Refurbishing or renovating a home with period mouldings is a practice that prompts much discussion. A property that is blessed with original period features is a wonderful thing, but they can deteriorate in condition given how old they are, they may need a freshen up, and they also may need replacing because they no longer fit the theme of the room. Replacing period mouldings is a pretty straightforward DIY project, which is another reason why they are so popular, but making sure the end result is a home décor improvement is obviously important, and for that reason, quality period mouldings are definitely the way to go.
How do period mouldings improve your home?
There are many ways in which period mouldings can make an immediate and dramatic change to your home styling. They have a visual presence which catches the eye, intentionally, they can enhance the beauty of a room with elegant and classy styling, and they can bring character and warmth which may even add value to the property.
However, this will only work if you choose the right materials and design, because you can tell when period mouldings are done well and when they aren’t. If you get this wrong then your interior design can look inconsistent within a room and from room to room. It can also look cheaply done, badly fitted, fussy and pretentious and out of place or out of character with your overall design.
Choosing the right period mouldings
So fundamentally, you need to choose period designs for your rails, skirting, ceiling mouldings, architrave and doors which reflect the style of your room. This could be Victorian, Georgian, Edwardian or contemporary. It is not critical that your whole house follows the same theme, but each room needs to blend nicely into the other which can be done via corridor mouldings around doors and windows. However, within a room, you need to look closely at profiles and finishes to ensure mouldings will be consistent.
Using quality hard and softwoods, rather than MDF, not only provides a longer-lasting and more robust material, but it also looks more natural and will take stain and paint better. So these will look great upon first installing and you can even re-paint and re-colour at a later stage if you want to. Painting or staining also allows you to cover cracks or gaps that might have appeared around skirting, for example. Natural woods can be machined, sanded and manipulated more easily than MDF also, which makes them more versatile and more adaptable to different rooms.
Tips for choosing quality period mouldings
We have talked about being consistent with the period design of your mouldings, and if you have a contemporary home you should consider just simple designs to reflect a more minimalist look. But you also need to scale your mouldings appropriate to the space that you have in a room. This means for a room with high ceilings – very common in period homes – you can afford wider and bolder mouldings, but in a smaller room with lower ceilings this may not work.
Of course you can have the best quality period mouldings available, but if they are not fitted well they won’t look great. So don’t scrimp on installation and pay accordingly, but if you are doing it yourself, plan ahead and get your measurements right. Having to stop a rail, architrave or skirting a few inches short will never look good, and nullifies the entire effect of having decorative period mouldings.
So browse through our selection of mouldings for all areas of your interior design, choose an appropriate material and look forward to enjoying many years of classic styling, robust quality and low-maintenance elegance in your home.