Our Woodwork
French boiserie in solid wood: four families of carved ornaments
Wall boiserie is the art of dressing walls in worked timber, an art our workshop in Cornebarrieu, near Toulouse, practises in solid French wood. From a ready-to-fit dado rail to a large bespoke scheme, every piece comes out of our own workshop. Dado rails, coats of arms, panels and bespoke work: four families of boiseries, one and the same expertise in carved ornament.
Our guides
Made to match
Antique boiserie reproduction, made to match
A missing moulding, a damaged panel, an antique boiserie to complete: we reproduce the element to match in solid wood, ready to be fitted by your joiner.
Dado rail guide
Wooden dado rails: history, height and fitting
Dado rail guide: Georgian and Victorian history, how high to fit one in a UK room, how to fix and mitre it, and our solid wood dado rails made in France.
Classical mouldings
Decorative wood mouldings: profiles, ornament and period styles
Decorative wood mouldings explained: ovolo and cyma profiles, egg-and-dart and Greek key ornament, French period styles and our solid wood dado rails.
Haussmann style
Haussmannian mouldings: recognising, completing and recreating the décor
Plaster cornices, wooden doors and parquet: how to read the décor of a Haussmann-era Paris apartment, who to call, and how to recreate it in solid wood.
Wall proportions
Wall mouldings: height, proportions and panel layout
Wall mouldings: dado rail height (rule of thirds), number and width of panels, spacing around doors and windows, with a panel calculator and a 3D view.
Châteaux and historic houses
Château and period house boiseries: making what is missing to match
Château or period house boiseries to complete: new solid wood pieces made to match, the rules for protected French monuments, and how our workshop works.
Family coats of arms
A family coat of arms in wood: finding, designing and making your arms
Family crest or coat of arms: who may bear arms, where to look for your family's, the rules for creating new ones, and how we make them in solid wood.
Occitan emblem
The Occitan cross in solid wood: the emblem of Toulouse and Languedoc
The Cross of Toulouse, clechée, voided and pommetty Or: its origins, the debated meaning of its twelve pommels, its uses today and our wooden Occitan cross.
Ceiling ornament
Solid wood ceiling roses: for the ceiling, the wall or the coffer
Solid wood ceiling roses, or ceiling medallions: where the ornament comes from, where to place one, which wood and finish to choose, and our Radiant Rosette.
Dado rails and friezes
The lines that give a room its structure: dado rails at chair height, picture rails and carved friezes running along the walls. They are the simplest way into the world of French boiserie, and often the first step that transforms a room. Explore our dado rails and friezes
Coats of arms and carved portraits
Pieces that tell a story. A family coat of arms, an escutcheon, the emblem of a region or an association, a portrait in bas-relief: we carve what matters to you in solid wood, working from your drawing, a photograph or simply an idea. We handle the whole process, from the preparatory drawing to delivery. Explore our coats of arms and portraits
Carved wood panels
Pictures in relief: decorative wall panels, animal panels, dado panelling, trumeaux (overmantel panels) and ceiling coffers. From a carved motif fixed to the wall like a work of art to a grand scheme that covers an entire wall, carved solid wood becomes the centrepiece of the interior. Explore our wood panels
Bespoke boiseries
Projects that fit no catalogue: complete wall boiseries, mouldings reproduced exactly, Haussmann-era schemes, commissions for architects and interior designers. Everything takes shape in the workshop, from the initial study and drawings through to making. The workshop replies within 48 working hours. Explore our bespoke work
Why solid French wood?
All our boiseries are shaped from solid French wood: oak, walnut or poplar, depending on the piece and its finish. It is a material that lasts: it can be carved, sanded and repaired, and it takes on a patina over time. Each piece is finished by hand in the workshop, with wax, stain, varnish or paint, before it reaches your wall. Working in solid wood is, at heart, a bet on longevity: on a boiserie that is repaired rather than replaced, that bears the marks of the years without ever going out of fashion, and that passes down through the ages, allowing us to look back on them and to keep alive the memory of the men and women who worked on it.
One workshop, from shop pieces to large projects
Everything starts with the wood: boards of French oak, walnut or poplar, chosen dry and straight-grained. It is from these boards that the workshop carves each piece, before reworking it by hand. A dado rail from our shop and the complete wood panelling of a bespoke drawing room thus come from the same wood and the same know-how.
Browse our projects to see that know-how at work, or request a quote: we reply within 48 working hours.