Carpentry & Joinery

How to decide which end of skirting to skribe and which side to lay flush against the wall

Anonymous user 11/09/2026 - 9.47 AM

Hi all I am currently re-doing my spare bedroom. It is a typical victorian 2 up 2 down. The bedroom has a fireplace on one wall with two alcoves set back on either side - extremely typical for this sort of house, if you google "victorian fireplace alcove" you will find hundreds of pictures of what I am talking about. The wall with the fireplace has (from one side to the other) two internal joints, then an external joint, then the fireplace, then another external joint, then two internal joints. I am going to scribe the skirting to fit the internal corners and mitre to fit the external corners. My question is for the joints I am scribing, how do I know which side to lay flush against the wall, and which side to scribe to the profile of the side that has been laid flush against the wall? Does it matter, or is there a trick to know which will look 'better' when all is said and done? Is it a no-no to scribe both ends of one piece of skirting board (for example the boards that will be up against the back of the alcoves either side of the fireplace), or are you supposed to try to ensure that where you have a number of internal joints in a row, each board has one side flush and one side scribed? Many thanks in advance & I hope this makes sense.