Skirting boards for a 1950's house

[MrsCampbellBlack]

Any recommendations as to style/depth? We need to replace through-out house and I'm a little bemused by the choice.

Most skirtings are made for period houses (usually Vic/Edwardian/Georgian). For a 50s house you need something very, very plain, completely flat, quite shallow, at most a bevel-edge at the top.

Oh I was hoping you'd be along lala

The current ones which I'm guessing have been here probably since the house was built are pretty much as you describe so will go for the very plain look but maybe a fraction wider as they almost disappear upstairs or will do when decent carpets and underlay are fitted.

Thanks - was put-off the 'fancier' styles I saw as most definitely do not want to look as though I'm trying to go for a period look in this house.

I'm not sure you will be able to find them at the usual places very easily (this is my suspicion, never looked so willing to be corrected) but you could very, very easily ask a joinery company to make some for you at not huge cost and then you can get them to the depth you want.

It's great that you are trying to keep the 50s look (is it real Festival of Britain style? ) - I've seen a few post-War places where they've tried to pretend they are ye olde cottages.

I'd say quite small and plain for a 1950s style.

Maybe only about 10cm high. With a beveled edge at the top.

The interior has been mucked about a lot - and we're just undoing a lot of that at the moment oh and re-wiring because of mouse damage - such fun

I did see some fairly plain ones in homebase I think but was distracted by my monkey children so will need to go back on my own to peruse in peace.

Think we'll go fairly contemporary overall - tis a change for me as have previously lived in more period houses but this is a sensible family home and does have the most fabulous views - hence we will be spending a small fortune on new windows/doors to maximise these and replace the awful plastic ones.

Thank you both!

Our house was built in 1953. Our skirting is quite thin, not very high (10 cm max) with a bevelled edge. It is very plain and understated.
We had a lot of work done to the house and our builder had no problems finding skirting boards to match the original.

I think you'd be looking for "chamfered" or "pencil round" skirting eg here. I painted a whole 1950's house worth of them when we were first married , IIRC they were the "pencil" style.

I'm going for pencil round in my 50's renovation. Builder has more than once pushed the Victoriana at me - with not much luck on his part - he's starting to understand the new religion of being modern and understated in a modern house rather than harping back to all that fancy, smancy Victorian rubbish.

wednesday13 that is exactly what we have. Not bevelled then but chamfered/pencil. Will remember what it is called

We had quite a bit of Victorian coving and skirting in our Victorian semi (our previous house) but in this one (1950's) it was definately worth going understated. Works well.

Lalalong legs, sorry to change the subject - you mentioned a surveyor you use in SW London on a previous board - was just wondering if you have any more info about him. Many thanks

It depends on the kind of flooring you are having, I think.

I think skirtings should be proportionate to the height of the ceilings. The only reason they were so mean in the 1950s was as a result of a shortage of materials in the wake of WWII.

we are renovating a 1961 house. I previously had a 1931 house and prefer the depth of the skirts in that style of house.

We have replaced the skirts with 'lambs tongue' which can be bought at Beers. We have had the coving done in a similar depth to match and installed a limestone and cast iron fireplace.

you can see the progress at sixtiespalace.blogspot.com. The skirts were painted this morning so not yet on the walls but watch this space!