"In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking, but now, G*d knows, anything goes..." Those immortal words & the jazzy, syncopated tune that accompanied them are by the late, great Cole Porter, whose business it was to be attuned to all the latest fads & foibles of the fashionable set, and these days, it's kind of the same way with the question of chair rails & where to put the dark color, too. People remind me all the time that "There are no rules!" Please. There are always rules, and just because a lot of people ignore them--or never bothered to learn them in the first place--doesn't mean they don't exist, and like the judge says, ignorance of the law is no excuse. Knowing how (and when) to break a rule is one of the skilled decorator's greatest tricks, but in order to make it work, you first have to know the rules. Otherwise, it's meaningless. Decorating without rules is like playing tennis without the net: what's the point? Of course, we live in a free country, so people can put the dark color below the chair rail if they want, but doing it that way is a fairly recent development, dating not much further back than the time the time Madonna wore her bra on top of her sweater, setting off a tacky (and, fortunately, short-lived) fad among the middle-schoolers in the town where I used to live. That's kind of what I think of whenever I hear someone proclaim "There are no rules!" The Green Room at the White House after Theodore Rooselvelt's renovations. Anyway, that dark-color-on-the-bottom bit took off after somebody on one of the early cable decorating shows did it that way, and since then, it's become common, but historically speaking--especially when it's traditional decorating you're talking about in the first place--it's all wrong, and for a good reason. Here's the thing: in decorating, most "rules"--if you take the time to do any research about them--originated with simple practicality & common sense. Historically, dark paint (or fabric, or wallpaper)--that is, the expensive stuff, what with the high cost of pigments--went on the upper walls because that's where people would see it, not down below the chair rail, where it would not only be below eye level--especially when seated at a dining table--but where it would also be partially obscured by furniture pushed up flat against the walls, which is where the term "straightening a room" came from. If the woodwork--including the chair rail, which was there not for aesthetics but to protect expensive materials & fragile plaster--was painted at all in such a room, it was generally painted white, because white paint (or lime wash) was cheap & it could be refreshed easily when it got dingy. Anyway, that's the logic behind the traditional dark-above-light-below color distribution. Even if the specific reasons for that distribution no longer apply, the look still seems right, especially in a traditional decor. If a designer (or decorator) decides to ignore historical precedent for one reason or another, that's one thing, but if he or she is truly unaware of it, I'd start to worry, because such historical background is part of the traditional education in the field. Ignorance of that of thing would be a big red flag to me. Kind of like the be-jeweled & be-scarfed "designer" I met at a suburban decorator showhouse who--totally without irony--referred to blotchy mess of a would-be Venetian plaster wall as having "a lovely faux-pas finish." It was the funniest thing I'd heard in a week. Regards, MAGNAVERDE

@k9arlene, Thanks. Yes, birds would make a mess. It would be pain to get a ladder to clean the outside of the railing. Luckily, it is only one story up. Industrial is not my favourite look. Thanks for letting me know you think the glass matches the look of my house more. @tibbrix, Thanks for clarifying the view with cable railings. Surely, there is somewhere near me that someone has used them that I can see. As per providing a wind breaker, that does sound nice, but in practice I am not sure how often we would be out there on windy days anyway. I too am concerned about cleaning. Carol

Hi again Julia. I think using an opaque paint on the brick is best, as a white-wash will give an uneven look, which is what you're trying to remove. The brick looks to be a mass-manufactured extruded brick, which isn't an interesting feature. If it were an antique/used brick, I wouldn't paint it. I'm not a fan of covering the brick with a fabric panel, which kind of looks contrived, and will also be fairly expensive to do. As for color, I'd use any of a number of neutral whites--Simply White, White Dove, Cotton Balls, Chantilly Lace, Decorator's White, especially since you aren't fond of the Edgecomb Gray. White is always a good choice for a backdrop in a room, and then you are free to do anything with the soft furnishings.

Answering lots of questions as I’ve been working my real estate sales business non-stop in this super busy market. The real estate agent I consulted with for color is me. I know gray is still in here in my market but is totally out in others that my clients live in (I sell lots of second homes being at the beach.) so it will be out here soon and whites are on the rise here. I don’t want someone to be stuck with gray but do not want to lose the buyers in my area that still love it so I was going for greige or an off-white. I’ve settled on BM White Dove for walls and BM Chantilly Lace for cabinets and trim throughout. I want a soothing color with a good LRV as home tends to be dark inside. I’m doing what I can to help with additional lighting too. This is a total renovation: roof, windows, opening kitchen some, all new countertops, all new flooring throughout, etc.... I just want a nice color that is a good backdrop for the Buyers things. The Buyer can personalize to their taste as they decide what they want to do. I just want to avoid one thinking “I can’t move in with that paint.” Which they would definitely do with 1993 yellow, and that is the best color in the house! LOL! This house has a bunch of sherbert-themed colors like dreamsicle orange(yuk). You have all been so helpful! It will be 2-3 weeks, but I will post pictures of the paint when it is done! Thank each and every one of you again!