Earls Court Living

Floors

Bloody floors

Some houses had stucco floors made of plaster mixed with pigs’ blood, to give an attractive brown colour. This may not be a period feature you will particularly want to preserve.

Floorboards

Floorboards came in all sizes and were not necessarily all the same size in a particular room. It was only in the first part of the 19th century that industrial methods meant that floorboards could be produced to a standard size in large quantities. Steam-powered machines for sawing and planing timber were introduced in the 1830s.

Choice of wood

Oak would only be used for floors in very expensive households and then only in main rooms. Georgian houses usually had pine floorboards. But they were often painted to make them look like more valuable hardwoods. 

Decorating the floorboards

Floorboards were often lime-washed to clean them, and to give them a silver colour. Floorboards were sometimes painted to resemble marble blocks. By the 1820s it was fashionable to stencil patterns onto floorboards. Parquetry was only used round the edges. 

Carpets

Fitted carpets became popular in the Regency period.