Should skirting boards match architraves?

[diytrouble]

My builder has gone and put up fancy architraves that are of a completely different style to the simple skirting I want to put in. I would have thought the architraves and skirting should match. Both are to be painted white. Is there a rule of thumb that governs this?

 

[xerxes]

The rule of thumb is that the builder is working for you, and should do what you want (provided it's safe, legal, practicable, etc.)

So if you don't like the result, he'll have to change it if that's possible.

Having said that, I fitted some torus skirting in a bedroom recently, and architrave round the window, which don't match the architrave on the two doors in the room. It's not what I would have chosen to do ideally, but it doesn't look like an enormous crime against taste either.

 

[joe-90]

Cuffs and collars should always match.

 

[noseall]

i agree with joe, but....

there is such a thing as skirting blocks that sit at the junction where an architrave meets a skirting board.

these blocks are much wider than either the skiting or the architrave and are designed with differing thicknesses in mind.

i guess they were popular in the days where a much thicker skirting board met a thinner more delicate architrave.

 

[jabuzzard]

i agree with joe, but....

there is such a thing as skirting blocks that sit at the junction where an architrave meets a skirting board.

these blocks are much wider than either the skiting or the architrave and are designed with differing thicknesses in mind.

i guess they were popular in the days where a much thicker skirting board met a thinner more delicate architrave.

I always thought they where a Scottish thing. At least they are way commoner in Scotland than the rest of the U.K. in my experience. Even then the skirting and architrave (or facing as they call it in Scotland) are supposed to match or be coordinated.

 

[ladylola]

Matching or similiar works . A "fancy" or more intricate architrave and plainer skirting can also work but a moulded skirting and simple arch doesn't work, at least in my opinion .
I have Plinth blocks in my house , partly because I think they look nice but mainly because the architraves were short with very rough mitres when we moved in and it was an easy and cheap option to replacing everything. For the record the skirtings are seven inch with a simple chamfer and the architraves are three inch with a wider chamfer.

 

[gregers]

yeah plinth blocks.
you may even like the difference?.

 

[foxhole]

My builder has gone and put up fancy architraves that are of a completely different style to the simple skirting I want to put in.

Did you keep it a secret?