Staircases, mantels, wainscots, inglenooks…not to mention casings and trim: a quick review of some outstanding examples shows that historic woodwork is a treasuretrove of design ideas.
he STYLE variants t in houses of the Georgian era, especially on fireplace walls and in entry halls. Raised panels became popular around 1750. Formal raised-panel wainscoting consists of floating wood panels held in place between vertical stiles and horizontal rails. Beveling the panel’s edges creates a three-dimensional surface with visual depth. A variation, the flat-panel wainscot, is probably a Shaker invention. This is the look emulated during the Colonial Revival ca. 1885–1940; sometimes, only the chair rail is used without a wainscot below. Formal and with high ceilings, The Arts & Crafts era brought back the high wainscot, often made of vertical battens framing wood or decorated panels.
