A good question from Tiffany:
Dear AT,
I have a molding about 16 inches down from the ceiling in the master bedroom. I want to wallpaper the wall behind our bed with "Woods" wallpaper (from Walnut Wallpapers, LOVE!)
My question is do I wallpaper above that molding? I think so, but I'm not quite sure how it will look with the break in the paper. I thought about perhaps painting the molding black? But then do I have to paint all the moldings black? My sister (who is an artist, so I'm inclined to believe her) says it would look good if I wallpapered only above the molding around the whole room. Won't that look like a border (which I HATE!) though? Help! Thank you!
I'm emailing pics of the room... but before we bought the place, it's so much cuter now with the "Colette" bed from C&B in the same place... and a pic of the wallpaper. Thanks!
Tiffany:
Woods is a great paper - it should look amazing on the wall behind the bed. We think it would look best if you papered the entire wall above and below the molding. We've seen it done before and it looks good - in fact having the molding run through the patterned wall around the painted walls will help to unite the two finishes.
To stop the pattern at the molding would potentially keep the eye from traveling up high, making the ceiling seem lower. We think papering ONLY above the molding would not take advantage of the lovely vertical lines of the pattern you chose (and it might look a little bit border-ish).
Finally, we do think the molding should be a consistent color around the room so the black you are considering would have a very strong impact. Instead, we would suggest considering painting all the molding the same color as the other three walls and then the strip of molding would function as a way to carry the color onto the patterned wall. Either way, in the end, we think the choice of color for the molding really depends on the color you are painting the other walls.
AT readers, let Tiffany know your take on the design dilemma of the wallpaper meeting the molding. Ideas and insights are welcome in the comments below...
No problem, Amanda - I am always happy to share a great source for style on a budget! I was a bit nervous ordering from a company I'd never heard before in a foreign country, but my paper came within two weeks and was immaculately packed.
Another good online source is http://www.wallpaperdirect.co.uk/ They are a bit more expensive than Sanderson but perfect for browsing, since they have an applet that previews all their wallpapers in different room settings. It really helps increase your comfort level for papers you have never seen in person.
Don't paint the picture rail black... but I would consider painting the area above the picture rail black, or the same blue as the wallpaper - that could look sharp. If you are set on having the paper above the picture rail, I would just leave it as is - white.
Just last month I moved into a house with molding 16 inches down from the ceiling. I actually decided to wallpaper only below the molding, then I left the molding and the upper wall white and ran white rope lighting around the whole room. (Which was nice because I think Christmas lights look really tacky, but the molding covered the rope and, when they're turned on, it's very intimate.)
I don't know the scale of the trees on your wallpaper (which I love!), but if it's intended to look sort of mural like, I would paper above and below, leaving the picture rail white so it sort of visually blends in to the white background. That way you're keeping the architectural integrity, but also honoring the trees, giving them as much height as you can! Oh, okay, so I just read Janel's post and I second all that!
I hate molding.
Can't you just rip it off and wallpaper the whole wall?
I would paper up to the molding, leave the molding white and paint above the molding to the ceiling a deep red. that would look really nice.
It's not moulding, it's a picture rail used for hanging paintings so to not damage the walls but that's beside the point.
Here's the thing; the pattern is vertical and that's one of the elements that makes it dramatic, to impose a solid horizontal line through the paper would be halt the movement of the eye.
This is a bedroom so intimate is good- wallpaper only up to the picture rail and then either leave the upper part and ceeling white or go ahead and be bold and paint the upper part AND ceeling a color- certainly not a bright loud color but maybe a grey, or a cool, darker beige... that will lower the ceeling and still allow the strong verticals of the paper to prevent the room feeling like a cave.
Something weird: You've got tree wallpaper. You've got a picture rail.
So why not buy a lot of large-ish frames of different types (in the same color as the trees), get some pictures of trees (maybe black and white, different seasons, etc) and then put them in the frames with matting the same color as the wallpaper background?
This would be a little bit of work, since youd be wallpapering above the rail just to put frames over most of it, but i think if you used simple enough frames, simple enough pictures, and large enough matting, this might look really cool. And the rest of the room looks simple enough to carry a wall treatment like this.
Why not paper ONLY the molding, leaving the rest of the wall white? That would be weird.
Yeah I know the paper looks blue-ish (and I haven't seen it in person) but on the website it's under "black & white", which is why I was thinking about painting the mouldings black, but I really don't want to do that...
I was actually hoping to not have to paint the rest of the walls at all, and just having the wallpaper be the focus. I'll have to wait and see how it looks up there. Then I'll send more pics.
Thanks so much for your great ideas! Keep em coming, you all are so creative!
It's not molding. It's picture rail.
Leave the picture rail alone. Wallpaper above and below it. I also like the idea of hanging tree and leaf and cloud inspired pictures in frames from the picture rail. Two or three of them.
I took some nice pics of Aspen... see them here http://www.clickchick.photosite.com/Album10/
I'll print one and send it to you if you're interested.
Somewhere in a magazine I saw a picture of a wall only papered up to the molding/picture rail. They painted the top part orange, but I believe that there was a strip of molding below, where they also painted. They hung up empty frames to accentuate the wallpaper pattern. It looked good.
I say follow Julian's advice and also paint the ceiling.
I love so many of these ideas, and I'm sure that there are several schemes that would look fabulous. HOWEVER, I have no doubt that you should NOT paper above the picture rail. I've seen so many examples of paper below molding, and it usually looks great. Even when there's a gap between molding and ceiling.
Also, I like the idea of painting the rail black. I think that would really look sharp. As for the 16" of wall space above the molding, keep it the same as the ceiling. White would be nice, but that orange idea might be REAllY nice. Then you could pick up the orange elsewhere in the room (perhaps orange pillows on gray and white bedding?). But I'd be careful with the shade of orange you choose (to avoid a Halloween theme).
Draw it out on paper and see what you think.
hi!
we have this wallpaper in our living room and we also have picture moldings. we wallpapered only below the moldings. if you would like to see a photo, to help with your decision making, email me and i would be happy to send one to you.
I agree with Maxwell. If you don't wallpaper the entire wall, the look will be choppy and your room will look shorter.
Thanks to Julian. Finally, an answer to why these mouldings exist: they're picture rails, eh? I hate them. They don't work unless the ceilings are very, very high.
I'm hoping to remove mine, but am waiting on the contractor to see whether just removing everything and then drywalling all over again would be more cost-effective. It certainly seems to me it would be less messy. Does anyone know?
I would wallpaper it up to the molding and paint the ceiling and the wall above the railing the same color. I have seen it done on "Get Color" on HGTV a lot and it looks good.
Given the extreme vertical orientation of this paper (which I also have, and love!) I second the opinon that you should definitely NOT paper only above the moldings - you won't even see the pattern.
Since your ceilings do not appear to be particularly high, I would take the moldings out and just paper the whole thing - particularly if you are not planning to use them. Matching the pattern to paper above and below the moldings will be a nightmare.
Also, Woods is a Cole & Son paper which you can get MUUUCH cheaper by ordering directly from the UK - I got mine at Sanderson Fabrics (sandersonfabrics.co.uk) for around $50/roll.
On another note, I am seeing Woods around a lot recently - is it already over? I hope not, it looks great in my dining area!
eeeck!
Thank you so much for the sanderson fabrics link. SO inspirational and seriously better prices than what I have been able to find for Cole & Sons wallpaper.
One thing that I think could look good is to paper all three of the walls that are NOT behind the bed all the way to the ceiling, and then for the wall behind the bed ONLY paper above the molding, and then paint THAT wall one solid blue(?)-grey color that would match the mid-tones in the paper, so that it would be like an enormous headboard.
But I'd also be tempted to kind of splice the paper toward the tops of the walls in such a way that makes it appears that there are actual tree-tops that point and stop. That would probably take a lot of expensive wallpaper to experiment with first, though.
This place was very helpful when I emailed and called them and gave me a great price on cole and sons. And didn't have to deal with international shipping. Think they are located in Pennsylvania.
Oh and I think you should do the whole wall, skipping the rails for a dramatic look that takes advantage of high ceilings, and keep the rails white or a light color.
D
forgot the link-sorry!
http://discountdecorator.com/cole-and-son.asp
Our dining room has wallpaper only up to the picture rail and it looks great. The ceilings are much higher, and I'm not sure how it'd look in a bedroom... but I disagree with people who suggest that high ceilings are in any way desireable in a bedroom. You want your bedroom to be intimate and cozy. High ceilings give the opposite effect.
Oh my gosh littledebbiet and eeeck - I have not been able to find Woods for under $144/roll anywhere and I want to do my sunporch in it. Thanks so much.
Tiffany, I gotta say I'd do it above and below picture rail.