Everyone loves an exposed post and beam, right? Well, you might not if you happen to be over six foot and have hit your head on one or two over the years. There’s a charm to them, though, something about being able to see the structure of the building that speaks to our historical inheritance. And as we’re all a lot taller now than in Shakespeare’s time, you shouldn’t have to worry about hitting your head on them anymore – ceiling heights in new homes are significantly more generous nowadays, even with the addition of beams.
They’re also versatile, able to be hidden in the walls or placed in pride of place either side of a fireplace. Some people want post and beams galore and choose to have them all over their houses, some restrict them to the ground floor only, or just key rooms like the lounge and kitchen. For smaller rooms like bathrooms, they can be placed flush against walls, so you can get all the oldy-worldy texture without losing valuable floor space. They’re also a great idea for subtly defining open-plan spaces, so if you want to experiment with different interior you can use posts and beams to ‘zone’ these areas.