How to choose a plinth for the floor? - Rules

The skirting board has two functions - it closes the seams between the floor and walls and gives the room a finished aesthetic appearance. This part performs its tasks only if it fully complies with the purpose of the room and at the same time looks beautiful. The assortment of building stores is rich and diverse, so it’s not always easy to navigate. How to choose a plinth for the floor? The rules are not so complicated. It is about them that it is said in our article.

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First steps

Repair is a serious matter. Especially if you are going to not just glue the wallpaper and paint the doors, but decide to completely change the interior. And this means that all materials must be selected so that they are in harmony with each other.

Which skirting board to choose for the floor? It depends on a number of circumstances:

• destination premises;
• the style you decide to adhere to;
• floor and ceiling heights;
• the size of the room;
• common color scheme.

Appointment

The choice of certain materials for repair depends very much on the purpose of the room. This also applies to skirting boards:

• In the living room, bedroom or nursery, they can be made of a variety of materials - well, perhaps, polystyrene foam is not suitable for floor framing.
• But for a bathroom or kitchen, it is better to choose something that is not affected by high humidity.

Style

It is always better to stick to a certain style. Limitations always narrow your search, which means they make life easier for those who started repairs. There are a lot of styles:

• Classic;
• Provence
• Baroque;
• Retro;
• High tech;
• Modern;
• Minimalism;
• Ethno.

How to choose a plinth for the floor according to the style of the interior? For the vast majority of styles, a wooden plinth, painted or unpainted, is suitable:

• For Baroque, Classics or Provence it is better to choose unpainted, from any noble tree. But at the same time, it must necessarily be in harmony in color with the floor covering.
• For the Retro style, when the whole atmosphere creates the atmosphere of the middle of the last century, only a wooden skirting board strictly matching the color of the floor is suitable.
• But for Modern or Minimalism, the metal bar is quite suitable.

Ceiling height

This is a very important parameter! In a spacious room with high ceilings, anything is permissible - a dark floor, a wide baseboard, unexpected color combinations. If the ceilings are low, the flooring is better to choose light, then the room will seem larger and higher.

Important! Of course, there are options. If you are going to decorate your little living room in a medieval style - it is better to make a laminate and wallpaper like stone, and close the joints with wide slats of dark wood.

Too big room

If you want to visually reduce the space, it is best to choose a contrast option. It will be something like a frame. But you have to be very careful, there are extremely unsuccessful combinations. Designers do not recommend combining:

• dark purple and pale green;
• bright orange (or golden) and pale blue;
• blue and pink.

Important! In addition, there may be other not very pleasant combinations when one color “absorbs” the other. For example, a pale yellow next to red will appear faded, and when combined with blue, the same hue will become bright and saturated.

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Color spectrum

How to choose a plinth - in the color of the floor or doors? The question is not as simple as it seems.In addition, other options are possible:

• in the color of the walls;
• in the color of furniture;
• not matching in color with any item in the room.

Skirting board in the color of the floor

If you wondered what floor skirtings are chosen for, and also prefer a not too complicated design, it is best to dwell on this option. It has a lot of advantages:

• the frame is always in harmony with the floor;
• it is possible to pick up the skirting board before the final finish, together with the floor covering;
• rail in the color of the floor does not attract eyes, which allows you to hide the mistakes that are inevitable for a novice designer;
• the room seems a bit more spacious than it is, even if the floor is dark.

In the color of doors and windows

This is a very interesting design decision, but it requires following some rules:

• not bad if the window frames are also the same color;
• shades should match completely.

This method allows you to emphasize beautiful windows and doors. It is very good if some other elements in the room are of the same tone. But you need to choose the shades very precisely, otherwise - instead of the original interior you get something vague and clumsy.

Important! The skirting board should be in harmony with the door frame not only in color, but also in texture.

In the color of the walls

In this case, the skirting board is bought after finishing is finished. The fact is that finishing materials, whether it be wallpaper, silk plaster or paint, often look completely different on a flat surface, like in a jar or on a roll. You also need to know the shade that is on the wall and choose the tone of the skirting board that matches almost perfectly.

But other options are possible:

• the baseboard is slightly lighter than the wall;
• the baseboard is slightly darker than the wall.

Important! These are quite dangerous options that require good color vision. Materials differ only in the saturation of the tone, all other color parameters should match completely.

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Talk about materials

In construction stores you will find many types of skirting boards. They differ not only in color, but also in other qualities:

• material;
• size
• form:
• the presence or absence of a cable channel.

In special cases, you can even find it curved - but, as a rule, they make it to order. As for materials, the following apply:

• plastic;
• wood;
• MDF:
• ceramics;
• polyurethane;
• aluminum;
• Styrofoam.

The answer to the question of which skirting boards is better for the floor depends not only on the style and purpose of the room, but also on the flooring.

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Plastic

Comfortable modern material. Use it for such coatings as:

• laminate;
• linoleum;
• carpet.

Important! Sometimes this option is also used for ceramic tiles, but this is more likely an exception than a rule.

The advantages of plastic:

• large color palette;
• variety of shapes and sizes;
• does not decay;
• not afraid of moisture;
• practical;
• easy to care;
• equipped with additional fittings;
• in most cases there is a cable channel;
• cheaper than other materials.

Cons too:

• not environmentally friendly enough:
• not very durable;
• short-lived.

Important! The fittings do not always match the color of the rail itself.

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Wood

The classic version, still very popular.

The main advantages of such models:

• ease of installation;
• environmental friendliness;
• relative ease of care;
• durability;
• resistance to negative influences.

Minuses

The disadvantages include the fact that:

• With improper care, the tree rots, so in the bathroom such models are clearly not worth using.
• The range is not as diverse as in the case of plastic.

Important! They fix the wooden baseboard with self-tapping screws. The rail of the desired length can be cut off with the most ordinary hacksaw or jigsaw.

Tree species

As for the price, it depends on what kind of wood the product is made of:

• Pine;
• Linden;
• oak;
• acacia;
• ebony;
• merbau;
• dusia.

Important! The most popular wood is pine. It is relatively inexpensive, but the baseboard is of high quality. Models made of linden or oak will cost more.On sale you can find products from more expensive breeds, but this is mainly used in the decoration of luxury housing.

What to look for?

You need to buy a wooden baseboard very carefully. Pay attention to the following qualities:

• wood class;
• whether the rail is made from a solid array or glued from separate layers;
• are there knots or chips.

Important! The wooden skirting board is painted or varnished. In the second case, keep in mind that in the finished form it will be slightly darker than in the store.

Veneer

This is also a wooden baseboard, but it is made differently - not from a single piece, but from layers. The base is usually made of pine, and the top layer is of noble wood. There are a lot of such models, they are extremely diverse in color and texture, and sometimes they are cheaper than those from a single piece.

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MDF

If you have walls made of this material, then the answer to the question which skirting board is better is obvious. It should also be made from MDF.

pros

Such models have their advantages:

• does not fade;
• resistant to water;
• it is easily and firmly mounted.

There are two ways to fix it:

• “Liquid nails”:
• on brackets using special clips.

Important! The first option is suitable if you are not going to use the baseboard a second time - it sticks firmly, and you can peel it off only by spoiling the rail itself. If you assume that this model will be useful to you in the future, fix it on the brackets.

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Ceramics

This material is now used literally everywhere, including in finishing works. If you are thinking about which skirting boards are best for a tile floor, pay attention to ceramic models. They are designed specifically to surround the tiled floor:

• Often, it is sold along with flooring, and in this case you don’t even have to think about how to choose a skirting for the floor by color - everything is already selected, you just have to pay and take it home.
• But such models can be bought separately, and in this case it is best to choose the tone of the main material or a little darker.

Important! Such a skirting board can be laid not only at the joints of the walls and the floor, but also between the wall covered with tiles and the upper edge of the bathtub.

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Styrofoam

In the store you can find one. It is very cheap, but it has one flaw - it is not suitable for the floor at all. This is a ceiling plinth, a very good material when you can pick up any shape and size, and even a molding in the form of stucco.

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Polyurethane

Expensive, but very effective material. Undoubted advantages:

• environmental friendliness;
• moisture resistance;
• resistance to fungus;
• durability;
• extreme ease of installation.

Important! The polyurethane skirting board can be painted as you like, and just fix it with glue.

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Aluminum

Strong durable products, relatively inexpensive. They are made of anodized metal. Undoubted advantages:

• hygienic;
• not afraid of any detergents, including aggressive ones;
• all models have a cable channel;
• All models are equipped with fittings.

Important! Consumers believe that installation is a bit of a challenge. Such a plinth is fastened with dowels to the wall.

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Fit to size

To choose the size of the baseboard, you need to know:

• room size;
• the color of the floor and walls.

Room Size:

• If you are thinking which skirting board to use for floors with high ceilings, keep in mind that narrow slats in this case will look bad. As in a very spacious room with the usual height of the floors. Wide models are preferable, and a contrast color rail can be used.
• But in a small room it is better to fix the slats of medium width or narrow, but matching the walls.
• For a standard room, options are 4.5-7 cm wide.

Choose color

First of all, the baseboard must be in harmony with the floor. With everything else, of course, too. What is sex? There are many options:

• white;
• Gray;
• beige;
• yellow;
• brown;
• golden;
• chocolate;
• Orange;
• red;
• the black.

Important! Other options are possible.The only things to avoid are bright screaming tones that can get bored very quickly. In old apartments you can still find linoleum tiles of the most incredible red-blue-green shades, but it is better to refrain from such a design, it looks rustic even in Retro-style rooms.

White

Lightness and cleanliness - any mote is noticeable on such a floor, so it should always be kept in perfect condition. The room seems bigger than it is. The most pleasant thing is that any other is easily combined with this color, so that the skirting board can be of all shades that are available in the world.

But you need to consider the color of other items:

• window frames;
• doors;
• platbands;
• fixtures.

Gray

The noble classic color, moreover, is always fashionable. You can easily find a gray baseboard from any material. It goes well with many colors:

• black
• white
• in red;
• in blue;
• aquamarine;
• pink;
• purple.

Important! If you intend to use bright rugs, then the framing is best done to match the flooring.

Brown, beige, golden

The most popular “floor” colors. They are suitable for any style of room. The baseboard is best taken exactly to match the color, but you can also experiment with different shades.

Orange, red, burgundy

Suitable option for the style of the 70s of the last century. But picking up the rest of the finishing materials for such a flooring is quite difficult. It is necessary to take into account the compatibility of colors - in particular, take only warm tones for a “sunny” or “sunset” floor. And in this case it is especially important that the skirting exactly matches the color of the floor.

Black or chocolate

An elegant option for a large living room or dance hall. Suitable for a loggia. But in the bedroom, such a covering should not be laid - dark tones tend to tire. The skirting board can be the same color, contrasting or look like a bright frame.

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Stock footage

In this article, we examined all the nuances and subtleties regarding how to choose a skirting for the floor. The rules are understandable, simple and at the same time allow you to show your imagination, because the design of each house is a reflection of his personality, tastes.