question about painting picture rails

[flipflopsonfifthavenue]

So, we're painting our bedroom next week - F&B Parma Gray on most of the walls, and Skylight above the picture rail, All White on the woodwork and doors.

I don't want to paint the picture rail white as I don't like the stripe-around-the-room look.

Question is, should the picture rail match the colour below - Parma Gray - or above - Skylight?

Am guessing it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but my instinct is that it should be the lighter colour of the two, which is Skylight.

Thanks

A you say picture rails are normally white or they match the roof colour which kind of acts as a break between the two colours on the wall. i would also go with the lighter colour if I had to choose between the two colours on the wall.

I have recently done three rooms where I took the wall colour all the way up to the cornice and included the picture rail... I like it!

The lighter colour

We have always done ours to match the top colour (skylight in your case), but it's never occurred to me to do it any other way.

I personally like the picture rail as a break and mine are white except in DSs room where it's bright red. In your situation however I'd go with the lower colour as it will leave you with a neater join as it will be on the upper side (out of sight)

If you're doing different colours above and below the picture rail then you're going to get a stripe around the room anyway, surely?

Personally I'd do white ceiling, then white down to and including picture rail. No break and you get a white picture rail. Or as spotty says, just one colour all the way to the ceiling, including the picture rail. A more modern look.

There's a nice trend at the moment to paint the darker colour all the way up, including the cornice, leaving just the ceiling the lighter colour. Living Etc current issue features a house with this. Looks very modern and I'm going to copy that soon.