1930s picture rails?

[1930s]

I recently moved into what I hope will be my forever family home. It was built in the 1930s and it looks like a fairly typical house from that era. It has all the original internal panelled doors, as well as picture rails in the upstairs bedroom and hallway. There are no picture rails downstairs and the fireplaces in the reception rooms are gone - chimney breasts still intact but all smoothly plastered.

I’d like to gradually restore some of the original features - I like a kind of minimal look but with a traditional slant (blingy grey bathrooms will one day be changed!). Do you think the house would originally have had picture rails downstairs? Would they be in the kitchen, or just hallway/living/dining rooms? What kind of fireplace would work? I don’t fancy one of the art deco 1930s tiled things.

Yes to picture tails or maybe even plate shelves. They would have been quite close to the ceiling, maybe level with the top of hre door architrave. Some 30s houses have beautiful Edwardian dark wood fire surrounds with plain tiled inserts. Try googling 20th century fires

We moved into a 1930s semi that had had all the picture rails removed - in certain lights you could see where they used to be, which was about a foot below the ceiling and in line with the architraves above the doorways. Haven’t put them back everywhere, but found that either ‘lambs tongue’ or ‘ovolo’ style were most appropriate. Ovolo skirting matches the original skirting where we still had it.

Yes, I'm sitting downstairs in my 1930s house looking at the original picture rails (and curved plaster work 😍)

We had picture rails downstairs in lounge, bedroom and study, but not hallway or kitchen. I miss that house. Hallway had arches.

Ours were very simple, just a lip really. All around the lounge and dining room, if I remember correctly. Not the hall.
The fireplace was one of those tiled ones, which we replaced as soon as we could!

Ww have them. When we extended the house 20 years ago we managed source some more with the same profile from an independent DIY store. I'm not sure if you can still get it though.

Thanks all. It sounds like they ought to have been downstairs at one point, given that they’re upstairs. Ceiling height is higher downstairs and cornicing more fancy. Do you think they would be level with the doorframes (like upstairs), or a fixed height from the ceiling? Does anyone know whether the picture rails would have been in the kitchen originally, or am I right in thinking that they wouldn’t be in kitchen or bathroom?

I know you said you didn't like tiled fireplaces, but I really like the one we put in (with an inset wood burner), it's got a bit of a modern twist though, in that it's not muddy brown or green!

Twentieth Century Fireplaces have loads of options though, including Art Deco wooden mantels.

As PP, if you take the wallpaper off, if you have the existing plaster you will be able to see where the picture rails would have been originally.
My house was built in the mid 1930s and the picture rail runs inline with the top of the door frame.
(just noticed from this picture you can see where the carpet/rug would have been originally too).
I'm pretty sure they were not in the bathroom or kitchen - as you wouldn't have hung pictures in these rooms. We do have them in the hallway though.

That’s lovely! So cosy.

Ohhh my favourite type of house! You’re so lucky OP! We’ll never have one as the ones in our area are all three bed semis and we need something bigger 😭

@angerelleThat fireplace! 😍😍

You can still get picture rail from some joinery or timber merchants. It is different from similar looking dado rail or architrave mouldings because it has a groove on the top (which you can't see from below) so picture hooks hook on and don't fall off. A joinery company can make it to order with a spindle cutter, if there is a lot if demand, or small pieces to fill in gaps can be made with a router (which is very labour intensive)

It can be done with a combination plane but it would be unusual today.

When I had a house in outer London, I asked at a timber merchant, and they make up a batch from time to time depending on orders from local people restoring original features. In that area, builders a hundred years ago would have bought it from a local merchant, so there were hundreds of houses using the same factory made mouldings.

If you can't see the marks of the originals, measure your ceiling height and doorframes.

Def level with door frames

My mum had a 1920s bungalow with picture rails and there were none in the kitchen or bathroom

Depends how high the ceilings are. If 8ft, yes. If higher, no.

We’ve got an original plate rail in one of our downstairs rooms but the other one had been removed. We reinstated it but I couldn’t source any of the original shaped wood so used the most authentic looking wood I could find and it looks fine.

we’ve also got the original stuff in two of the bedrooms.

Be warned, if you do try and reinstate it you’re better off doing it by eye,
than by measurements & spirit levels. We had such fun (🫣) with ours until we realised that 🤣

Our house is listed on everything as between 1901 - 1929 but the few remaining features which are only in one room are very art deco style (much more simple minimal design with clean sharp lines, mottled brown tiles, parquet floor etc... than our previous Victorian home) so I guess the latter end of that.

That room does have very high ceilings and picture rails though.

Ours are about 20cm above the door frame and about 2 foot below the ceiling.

Apart from the kitchen and bathroom, our 1930’s house has picture rails in every room. Luckily they survived the previous owners 1980’s butchery 😡.

It was standard practice to have them level with top of the doorframes, upstairs and down. We have coving instead now (downstairs only). The walls had to be replastered to hide where the picture rails used to be. I love picture rails upstairs, it makes the bedrooms seem cosier.

Yes, it would have had picture rails downstairs. My Dad (92) still uses them for stringing Christmas decorations.

I used to live in a larger Edwardian house, with 12ft ceilings, and the picture rails were about 2ft down from the ceiling, walls painted white above.

Apart from the kitchen and bathroom, most rooms had picture rails. However I was allocated the former Housekeeper's bedroom, which did not, nor did the adjacent former maid's room, though both had fireplaces.

The Housekeeper's sitting room did have picture rails.

When I had a smaller house, the picture rails were level with the doorframes. The smallest bedroom, probably intended as a child's room, had neither picture rails nor fireplace.