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is crown moulding/pic rail ceiling or wall color?

16 years ago

Well, I guess the title says it all, but we are getting our 1920s house interior painted. It had been painted ALL white, who knows how many years ago. The baseboards and doors/door trim are a nice creamy white enamel and in great condition, but every other inch is a (dirty) flat white latex. We will be painting all the rooms actual COLORS now, but I'm not sure what to do with the couple of areas (foyer & dining room) which have a painted crown moulding & picture rail. Should these be ceiling color or wall color? If it helps, the dining room will be a deep gold/brown color and the foyer will be a "dove" color (greenish/brownish/grayish). If it was just crown m., I guess I would have thought to paint it ceiling color, but this combination extends at least 6 inches or so from the ceiling line, so I'm not sure now.

Or... should we get it painted to match the trim (the glossy creamy white)? (at added expense, of course)

Thanks for your input!

Jen

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Comments (5)

Carol_from_ny
16 years ago
It's all a matter of what you like. There are no rules. In my house I have the doors, the mouldings (crown and foot) as well as the picture rails all painted a gloss white.
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Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
16 years ago
Typicality it would be the trim color but as said,whatever you like,it is only paint and can be easily changed.
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HGTV often implies that crown molding needs to "pop", but I think you may need to decide what's more important to you: showing off the molding, or making your ceilings appear as high as possible. Low contrast, letting the moldings blend with the wall, will make the ceilings appear somewhat higher. Painting the molding in a contrast will shorten the ceilings by however deep the molding is (a few inches?), and draws attention to your 8' ceilings. I have 7.5' ceilings at the sides of my living room & kitchen that peak to 8' in the center. I painted the molding in the same matte color I used on the wall, and I love it. The molding doesn't disappear, it still adds architectural interest, a more finished feel to the room, but the ceilings appear much higher than they did when the molding was dark. Using the same color in a higher sheen could be an option, too, since it would allow the molding to blend slightly with the wall but make it show up more than if the sheen were as low as the wall. Martha Stewart has a lot of trim matching walls in her homes, but possibly with a higher sheen. Here is a link that might be useful: Martha Stewart's Homes
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hatman52
16 years ago
As others have said, normally they would be painted (or stained) the same as the trim. However, I have seen picture rails painted wall colors to make them "disappear" a bit. And, if your trim is white and you're painting your ceiling a color other than white, I would paint the crown moulding the same color as the ceiling.
nolagirl
16 years ago
I have the picture molding painted the wall color in my 1899 Victorian double. (The house wouldn't have had crown molding when it was built, and I therefore didn't add it during an extension recent (and still on-going!) renovation, so I can't help with that.) My 10-inch base and all other trim in the house is painted white, and my walls are a sandy beige, or a cream-with-a-little-coffee-added color.

I think you can handle it however you want and either way would be appropriate. As someone else pointed out, painting trim the same color as its adjacent surfaces (crown the same as ceiling color, or picture molding the same as wall color) will make it "disappear" a bit. If it's something you'd rather highlight, paint it the trim color for the contrast.
User
16 years ago
what we did at our painter's suggestion is paint the picture rail and the wall area above it and the crown molding all the same finish and color...oil enamel cream. This way your crown looks like it is very wide. It is a very elegant look. We have 12 foot ceilings and our walls are all very rich colors...navy in the DR and chocolate in the morning room. It gives the rooms a much more comfortable feel rather than having so much wall color.

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