Picture rail without coving?

[manc1982]

Hi All, hoping for some advice as i'm really confused about what to do! I've got a victorian terrace house with high ceilings. I'm currently looking at decorating, there is no coving and picture rail currently. Ideally i'd like to fit both but i'm wondering if just a picture rail with look ok without coving. This is for two reason really, firstly the window is very tall and leaves only small gap of 9cm from the ceiling, i've seen some coving with quite a low depth and projection that would fit. Second reason is i'm guessing because of historical movement in the house the window frame isn't completely level with the ceiling it's off by about 1cm at one end. The previous owners have fitted a curtain rail fixture and filled in the 1cm gap which looks fine (picture attached). I suspect no one would notice that 1cm other than me and it would annoy me no end!

I really like the look of bringing the height of tall ceiling down by fitting a picture rail and painting white above like the ceiling. However I can't find many examples of this being done without coving so i'm concerned it might look a bit rubbish without that being fitted as well. What does everyone think? Other option of course is painting the walls the same colour but i'm not sure about that either lol.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I like coving, picture rails etc. - Could you perhaps stop the coving a little way short of the window, maybe a short stub of coving at either side of the window?

 

[big-all]

full set large skirting dado picture rail and coving
just mix and match you are in charge choose what YOU like what does it matter iff its accurate or not
what pleases you most is correct not what the victorians or anyone else tells you

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Picture rail on its own looks fine. I'd suggest (if you have the height) set it about 300mm below ceiling height and just stop it where it meets the window (it'll be hidden by the curtains) or if that thought bugs you, mitre it into the window reveals.
Looking again at yr pic, how thick is that framing round the window, you could just blend the rail into that.