Paint color for area above picture rail molding

NancyNGA

I will be painting a 12'x15' bedroom with 10.5' tall ceilings. The walls have white picture rail molding 18" down from the ceiling. The ceiling will be white and the lower walls will be a medium or light gray.

How should I paint the area above the picture rail so that the room will look larger and ceilings not look so high?
1. White to match the ceiling, or
2. A different color from the walls (either darker or lighter?)

I'm thinking painting that area the same as the walls would make the room look even taller, but maybe I'm wrong. What do you think?

Blondesense

I'd be tempted to paint it the same as the ceiling. But first I would take a pic of the room, find a good paint program, and play with the options.

NancyNGA

Great idea. I'll try that!

natwlsn

There are a lot of tricks you can do to make a room appear larger. Do you want a lower looking ceiling and wider appearing room? Usually putting some color into the ceiling helps to make it appear lower. Lighter colors recede, darker colors move in ... ceilings are also made to look lower by adding beams, and wood tones also bring a ceiling "lower"

To bring the room out to appear larger, I'd have to see the room and what type of lighting it gets.