A Quick Guide To Period Features

Architectural detailing will always be a popular feature in any home, contemporary or otherwise, because they not only look stylish and beautiful, but they can be put to practical use as well.

You might well have noticed a few of these period features in the past and thought they would look lovely in your own home - or perhaps you’re lucky enough to have them in your house already.

Interestingly, these features served as a way of symbolising social status in the past, with the most expensive houses bearing a huge range of different mouldings and trims. Less opulent properties, meanwhile, were not decorated in such an opulent fashion, although the guest rooms were always where the majority of features could be found.

Take a look around your house to see if you can spot any of the period features we’ve mentioned below. Chances are you have some of them already - and you can always add more if you feel your home is crying out for a bit of love and attention where details of interest are concerned.

Architrave

This is the wooden trim that’s used to frame windows, doors and inbuilt cupboards, used to help hide parts of the house where the plaster is likely to crack because of frequent movement.

Corbel

Stand in your hallway and look up. Do you see an arch just above the stairs? If you do, you have a corbel in your house! These were very popular in homes of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, typically made from plaster and bearing a beautiful leaf design.

Ceiling rose

These are often found in living rooms, a stunning circle of plaster moulding that are particularly useful when it comes to hiding the point where your light fitting is attached to the ceiling.

Cornice

This is the plaster trim that helps make the transition between your walls and your ceilings more seamless and attractive. A lot of homes don’t even have this, so don’t panic if you don’t - you’re certainly not alone. But if you want to introduce it, do some research into the different styles because you can go as plain or as elaborate as you like.

Dado rails

These first came to the fore during Georgian times, a line of architrave fitted to the walls to help protect them against chairs being banged up against them. These can really help you add interest to a room, since they act to divide the wall up and you can use wallpaper and paint to great effect once the architrave has been added.

If you need help with cornice restoration in London or would like to talk to someone about how to go about doing your house up this year, get in touch with the Ovolo team today.