The History Of Skirting Boards In Our Homes

Skirting boards! We all know what they are and most of us have them in our homes (I’m sure there are a few exceptions but I’m not one of them, I’m talking to the masses here!), but how many of us know how they came to be in everyone’s homes these days? I certainly didn’t until I came to write this post!

*Commissioned Post 

The origins of the skirting  board, date back to the Victorian times and the introduction of higher ceilings in homes (this was only the preserve of the rich and wealthy before this point) when it was commonplace to see not only skirting boards but dado rails, picture rails and ornate ceiling architrave in homes. So the question is, how many of these do we commonly see in our homes today? The answer is, only really the skirting boards. Skirting boards have endured over the years due to their inherent practical and decorative use as an excellent way of finishing off the look of a wall and room and protecting those walls from the bumps, knocks and scrapes of everyday life. 

We tend to look at skirting boards these days as more of an aesthetic and visual feature, something to finish off the walls of a room, and to hide the join between the floor and the plastered walls. In that way, we aren’t that different from our Victorian counterparts. With modern techniques these days there is no reason why we need to have skirting boards in our rooms but yet most of us still do. The Victorians also looked upon them as a feature, using them to showcase a room with big bold skirting to complement those impressive high ceilings that were all the rage at the time.

Nowadays though, the trend for those high ceilings has changed and most people have more modest rooms and as a consequence, the size of skirting boards has changed. Gone are the huge 30cm high skirting of the Victorian era and now smaller a size of around 10-12cm is more commonplace. This is down more to the proportions of people’s homes; a high ceiling in a room looks better with a taller skirting board therefore a large 30cm skirting in a typical modern home with 2.4m ceiling would look out of proportion in the same way as a small 10cm skirting would look lost in a high ceiling Victorian room .

So depending on what age your home is, depends on why the style of skirting board you should have. Proportions to the room are what matters,  tall ceilings, high skirting boards, low ceilings, and smaller skirting. Despite all this, the skirting board has stood the test of time and still looks like it will be an enduring feature in our homes for many years to come. Check out this post if you want to see how to maintain your skirting boards.