Have It Looked At Before You Demolish

Ornate & Decorative Ceilings, Sydney

Victorian terraces, Federation bungalows, Art Deco homes. Ornate panel ceilings, plaster roses and decorative mouldings — installed new, or matched to what's already there. Send a photo and we'll tell you what you've got.

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5★★★★★Panel ceilings and rosesProfile matching and reverse mouldingHeritage and restoration

Ornate plaster ceiling rose and panelled ceiling detail in a Federation era room

Lath and horsehair plaster

Timber laths nailed across the joists, then lime plaster reinforced with animal hair pushed through the gaps to form keys behind them. Victorian and early Federation. It fails when those keys crumble and the plaster loses its grip on the lath — which is why a horsehair ceiling can look perfect from below and still be hanging on very little.

Fibrous plaster

Plaster reinforced with hessian, cast in sheets and wired up to the joists. Federation through to the fifties. It fails at the wire ties, not across the sheet, so a sagging fibrous ceiling usually needs re-tying rather than replacing.

Modern plasterboard

Whatever went in when someone renovated. Often the reason the cornice stops matching halfway down the hall.

Why it matters

A horsehair ceiling patched like plasterboard will crack straight back out. A fibrous plaster ceiling with failed ties needs re-tying, not re-skimming. We work out which one you have before quoting, and we will tell you honestly when a ceiling is worth saving and when it is not.

Ornate panel ceilings

Panelled ceilings set out to the proportions of the room, with the grid centred properly rather than started from one corner and left to fall where it lands.

Plaster ceiling roses and centrepieces

Roses sized and positioned to suit the room and the light fitting, fixed securely and jointed so the detail stays crisp.

Decorative mouldings and panels

Wall panelling, picture rails and heavier decorative profiles that suit the period of the house.

Matching existing work

Restoration and extension work where the new has to disappear into the old. We identify the profile, source or reverse-mould a match, and blend the transition.

Restored plaster archway with decorative moulding in a Federation era hallway

Period Homes

Worth Keeping, Worth Matching

Sydney has a lot of terraces and Federation homes where the original ceilings are still there under decades of paint, or half-there after a wall came down in the eighties. Those ceilings are worth keeping. Matching a period profile and blending new work into old is slow, fiddly and completely different from sheeting a new room — but it is the difference between a renovation that respects the house and one that flattens everything that made it worth buying. If you are extending, opening up a room, or repairing damage in a period home, get someone to look at the ceiling before the demolition starts.

✓Terraces and Federation homes
✓Matching original profiles
✓Blending new into old
✓Repair before replacement

Ask About Your Ceiling Ceiling Repairs and Restoration

Ornate plaster ceiling rose and decorative cornice in a restored period room

Matched to the House, Not to a Catalogue

Victorian, Federation and Art Deco Cornice

Victorian cornice is deep, ornate and heavily moulded — the terraces through Paddington, Newtown, Glebe and Balmain, and a good deal of the older St George stock.

Federation is lighter, often with a run of small repeating detail. That is the bungalow belt through Rockdale, Kogarah and Bexley, which is our own back yard.

Art Deco is stepped and geometric, and it is the easiest of the three to get wrong, because a modern step cornice looks close until it is on the wall next to the original.

Where the profile is still manufactured we source it. Where it is not, we take a section of the existing run, reverse-mould it and cast a match. If you are extending or opening up a room, get the ceiling looked at before the demolition — once a run of original cornice is in a skip, matching it costs several times what preserving it would have.

✓Victorian — deep, ornate, heavily moulded
✓Federation — lighter, repeating detail
✓Art Deco — stepped and geometric
✓Reverse moulding where the profile is no longer made

Arrange a Site Visit Standard Cornice and Shadow Line

Ornate plaster ceiling rose above a restored archway in a Sydney terrace

Ceiling rosesSized to the room and the light fitting, not to the box it came in

Faceted plaster forms folding around an angled skylight run in a double height void, set and finished

Formed workFaceted void set out to the skylight line and formed on site

Restored heritage hallway with ornate pressed ceiling and cornice

Heritage hallwaysPressed ceilings and cornice matched where the original run survives

Barrel vaulted hallway formed in plasterboard, the arch sheeted and set with the joints still showing before sanding

Barrel vaultsThe stage before sanding, where the shape is made or lost

Oval skylight formed through a vaulted hallway ceiling, the curved reveal set and awaiting sanding

Curved openingsOval formed in situ from a centre string line, no pre-made ring

Curved plaster reveal formed around a long skylight opening, the board set and taped ready for finishing

Skylight revealsReveal run square to the opening so the light edge stays straight

See the room

Ornate work is hard to quote from photos alone. We come and look at the ceiling, the existing detail and the proportions of the space.

Set out the design

Panel grids, rose positions and moulding lines marked out and agreed with you before anything is fixed.

Form and fix

Sections cut, positioned and fixed to the set-out, working around existing detail where we are matching into it.

Joint and refine

Joints filled and detail cleaned up by hand so the mouldings stay sharp rather than getting rounded off with filler.

Areas We Serve Across Sydney

Can you match the ceiling in the rest of my house?

Usually, yes. Many period profiles are still made or can be closely matched, and where they are not, the detail can be formed. Send photos of the existing ceiling and we will tell you what is realistic before you commit.

Can a damaged ornate ceiling be repaired rather than replaced?

Very often. People assume a cracked or partly collapsed decorative ceiling is beyond saving, and it usually is not. It is worth having it looked at before demolition — repairing original work is almost always better than replacing it with something approximate.

How much does decorative ceiling work cost?

More than standard plastering, because it is slower and more of it is done by hand. The cost depends on the room size, the complexity of the detail and whether we are matching existing work. We quote in writing after seeing the room.

Do you work on heritage-listed properties?

Yes. Bear in mind that heritage listing may bring its own approval requirements for what can be altered — that sits with you and your council or heritage consultant, and we work within whatever is approved.

How long does an ornate ceiling take?

Considerably longer than a plain one. Set-out alone can take as long as the fixing on a panelled ceiling. We will give you a realistic timeframe with the quote rather than an optimistic one.

Do you install ceiling roses on their own?

Yes. A single rose or a small run of decorative moulding is a perfectly normal job and we are happy to do just that.

Period ceiling with decorative cornice and panel mouldings restored in plain white

Decorative Plasterwork

Restore or Create the Ceiling the Room Deserves

Send photos of the room and the existing detail, and we will arrange a time to come and look at it properly.