Maybe I’m just old-fashioned but there is nothing more pleasing in a house than lots of timber; it’s pleasant on the eye and soft to the touch. It’s a little pricey nowadays due to shortages and needing a fair amount of tender loving care, but it’s worth every cent.
Talking about TLC, if you bought one of those houses was advertised as needing “a bit of work”, don’t just rip out those hideously painted old doors, frames, windows, cupboards or even ceilings. Start with exploratory work; see what lies beneath and you could be very pleasantly surprised. Over the years I have collected quite a few pieces of furniture that were destined for the rubbish dump.
Stripping them back to bare wood can be a long and tiring exercise, but can also become a labour of love. For the impatient types there are companies which specialise in stripping old woodwork in a factory environment with acid dipping tanks and the like.
Let’s start at the top and work down to see what we can do with timber. Good old knotty pine ceilings still look great, but if you can’t get that old ceiling completely stripped down, or the new ceiling is a little stark, try lime washing – this will disguise the old or lighten the new. Timber cornices are available in different sizes to finish off the top corners.
Moving down, how about a picture rail, usually set at door frame height? It’s a little old-fashioned and a potential dust collector, but it’s great for breaking up a high wall, a perfect place to change wall colours, and your pictures end up in a straight line.
Next down would be a dado or chair rail, again, good for a break line in colour, great as a top border for tiles in a bathroom and as the name suggests, as a wall protection behind chairs that can leave dirty lines on your paint.
At the bottom we have the skirting boards. You can go traditional, with some beautifully moulded pine or Oregon, varying in height from 75mm to 220mm and virtually moulded to any shape you want. Stay standard with 75mm meranti or go for something in Supawood, which is going to allow for a really high-class finish.
Timber handrails come in all shapes and sizes and can be used to break up the straight lines of a polished metal balustrade.
The most pleasing timber moulding is a timber jamb lining, finished off with moulded architraves. The jamb lining takes the place of the door frame and is finished off on the wall edges with the architraves.
A quality craftsman working with well-moulded timber can really leave you with some outstanding finishings that will be the envy of your friends. - Weekend Argus