Boiserie: how to furnish your home with style and elegance

Today's boiseries represent a modern solution for furnishing the home. Let us first of all try to understand what boiserie is. 

Classic boiserie is a decorative style that originated in France between the 17th and 18th centuries. This type of furniture was used from its origin to embellish interiors with the help of decorated or inlaid panels, or alternatively characterized by a simple and linear shape. 

Soon this type of furniture spread also in our country, where it was quite successful. 

The use of modern boiseries

The modern boiseries represent an excellent solution to complete the furnishing of a domestic space with particular elegance, refinement and style. By preparing a modern boiserie in your rooms you can give personality and character to an apparently anonymous space. 

Today as in the past, the boiserie represents a real decorative wall technique: it consists in practice in covering the wall with the help of wooden panels or with plaster, polystyrene, stucco, metal or ceramic mouldings. The covering surface can be smooth, engraved, inlaid or pantographed or carved. 

Generally, due to its aristocratic origins, boiserie has been a prerogative of aristocratic and period houses in the past. Today this type of installation represents a real trend in the furniture sector. For this reason boiseries have also become very common in flats and homes of the most different sizes. 

Today's boiseries are able to adapt harmoniously with the classic contemporary, shabby or strictly contemporary style. 

The meaning of boiserie today has evolved considerably. Obviously, in a modern or contemporary furnishing it is not necessary to conceive the presence of the boiserie as simple frames arranged on the wall or on the ceiling. 

Modern times have contributed to a great evolution of the concept of furniture, encouraging the advent of large decorated brushstrokes that mask the doors or alternatively enhance the details of a perspective. 

Why decide to install a boiserie?

The decorative purpose is undoubtedly the first need of those who decide to install a boiserie in their spaces. You can also choose this installation in order to protect the walls of your rooms. 

Finally, installing a boiserie in your space can be a purely aesthetic choice: thanks to a boiserie as mentioned above you can give character and personality to your rooms.

Over the years, the interior design has evolved considerably, but the purposes for which you decide to install a boiserie in your rooms have not changed. Even if often and willingly we do not notice the presence of these installations, the boiseries are prepared in the living room, in the corridor and also in the bathroom space. 

As far as the bathroom is concerned, the ceramic boiseries are very refined, sometimes simply referred to as wall coverings. 

Boiserie: the different styles

The history of interior design is constantly marked by stylistic and decorative evolutions, some of which are particularly structured and incisive. The world of decoration has now become considerably lighter: in recent years new materials have been conceived that are extremely resistant but at the same time light and practical, greatly improving performance.

Nowadays contemporary boiseries are made in a variety of styles, according to the needs and tastes of the users. The most creative and enterprising people sometimes resort to the creation of do-it-yourself boiseries. 

The elegance of a wooden boiserie

Wooden boiseries are usually arranged along the entire perimeter of the wall or sometimes in a certain section of it. These installations are made with the help of rigid wooden panels, carved and pantographed directly by the carpenter who carries out the project drawn up by the architect. 

The wooden boiseries are fixed to the wall by means of special dowels or alternatively with the aid of special glues. 

Each wooden paneling can be characterised by a different thickness and different decorations: there are smooth paneling with patterns, or paneling with inlays or mouldings. Some structures are specially designed and made with the presence of a space for lights or to allow the passage for power sockets. 

Usually the following materials are used for the realization of wooden boiserie: 

• mahogany or chestnut wood 
• walnut wood
• oak wood

Prices of a wooden paneling

As far as the prices of a wooden paneling are concerned, it should be noted that there are now modern boiseries on the market with ready-made panels. 

The cost of this type of installation is variable: you can go from a price of about 200, 300 Euro for high quality boiseries, to go down. Today it is no longer necessary to rely on the carpenter, since these installations can be installed directly from the furniture manufacturer who supplies them. 

Today the market offers users lacquered wood paneling in all colours. It is also possible to choose between open-pore wood or rough wood with parquet effect.

Carved decorations are a rarity in contemporary homes. In historical houses it is possible to find this type of installation. 

Plaster, polystyrene or stucco boiseries

Boiseries made with the aid of plaster, polystyrene or stucco are certainly lighter and more versatile than installations made with wood. The market today is saturated with these prefabricated proposals. 

These installations simply need to be cut to size, glued to the wall and painted in the colour of the latter. The installation work can therefore also be carried out directly by a painter or alternatively it is possible to carry it out completely independently. 

If you decide to install your boiserie independently, it is important to draw the position of the furniture on the wall. When installing the boiserie you must pay the utmost attention to the squaring of the various elements.

DIY Boiserie

As previously mentioned, some people decide to use DIY for the realization of the boiserie to be prepared and installed in their rooms. In this regard it is important to specify that in this case it is important to take some important precautions regarding the risk of condensation and mould that could affect the surface of the wall. 

The installation of a boiserie or any type of panel will certainly not solve the problem of condensation or mould that could affect the surface of a wall. 

In conditions of mould and condensation, before proceeding with the installation of the paneling, it is advisable to restore the wall from both inside and outside. 

Another problem is the presence of woodworms or ants. If the wood that makes up your boiserie is not of high quality or if your rooms are unhealthy (for example if they are located in industrial contexts or in open country) in this case it is certainly better to avoid installing wooden panelling or boiserie. In this case it is better to prefer a plasterboard or metal solution. 

Metal paneling

The metal boiseries represent a novelty in recent years in the furniture sector. Sometimes these structures are underestimated; however, they are spreading considerably in the homes of Italians. Many companies now offer metal boiseries in their catalogue. 

Certainly it is less frequent to find a boiserie in metal than one in wood or made with the help of other types of materials. 

However, metal boiserie can be a particularly suitable solution for covering, for example, a pillar or the entrance of a condominium. As far as metal boiseries are concerned, we can say that the most used finishes in our country are those that prefer the use of steel, burnished brass, copper or black iron. 

If you decide to opt for the purchase and installation of a metal boiserie the important thing is to define the rhythm to give the wall that design and appearance that can excite and amaze.