1930's picture rail. Keep or get rid?

rosie383

Having a lot of work done internally on our 1930's semi and in the process a few sections of picture rail have been removed. My Dh and the rest of the family plus all of the builders don't understand why I want to keep the rails.
Is it just a nostalgia thing? Perhaps. They aren't particularly appealing, but because they are a period feature (I think!) I think it's a shame to get rid of them.
I didn't have a problem ripping out all of the very obviously fake wooden beams throughout the ground floor so should I just let go?
We would have to try to source some rail of exactly the same style and try to fill in the gaps.
Should I just let them go?

Mojisola

We've kept the ones in our house - and reinstated them when we've worked on a couple of rooms where they had been removed.

They are period features and it's so easy to hang pictures and move them around without leaving holes in the walls. What's not to like?

bmthmark

I have a 1930's bungalow and I have just renovated the place. I decided to keep it in the end as I wanted to keep a bit of history in the property. I have tried to modernise the place but also kept some of the period features (e.g picture rail and the curved ceilings)

rosie383

I have to admit that I hadn't even considered using the argument about actually using them to hang pictures from!

We do have quite a heavy mirror and couple of pictures. All are still in their packaging since we moved. Pretty sure I could get some of the hooks in Wilko's for them.
Is it easy to find the wood to replace the missing bits? No way would I be able to find the bits as they will be somewhere in the big pile of rubble!

dominoman

Keep!

They are a lovely feature and differentiate your house from identikit modern ones.

They are easy to replace if there are sections missing.

DRP

I use mine - very convenient.

Keep if possible.

benjus

I live in an Edwardian building with picture rails in several of the rooms.

I find them very useful - we have a lot of pictures and it's great to be able to hang them with no fuss or damage to the walls, and have the flexibility to move them around. I use hooks from B&Q and heavy duty transparent fishing twine to hang them.

Keep_pedalling

I would try and keep them. We still have them in some of our rooms in our 1930s semi. We don't hang pictures from them, but I do think they look better from a decoration PoV. We paint the walls white above the rails, and I think the clear demarcation line the rails provide looks better the taking the wall paint / paper to the ceiling.

You can get new identical rails to replace any lost rails, but the tooling set up costs and minimum order size might put you off a bit.

https://www.wrp-timber-mouldings.co.uk/made-to-match

Grenage

I'm in your camp - picture rails are useful and aesthetically break up the wall.

luxor4t

I have an Edwardian house.
The picture rails are too high for my pictures, but are invaluable for pinning up Christmas decorations !

rosie383

Okay. Thanks folks. I will continue to stand my ground and keep them then.
If I could hang things up and prove how useful they are, that would help my case. Impossible to do in what is essentially a building site just now with dust everywhere!