picture molding

12 years ago

I am considering removing chair molding (installed about 50 years ago. I am lucky to know the PO's) and putting up picture molding instead. My home is 1916 and I would like it to have a craftsman feel. I am trying to strip white paint off all of the downstairs doorways, window trim and baseboards (a VERY slow process). The walls are still lathe and plaster, so I feel this would have been typical, so as to not damage the walls. The downstairs consists of the living room and dining room (pretty open, just a wide doorway separating them) and the kitchen. !st, what height is it appropriate to hang picture rail? Is there a ratio (like 2/3 of the way to the ceiling?) or is it usually a measurement (2 feet from ceiling, for instance), or is it just whatever looks good? Also, if I put it up in the dining room, would it be appropriate to also put it in the living room, or was this typically only a one room thing?

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Comments (4)

sombreuil_mongrel
12 years ago
Mostly they originally put the pic molding between the wall/field paper and the frieze paper, which was made in 9" through 18" widths, typically.
I put my picture molding in right at the 8ft line everywhere, and put the ceiling color (china white) in the frieze space too; the wall colors just go to the molding.
My ceilings are 9' 9"
Here's an idea of how it looks:

Mine is more victorian-based, since the 1906 remodeling removed all remaining late Federal millwork details.
Casey
powermuffin
12 years ago
When I removed the paneling and wallpapers from our dining and sitting rooms, the shadow of a picture rail was apparent in both rooms. In our home, it was about 14" down from the ceiling. We put up new rail and love it! I don't know why these ever went out of fashion because they make hanging pictures much, much easier!

Like Casey, the dining room is painted one color (blue) below the rail, and creamy white above it and on the ceiling.
Diane
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dirt_cred
12 years ago
My house is 1913 and I call it "Craftsman Vernacular" because it's got a little of several things with a Craftsman feel overall.

The original picture molding is the same as the window casing - square and about 6" wide. It runs even with the top window casing - as a continuation of it, level with the top of the windows. That makes it about 8' from the floor and 2" from the ceiling. It's in both the living and dining rooms which are separated with colonnades and a decorative timber-like square arch filler.
NWRain-Gal
12 years ago
Our house is a 1925 Bungalow with craftsman details. We have 8.5 ft ceilings that have a curved crown moulding that is about 5 inches high and just below that there is a picture rail that is 3 inches high. Our walls are also lathe and plaster and when we first moved into the house 22 years ago we didn't know about the picture rail and tried to hang pictures on the walls, not an easy task with plaster walls. When we discovered what the picture rail was we have used it ever since.

In our breakfast nook we were going to add a crown moulding but decided to install a picture rail about 2 inches down from the ceiling and paint it the same color as the ceiling thus giving the illusion of a crown and be able to hang pictures from it without damaging the walls.

They are a great architectural detail of a bygone era that works so well for today and looks very stylish as well.