Beams 17th Century cottage-what to do?

[Feltwell]

I'd suspect that in days of yore most folks weren't too bothered about the colour match of limewash.

If you were rich enough to afford posh wallpaper then would the whole room not be done in that, with a ceiling in distemper in a different colour?

And if you were poor enough to be having limewash, but you had enough money for some pigment to colour it, you'd just colour 1 batch big enough to do the whole room.

Just my personal musings, my knowledge on historical decorative schemes is just about zero!

 

[JoceAndChris]

I don't think attitudes would have been wildly different 200 years ago. Some people wouldn't have cared two hoots about interior design, ( Viccy literature abounds with descriptions of decaying rooms and houses) whilst others would have been extraordinarily persnicketty about matching their distemper or limewash to their paper - wallpaper was v v fashionable from the late 18th C onwards and becoming more affordable for middle class people. The wallpaper would have gone up to the picture rail in the 19th C, or painted Lincrusta up to the dado, wallpaper between dado and picture rail and paint above. Or another combination, with complex patterns and colours mixed together to form particular effects, as Nigel is exploring.

And matching paper to paint is nothing compared to the complexity of making a shell room, a print room, or a feather room, or panelling it out with niches and statues and complex plaster mouldings, or stained glass, or Chinoiserie, or, or...

I think along with the starless skies, tasteless bread and joyless celebrations of 21st C living we also have a predominance of annihilating blandness in modern design.

 

[Feltwell]

Ahh yes - I forgot about dado and picture rails, and paper only being used on part of the wall above/below them. In that case, I'm talking cobblers and I can see your point perfectly about how did they match the colour to the paper!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I think along with the starless skies, tasteless bread and joyless celebrations of 21st C living we also have a predominance of annihilating blandness in modern design.

Joce - How can you say that ?!!

I spent Friday engorged in the heritage-laden splendour of the Royal Wedding (with your, Skier-Hughes' and Yamin's utterly delightful e-company) and Saturday/Sunday on the westernmost point of the Lleyn Peninsula eating fresh locally-made bread and gazing at the most unpolluted clear night-sky imaginable.

The inside of the tent is somewhat nihilistically functional I admit, but a better BH weekend I find it hard to conjure!

 

[Feltwell]

I spent Friday engorged in the heritage-laden splendour of the Royal Wedding

Come come Mr Wiggs, I think you're missing out on part of the Royal Wedding attraction there. Admit it, I bet you were as engrossed in the very pleasant distraction that was the bridesmaid as much as every other straight male watching the telly..... :wink:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...letons-bum-its-own-facebook-page-2277987.html

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Gosh - I hadn't even noticed her! 8) 8) 8)

Shhh - Mrs FW is known to read these pages at times!

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I was having a generalised grump and I did not mean to include the fabulous Royal Wedding or holidays in Scotland in that.

Mother's Pride, inner cities, Christmas. Grr.

 

[SolisGazer]

It will look very attractive if the panels between the studs are painted with a traditional " rich " colour to contrast the white beams/studs.

Middi

Well we are nearly at the point of painting but have an RSJ to cover. Any advice on the best way of doing this? It seems silly to buy a hollowed out solid oak beam when everything else is a complete hotch potch of beams none of which are oak! Especially as we are limewashing it...any advice?

Also I am interested to ask if anyone has limewashed their beams and what colours they used. I like the idea of having a contrasting colour in between but not sure what colour pallet to choose as I am so new to this. I would like to see some photos of already done houses for inspiration as I have only just renovated modern houses up till now. Also would we pain the inbetween panels a contrasting lime wash colour or in just normal paint?

Thank you all for all your advice on this it is very much appreciated.

 

[middi]

Whitewash studs/beams in the foreground of a " san Gimiano" ( light terracotta ) colour on the inset panels does create a welcoming warm feeling. It is all a matter of taste though.

As to the steel "girder", short of leaving exposed and/or painted it has to be cleverly disguised by three well mitred planed oak planks along it's length.

Middi

 

[MdB]

White beams, white infill, white walls. (Sorry Joce)

In the longer term we will probably change the colour but it was so much easier to paint it all white to start with. We used standard trade emulsion as most of the beams had to painted with stain block to cover up charring.

 

[Penners]

As to the steel "girder", short of leaving exposed and/or painted it has to be cleverly disguised by three well mitred planed oak planks along it's length.

I once proposed to a CO an identical method of improving the look of an RSJ, when I was restoring the sitting room of our old timber-frame house. "Well," he said, "the honest approach would be to leave the RSJ exposed, so that the steel beam is clearly visible as a development of the house."

I pointed out that, while I might be prepared to go along with his suggestion, he would be answerable for it to Mrs P.

The RSJ got boxed in.

 

[LadyArowana]

I once proposed to a CO an identical method of improving the look of an RSJ, when I was restoring the sitting room of our old timber-frame house. "Well," he said, "the honest approach would be to leave the RSJ exposed, so that the steel beam is clearly visible as a development of the house."

I pointed out that, while I might be prepared to go along with his suggestion, he would be answerable for it to Mrs P.

The RSJ got boxed in.

The ones in our apartment were originally covered by a horrible multi level/ curved false ceiling. I decided to leave them "naked" and forgo my original plans for a chandelier etc in favour of something modern. I have grown to like them, we had zero original Edwardian bits though, so the place was much more blank canvas.

 

[Penners]

As part of a contemporary approach to interior design, that's probably quite acceptable.

But in an 18th century beamed cottage..... :?

 

[LadyArowana]

As part of a contemporary approach to interior design, that's probably quite acceptable.

But in an 18th century beamed cottage..... :?

The porter from our building thought we should box them in and paint them, "you could do a lovely bit of tudor there" he's a nice chap so I just thanked him for the suggestion, strangely both the builder and I forgot about it when the chippies and decorators arrived.

 

[Penners]

Philistine!

 

[AMc]

I was assured by my builders that I would have to box in the RSJ we installed with fire resistant pink plasterboard.
I was happy to leave it exposed showing "the history". They were adamant that building control wouldn't allow it - something to do with conducting heat in a fire. In the end I didn't care enough to argue or even check and let them box it in. I never really thought about it more than that but now I think about it I'm less and less convinced there was any logic in the plasterboard

 

[MdB]

A lump of metal that goes from one room to another can allow a fire in one room create a fire in the next if the metal gets hot enough. I guess this would be the issue raised.

 

[AMc]

Except that the beam was over two openings between two open plan areas

 

[LadyArowana]

We painted ours with a type of intumescent paint, and the can came with a certificate to be submitted.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

In a fire, unprotected steel is in danger of warping unexpectedly, causing an unheralded surprise collapse onto the heads of anyone fighting the fire or searching for casualties. Fire protection gives a bit more time, in theory.