooms, the plaster finished arches, so typical for the architectural period. The fantastic details framing the windows can easily be done in plaster, if any reader is after some Gothic-revival!

Let’s finish up with what Halloween has come to be about; fun, games and horror!

Here are some abandoned amusement parks to help you sleep at night

Spree Park Berlin

Gullivers Kingdom Yamanashi Japan

Six Flags; New Orleans

Cornice Kitchen Dreams!

Many of us dream of a big country kitchen, the centre of the home and family. This week we’ll show you some design ideas of how cornice can help with that effortless, homely and yet enviable look f the Country Kitchen Dream (even though Dermot Brennan clearly reminded us that there is such a thing on Room to Improve last Sunday on)

Lets start with something white, bright and light. See how the cornice just frames the room, barely there, just that extra touch to complete a flawless design

Want it even cleaner? Check out how the thin cornice works with the wood paneled ceiling on this one!

The other too plain? Look at this indulging kitchen, the cornice framed cupboards and the beautiful decorative plaster design on the ceiling.

Looking for something more detailed and a splash of colour? Here’s what kitchen dreams are made off! The cornice and ceiling work is just beautiful.

If the previous kitchen was to old fashioned, check out this classic yet modern design in black and white.

Hidden treasure, beautiful cornice in Dublin

It is time to highlight some of the beautiful cornice and decorative plaster work here in Ireland. With all the Georgian and Victorian architecture here, there is a lot of hidden treasure.

If you have been a student at UCD you might have had the privilege of calling in to Newman House on Stephens Green. Comprising of two unique Georgian houses it holds some of the most beautiful cornice in Ireland

One of the rooms with the most exquisite detailed plaster work

Making your design dreams come through

As sleek as possible or 100 hundred roses, whatever you want we can make. If you have a design you want for cornice, centrepiece, a door surround or any type of ornament inside and out, let us know and we can make it happen!

In modern design plaster work can give a great impact. It provides texture and inspires creative thinking. Get inspired by these powerful pictures

By Nashville based Heather Thompson, painter and designer

Wall designed for SFMoMA Exhibition Sensate: Bodies and Design in 2009 by Matsys a San Francisco based design studio that appears to constantly challenge the idea of design. The exhibition was the combined works to represent new ways of thinking about the entanglement of human bodies and the designed world. All ideas that are so relevant to our home environment.

Lobby at the 5 star St Regis Bal Harbour Resort on Miami Beach. Designed by Sieger Suarez Architectural Partnership

Rooftop Bar, Upstairs at the Kimberly, New York City. Architect Frank Denner

Colourful Cornice inside and out!

Normally we think of cornice as a frame to the room where the wall meets the ceiling but it can also be used externally, both for its aesthetically value and for practical uses to lead away rain water. Externally you can use traditional plaster and seal it or use fibre cement. Whatever you choose to go with make sure it reflects the building and the surroundings.

Typical use of external plaster mouldings.

In ancient Greek architecture cornice is used as the top ornament externally, above the architrave and the frieze

A gerat example to see how cornice was used during antiquity, carved in stone rather than cast. — A great example to see how cornice was used during antiquity, carved in stone rather than cast.

A fun fact is that classical Greek and roman architecture is often thought of as pristine and white, when in fact it highly coloured. The idea of the whiteness springs from the Classicist movement and preserved pieces were vigorously cleaned to bring them back to their whiteness

A great example that shows the colouring in antique statues, here is a part coloured in helmet on a statue, from the great exhibition “White Lies”

There is no need to keep your cornice white, just look at these stunning examples from Farrow and Ball

Farrow and Ball living room — A great example of how a painted in Cornice or Centrepiece can add a unique an classic look to your home. Works just as well on new as on restored plaster work

Another example of how well painted cornice looks, here in a kitchen

For more inspiration, give Elin in the office a call on 059 9143930

Restoration in the making!

Restoration takes up a large part of our work and is one of the most enjoyable things we know here at Carlow Cornice. To be a part of preserving the design heritage in Ireland is a real treat as well as a great responsibility.

At the moment we are restoring some beautiful mouldings in a listed building in

Dun Laoghaire. Just look at the before and after photos of the fantastic handmade Centrepiece, left half in a careless rebuild years ago

Half CP Dun Laoghaire — All that was left was this half piece with broken parts

Restored Centrepiece in Dun Laoghaire — All that’s missing now is a some paint and the original beauty of this Centrepiece will be restored. All the details have been handmade using traditional methods and materials in our Carlow factory

Before and after!

Have a look at these fantastic before and after pictures of a beautiful Victorian cornice in a private home in Dublin. If you have the privilege of having this art in your home, give us a call to see how you can get the most out of it.

New cornice design in the making!

We’re getting some new products, here’s a sneak peak of our latest design, a modern sleek cornice inspired by the elegant simplicity of Art Deco.

Here’s the beta version, just hand run on the bench in our Carlow based factory. Watch this space for the finished cornice!

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Tag: cornice