If you live in a Victorian/Edwardian house…

[HappyCrochetHooker]

And have cornicing and ceiling roses, do they all match across the different rooms?

Which rooms have them and which don’t?

We’re currently trying to buy an 1885 house that has most of the Victorian features taken out, and I’d like to put some back. My current house is Edwardian and has cornicing and picture rails that match in the dining and living room, but every other room was stripped out in the 90s and I don’t have any other experience with older houses to know what should go where. I don’t know if it would be odd for them to vary in style around the house.

Feel free to show off your beautiful plasterwork 😁

Generally ceiling roses were in the main rooms
Master bedroom and living rooms

The same with cornices and picture rails
The smaller bedrooms didn’t have them originally unless the property was a particularly large house

Kitchen spaces often had timber panelling at low level up to about 1 metre as the walls were easier to clean.

Meet the neighbours and ask to see what original features they have? I also found it helpful for layout ideas as they have the same floor plans but choose to knock down some walls/open up into the lean to or do side extensions, etc. Neighbours will also be able to help with local reliable workmen, if you are very lucky!

Every room has a picture rail in ours but only downstairs and hallway have ceiling roses. We've got the bells next to fireplaces and the box in the kitchen to show which room is ringing. Fireplaces are quite interesting as you can see familial interests - ours was built by our family member who was very into his string instruments, so the master bedroom has a cello and violin below the mantle.

Generally the plasterers will know the types that would suit the house too. I heard an interview with this lady who sounded like she had done some very interesting estates and homes https://www.facebook.com/reel/1422962635612340

No, the main hosting rooms where grand, other rooms where not.

You will usually find the Entry Hallway has detailed corbels, Living and Dining rooms have roses and detailed cornicing and the rest of the house has the most basic option if any usually.

All the money was put into the rooms guests would see.

Also - rightmove is your friend. Have a look at your street for houses sold and look at the pictures.

There are companies who can make a silicone mould of an existing ceiling rose and create copies. Similarly with cornicing, but I would imagine that it would be quite costly.

It is relatively easy to put plaster ceiling roses and picture rail back in and you can often see where it has been taken out as the walls have been patched. I think there might even be a rule for calculating where it should sit.

This, though the two biggest bedrooms have full roses and cornicing in ours, too. One of our house’s most Victorian features is that if you open the front door to let in a caller, it opens in such a way that it completely blocks the door to the kitchen, because a servant would have been opening the door and ushering visitors into the reception rooms, not the kitchen (callers to the kitchen or deliveries would have come round the back). It’s physically so awkward to get people in the front door, into the hall and, close the front door before getting them into the kitchen, that it reminds me every time of the servants who lived here between the time the house was built in 1863 and WW2-ish, judging by the census.

And on the note of the most elaborate decoration being where the guests would see, the kitchen door facing onto the hall has beautiful original stained glass to match the front door, presumably because guests could see it from the reception rooms. But then another heavy, plain door after a tiny passage, again, presumably to block cooking smells and bustle.

Yes, though a local firm near here which offers that also has a range of readymade roses and cornices, copied from originals in old houses, which are much cheaper.

Early Edwardian property here with most original features still in place, or easily recognised losses through re-decorating.

Cornices in all reception rooms, down stairs hall and upstairs bedrooms.
No roses as such, but decorative plaster work on ceilings in ground floor receptions.

Dado rail in downs stairs receptions, hall and stairs - stopped at first floor landing.

Plate rack in ground floor receptions and hall only.

Picture rail in all other rooms.

Not sure about kitchen as that has been moved into the original breakfast room (which I think would have been treated as a reception room.

We have an Edwardian house. There was no ceiling rose in our bedroom so I decided to put one in. It’s Victorian so not the right era, but works I think.
The original ceiling rose/ plasterwork in our living room is much plainer, so you can see the difference in the frilly plasterwork of the Victorian era to the more minimalist of the circa 1906 period when our house was built.

I owned an 1890 terrace which had no cornicing so we installed it in most rooms - it wasn’t the same across all the rooms as it depended on the room and its function as to how ornate we went. We then converted the loft which involved lowering the bedroom ceilings and lost all the cornicing we’d put in upstairs! Really annoying as it looked great.

we didn’t have ceiling roses as we mainly had spotlights or wall lights.

Think about what the rooms would originally have been used for too - I have a Victorian semi and the ceiling in the front room is very grand, but there is no ornate cornicing or ceiling rose in the dining room because it would have been the kitchen originally (now the kitchen is in a more modern extension). It might be in your current house that it wasn't all stripped out, it just wasn't there to start with because they weren't public rooms.

You need to establish the style and size (grandeur) of the house. If it's a mock Tudor Edwardian semi, then you're talking either a plain spun or acanthus ceiling rose (bewilderingly, as neither are very Tudor), plainer cornicing, picture rail, dado. Bit of Lincrusta on the ceiling or below dado. Much higher skirting boards -- look for Tudor skirting.

lincrusta.com/product/edwardian/

It's just much easier if you know the type. So first figure out: is it a stuccoed villa, a Gothic Revival, an Arts and Crafts, Jacobethan? Google these terms and see if any of them match the general style of your house. Then you can narrow down to specific angles of cornice or agapanthus vs sunflower ceilings.

(Sorry above meant to say clearly that it's NOT a mock Tudor Edwardian semi -- that was my example of a type not your type!)

I had beautiful matching ceiling roses in my old house. They looked like lilies around the edge. Quite large grand rooms. The bedroom ceilings failed so we redid them and I dint recall having ceiling rises up there, but the coving was plainer than downstairs so imagine they were too.

@jeansgenie this sounds amazing "We've got the bells next to fireplaces and the box in the kitchen to show which room is ringing" and so does this "Fireplaces are quite interesting as you can see familial interests - ours was built by our family member who was very into his string instruments, so the master bedroom has a cello and violin below the mantle." !

My house is not in the UK so there will be differences in archtectural styles, but it's from 1908. In the receptions, the cornincing is very ornate, in the bedrooms (on two floors) it is simpler, but it's present in all the rooms. Ceiling roses are everywhere too, and either dado or picture rail, also on the staircase all the way up. Unfortunately a kitchen lift (from the original kitchens in the lower ground floor) was taken out and replaced with loos... Well you need them more obviously :)

Thank you so much everyone, some brilliant advice and knowledge.

I love both your ceilings @CNDflag that fern-y rose is beautiful.

Thanks for the advice about determining the style of the house @Sellenis. I’ll give that a go. Apparently there’s an interesting story that I haven’t heard in its entirety, but apparently the person that commissioned the house saw one that already existed on the street and liked it so got the builder to copy it. The original one is about 1860, with the copy being done in about 1885ish. I’ve been looking on Rightmove to see if I can be nosey inside the original one but no luck!

Like other pps have said, decorative cornice and ceilings in the hallway and main reception rooms, though mine are different in each room. Also in the biggest bedrooms on the first floor and landing, but none on the second floor, which would have been the servants’ quarters.

My house is clearly a budget house for aspirational late Victorians, as we only have the fanciest cornicing and a ceiling rose in the front room. Niceish cornicing in the front bedroom and hall. Plain everywhere else.

However, I have been thinking about this and I reckon it would be in keeping with the Victorian spirit to tart up any other rooms you like to show that you've come up in the world. The ex-kitchen in ours is now a dining/music room so it wouldn't be inappropriate to stick a ceiling rose in there, for example.

Has anyone put any fireplaces back in? We have an original Victorian one (we think) in our dining room and then the previous owners put some stone ones in two other rooms but nothing left in upstairs and I think they make a nice feature. Needs to not be too expensive though….

Our house was built in 1895 but the cornice was all put in much later - some of it isn’t even plaster. Someone also put picture rails in all the bedrooms at some point. We had to replaster everything and I haven’t quite decided if I’ll replace them. I’m not sure they actually looked right as the bedrooms all have some sloping ceilings with the roof timbers exposed so it wasn’t built as a very grand house.

I have. Its easier than you might think. Depending on whether you want a workomg one or just decorative, you just knock a hole oit in the brick work, install a lintel if there isnt one and just screw the fireplace to the wall.

I'm kind of torn on this. I get the sadness about original features being removed, but often these aren't appreciated for many decades and in between they just become obsolete or "dated". You can imagine someone thinking "well no-one has open fires in bedrooms anymore so bye bye fireplace" in the same way no-one is (yet) crying over people removing those layered stone fire surrounds (like drywall with cement) or dining hatches between kitchens and dining rooms or open slat staircases. If you put the fireplace back in do you lose a wall? We had a closed up fireplace in a bedroom and I just knocked the chimney breast out completely to gain a few more feet of bedroom and (critically) a long flat wall that I can build a run of wardrobes into. No regrets. Houses evolve. Our house is late Vic but some of the nicest features are art deco so must have been put in quite a time later and I'm kind of leaning into that as I love that style.

We have original fireplaces in the living room (fine) and in three of the bedrooms, but in the small rooms it's a pain as it really affects where we can position the bed and wardrobe etc as you essentially lose one of the walls. They look pretty but not practical!

We have cornices in the two front lounges (double fronted house) and hallway with matching roses too. Fireplaces in every room, including the bathroom, only two were original though. Kitchen had a large fireplace and would have had a range and one of the receptions (there are 3) has a higher lintel, so may have had an oven.