Where should this picture rail go when ceiling height changes?

[Coles]

In my early 1900's house there is part of the original picture rail remaining.

I hope you can see from the photos there is a change of height due to the stairs.

How should it look? It can't juat continue as it would be too low.

Should it juat create some sort of rectangle?


I hope my question makes sense.

Thank you

 

[a twig]

In my opinion there’s no problem with it just “stopping” if that’s what you’re asking?

You could bevel the stop so it is visually similar to how the cornice above to the left finishes?

I’ve seen some people just put a small upright section at the end - almost like an L shape, just going upwards for a couple of inches - I guess to potentially stop picture hooks sliding off the end?

 

[a twig]

If you have a long list of jobs to do already I’d just sand and paint the cut end and move on.

If it is still bothering you when the rest of the house is finished then you can work out a solution that reduces your level of bother

 

[Coles]

If you have a long list of jobs to do already I’d just sand and paint the cut end and move on.

If it is still bothering you when the rest of the house is finished then you can work out a solution that reduces your level of bother

Thank you, that's a good idea to end where the cornice does.

Yes, a long list of tasks but this was just annoying me.

The cornice is being repaired this week, so I am quite focused on the hall.

 

[Stevers]

The picture rail has to stop under (returned into the wall) where the bottom of the cornice stops as it would not have followed the stairs up. If the drops are painted as they are here, then some vertical border is required between drop/ceiling colour and wall colour. I don't have the dilemma of a picture rail in our hall, but I trimmed the edges off the wide border I'd chosen for the drop (now looking dated after twenty years) and used those to border the drop. It's the only room with vinyl wallpaper (a mistake) and the border isn't well adhered to the wallpaper by the traditional starch paste.

If there had been a picture rail I would have been tempted to run a simple half round bead up to the coving and painted it woodwork colour. In the picture there is just a glimpse of the staff bead with ('v' shadow gaps) that border the ceiling round the staircase opening. The wood work is either varnished Pitch Pine, or scumble grained to imitate oak, some of it I inherited, some I did myself, as here. One of the casualties of the flat conversion was that sloping bit of wood, though some of it was still in place for me to recreate it as it was complete with staff bead.

 

[Cubist]

I believe I would cheat in your shoes by: -

Pushing some stainless steel chicken wire into the gap in the cornice to create an armature into which I would then pack some plaster of Paris, the surface of which I would then model to the contours of the cornice.

For the picture rail I would either: -
Remove it completely or find a matching profile and extend its current length to allow a right angle return up to the cornice where I may need to fudge a joint with more PofP to leave the whole thing as a viable frieze for the hall.