What style of skirting is right for you?

What style of skirting is right for you? Determine your style is a great place to start.

Contemporary or period?

In modern homes often a plain, minimalist skirting board without intricate detail will work.

But it is possible that a period style will too, especially when great care is taken with its colour and by teaming it with the right furniture and furnishings.

It is important to note though that this will not apply in the reverse scenario, i.e. a contemporary skirting in a period home, because they mostly have other features such as door or wall trims and dado rails that must be matched.

It is all about getting the balance right!  

Take for example Georgian and Victorian style homes. These mostly have tall and airy rooms – some up to 3 metres – which will accommodate high and more ornate skirtings.

Then Edwardian homes, which are not quite so spacious. Or the contemporary home with a 2.4 metre ceiling height. Skirtings for these must be kept in proportion, not only with the height of the ceilings but the size of the room.

Skirting styles cannot be mixed and matched in different rooms, adjacent corridors and certainly not in the same room! Some traditional or period style skirtings have such distinctive ridges and mouldings that this would not be possible anyway.