How do you know what the original panelling looked like?

By looking for what survives. Ghost lines under later paint, a section left intact behind a radiator or inside a closet, the height of an original picture rail, or an untouched example in another room usually tell us the height, the panel proportions and the cap profile. We build from that evidence and we tell you where we are reconstructing from evidence and where we are making a judgement, rather than presenting a guess as a restoration.

Is applied moulding on drywall acceptable in a period house?

It is cheaper and in the right context it is fine, but in a formal room with high ceilings and good natural light the difference from real frame-and-panel construction is visible, particularly in raking light off the river. In the historic district we generally recommend building it properly. We will quote both and let you see the comparison.

St Clair, St Clair County, MI

Wainscoting in St Clair, MI

Name: Maceri Woodworking
Address: 33628 Bayview Dr, Chesterfield, MI, 48047, US
Telephone: (586) 823-2887
Price range: $$

Panelled dados in St Clair's historic houses are original features, not additions, and many rooms here have either kept theirs or lost it to a mid-century remodel that plastered straight over. Both situations are work we do regularly.

Where a dado survives, the job is matching: reproducing the panel proportions, the rail profile and the cap so a repair or an extension into an adjoining room is invisible. Where it has been lost, reinstating it means working from evidence rather than taste — ghost lines under paint, a surviving section behind a radiator or in a closet, the height of the original picture rail, or an intact example in another room of the same house. That evidence is usually there if you look for it, and building from it is what separates restoration from decoration. In the formal front rooms of these houses the panelling was often substantial: full raised-panel dados in dining rooms, panelled stair walls following the rake, and in the larger river houses, occasionally full-height panelling in a study. We build all of it in the same way it was originally done, with real stiles and rails and a proper cap rather than applied moulding on drywall, because in a room with ten-foot ceilings and good light the difference is obvious. Layout is set to the actual wall so no panel finishes short at a corner.

We survey the room for original evidence before designing anything and show you what we found. Components are milled at our Chesterfield shop to match the profiles the house already has.

St Clair is about twenty-one miles from our Chesterfield shop, well inside the area we cover along the river.

Wainscoting questions from St Clair homeowners

How do you know what the original panelling looked like?: By looking for what survives. Ghost lines under later paint, a section left intact behind a radiator or inside a closet, the height of an original picture rail, or an untouched example in another room usually tell us the height, the panel proportions and the cap profile. We build from that evidence and we tell you where we are reconstructing from evidence and where we are making a judgement, rather than presenting a guess as a restoration.
Is applied moulding on drywall acceptable in a period house?: It is cheaper and in the right context it is fine, but in a formal room with high ceilings and good natural light the difference from real frame-and-panel construction is visible, particularly in raking light off the river. In the historic district we generally recommend building it properly. We will quote both and let you see the comparison.