Picture Rail and Colours

[andrewpreece]

Others have said the same thing as I wil, but in different words. The convention appears to be that as far as ceilings go, light colours 'raise' them, and dark colours 'lower' them. As was mentioned, it depends on how high your room is etc. I have seen (through a window) a nearby house with a sort of burnt sienna/terracotta ceiling. It looks very nice from outside, warm, exotic, but I've no idea how it looks from inside. I have the same (light) wallpaper above my picture rail as below, but then I didn't want to use paint above the rail as the wall surface is not good enough.

Andy

[Ric]

Hi there,

Maybe a bit off topic but sod it: have just put a new picture rail up in the bedroom and are considering the following colour scheme:

Below picture rail: Apple White Above picture rail: Green Ceiling and coving: White

Someone has put doubts in my mind saying that you shouldn't have a darker colour above the picture rail than the one below it as it will make the room look 'top heavy' and will be displeasing to the eye.

Any opinions?

Thanks.

[Neil Jones]

I think it would depend on how high your ceilings are.

Aesthetics are necessarily a very personal area and the best thing to do is to try it. If it doesn't work, paint over it.

Neil

[Mary Fisher]

Purely an opinion but I think that the lighter all walls and ceilings - and everything - in a room the larger and happier it will feel. There's enough contrast with furniture and other trappings, if I'm aware of 'decorations' I think it's wrong. I want to see people in a room and not be distracted by other things - it's not a museum.

But that's just me. We've just come back from staying with friends, their living room was dark, lined with dark wood, small windows, dark carpet, dark ceiling and lots and lots of pictures. I found it depressing. Most other visitors find it 'cosy', my friend said. We also stayed next door where everything was almost white with light carpets where there were any, mostly it was light golden boards, balusters and the like. The result was startling, restful and delightful, it felt sunny even when it wasn't.

The only jarring note was that our eyes were drawn to the architraves which were the same golden wood as the other fixed 'furniture', lovely colour but they broke the subtle continuity of the walls.

I know i'm in a minotrity here but you did ask :-)

Mary

[John Laird]

It might look okay if the ceiling was the same colour as the upper part of the wall, but you have suggested the latter will be white. It does sound unusual. One problem with "try it and see" is that you may end up trying to later obscure the darkest colour with a much lighter shade. Expect this to require at *least* 2 coats.

A more typical approach might be green up to a dado rail level, lighter green above, white ceiling. If I were you, and only had the picture rail to break the wall up, I'd stick to two colours, dark below and light above. If you opt for the darker green below, pure white above will produce a brighter room than even a slightly tinted version.

[Christian McArdle]

I'd probably agree with your "someone", although it is difficult to assess such unusual schemes without actually seeing them.

Christian.