Choosing the right skirting board for your home is an often overlooked design consideration. "While unlikely to be the key focal point in any room, skirting is a small yet important detail that has the potential to make or break your home's decor," begins Rebecca Foster.

Skirting board colour ideas are important too — the Victorians used maroons and browns, grained to look like wood. These colours are not popular now, but a neutral white to contrast with coloured walls works well.

Made from coniferous trees, such as pine, cedar and fir, softwood boards offer a characterful solution. They can be stained, oiled or varnished as well as painted to complement your decorative scheme. A contemporary colour means this tall ogee skirting design is a fresh addition to the period room. (Image credit: Annie Sloan) What is the Best Type of Skirting Board? These days, skirting boards are still are essential at forming the junctions between construction materials – potentially covering untidy or uneven joins – and providea barrier that protects the wall from scuffs and dents caused by people and pets moving through and vacuuming. Skirting, door architraves and cornices were all devised when walls were wet plastered and not as smooth as today. The plaster finish was rough and needed a junction (stop edge) at the floor and ceilings. The skirting function was therefore intended to hide the junction at the bottom of the plastered wall. The skirting also hid the damp in houses before damp proof courses became the norm. Some professionals consider scribing skirting as the proper way to fit internal skirting joints whatever type of skirting board you are using. Scribing is commonly used on walls that are out of square, typically found in older homes.

Home journalist Rebecca Foster advises: "Your budget will determine the type of skirting you opt for, both in terms of materials and style. Intricate profiles cost more than basic boards." It’s easier to do a scribe cut as you will need to do one cut and it is even easier if cutting more straightforward skirting types such as square edge, pencil round, chamfered and bullnose. Shitajiki ( 下敷き, lit. "under-sheet") is a Japanese word for various types of materials placed under a sheet of paper for writing, either to prevent marking on the sheets below or to provide a better surface for writing. They are usually referred to as pencil boards in English. Shadow gap designs are the creme-de-la-creme for contemporary homes, though square-edged, bullnose and chamfered profiles can create an equally sleek effect." The easy answer is no. But it's not quite as straightforward as the answer suggests. It can depend on what type of flooring you are laying. For example, if putting down laminate flooring or tiles you want to leave a 2mm or 3mm expansion gap in case of any movement. Ideally you will lay the flooring first then install the skirting board.Material is another factor. If the board is going to be painted, you could use low-cost MDF rather than timber. While tiles laid on a floor in a hallway or bathroom can be used as a skirting to give the impression of greater width by using the same material as the floor. Modern boards tend to be slimmer and less detailed than their traditional cousins for a streamlines, unfussy look. Simple square routed shapes are common in modern homes," adds Rebecca. "Follow the theme through in the architraves to the doors.