What is typical mid-century baseboard?
Hi,
We just bought a 1471 sqft Eichleresque house near Walnut Creek. It was built in 1949. We had the floors refinished and took up all the baseboard. We would like to replace it with appropriate baseboard. When I looked at baseboard in a nearby shop, the styles are traditional and ranch with curves and lines. I said I thought I wanted square baseboard. He said, "Well, that's what I call lumber. You want lumber."
Any advice on what we should put in? What did Eichler and Neutra and Schindler have for baseboard?
Thanks!
Kim
Many Neutra and 'modern style' homes have no any baseboards at all (as in rooms with concrete/stone floors etc) or, where used, be quite inconspicuous. I've never read anywhere that baseboard were to have an architectural effect.
We have close to original/older baseboards, and they're all "straight" without curves or embellishments, not very high, with a slight rounding at the edge.
/Ben
Hi Ben,
Is that a rounding at the top edge, where the top of the baseboard meets the wall? If so, that is the kind that we tore out. It might have been original to the house. We bought it from the first owners who lived here from 1951 to 2004.
We have 1 foot square parquet wood floors, with the squares going in opposite directions. Between the edge of the wood and the wall is a space filled with cork. Most interesting. The whole house is on slab.
Can you send a picture of the baseboard you are talking about?
Thanks!
I tried to find an on-line example of what we had installed in our house, but to no avail.
We had installed pre-stained mahogany baseboards, with a flat surface and a rounded top. They were reversable, so by turning the baseboards upside down, you could use either side of the moulding. These were stock mouldings and are available at Piedmont Lumber, http://www.piedmontlumber.com, (they have locations in Oakland and Walnut Creek) and Ashby Lumber, http://www.ashbylumber.com, (they have locations in Berkeley and Concord).
These baseboards almost exactly matched the original baseboards in our Eichler, but the new baseboards were not quite as tall.
Good luck.
Jeff
Paulina,
I can take some pictures. What's your email?
/Ben
We're in the middle of a remodel, and our plan is to install a flush wood base. You get the benefit of baseboard, but with a clean look that's "in plane" with the wall. One feature of flush bases is that they often employ a small reveal, which strikes a nice line around the room.
We're planning to make our own base from MDF. Depending on your current wall construction, the exact detail and material choices may vary.
