I’ve seen picture rail run around a room continuously above the door/window casings, and have seen it set below the door/window heads, dieing into the casings. This will actually be used to hang pictures, and the ceiling height is 8′.
What are preferences out there (about picture rail)? How high from the floor do you like to see them?
Stace
Replies
That depemds on the cieling height also.
Things need to be proportional as well as functional
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Along with the ceiling height, you need to consider the height of window and door trim, and is it all the same height. In some ways, the cleanest look is by going above all other openings, so that you have a nice continuous line around the room. But if the top of your trim is all the same height, then you can go along that line. Are you going to finish the wall differently above the rail? We put up a wallpaper freize, which defined the line of the picture rail.
If you break up the picture rail at existing trim, consider how the ends will terminate at the trim.
You might want to try putting up some with a dab of hot glue and painter's tape to see what it will look like.
Personally, I'm not sure how it will look with an 8' ceiling. Ours are 10 feet.
Bryan, at this time, I won't be doing a different finish above the rail. The door and window heads are all the same height, so no matter what I do, spacing will be even.As for terminating the rail at the casing, I'm now thinking about stopping an inch or two shy of the casing, and finishing it with a return.
thinking it depends on how big the pictures are too.
I'd decide on picture height .... then shoot for a nice even triangle of hanging wire/ribbon ....
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
The pictures are 8x10. There are 26 in all, the alphabet for a baby's room. I like the idea of the triangular ribbon. That will "pretty it up" nice. We painted a neutral color since we don't know the sex of the baby yet. Maybe we can get either girly or masculine ribbon depending on what we have.Stace
if it's a boy ...
bailing wire ...
barbed wire ...
or twine.
duct tape is unisex.
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Hey, if I use the duct tape, then I don't even need the picture rail! You just saved me a couple hours this weekend.Stace
Look at a picture of a classically styled column. Ionic, for instance. If you look at the top, the entablature, that chunk itself has 3 separate pieces, the bottom of which is called the architrave. The architrave has it's own pieces as well; you will notice in most orders the top-most of them projects not unlike your picture mold. Now, there's all kinds of ideas out there about the orders and how they relate to architecture today. I have no point to make, only that trim elements tend to work pretty well when they're kept, relatively speaking, spaced from one another much like a classical order would set them.
Of course, you have to decide which piece the picture mold represents, but I think the previous reference is appropriate. And that, on an 8 foot ceiling, has your picture mold somewhere between 10 and 11 inches off the ceiling. Do I use this? Yes. All the time, but only as a loose reference. I'll say ok this wants to be at 17 inches and then hold it there and see what it does to the room. Often, hey, it works. Sometimes, you really have to move it around to make it look right. But try that and see what you think. FWIW, it would also say your base should be about 5 3/4". But we dont see that a whole lot of the time.
"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton
Thanks for the education. At 10 inches off the ceiling, the 8x10 pictures will look lonely hanging out there on such a long wire or ribbon. Maybe the best bet is to temporarily tack a few pieces on at differnt heights and let the wife decide. Then again, I could just do it whatever way I want and tell her it's done. For the record, the base is 3.25". Small by today's standards?Stace