Bathroom Ponderings
In pondering the bathroom, I have been curious.
Did the room originally have a picture rail?
Most of the rooms in the house did, about 20-inches below the ceiling. This was common for the era. All the rails were removed, it seems, in 1950. But, their ghost outlines remain.
The kitchen did not have picture rail, and this makes sense as the room would not have been wallpapered (paper retains smells).
Does this mean the other service rooms were not papered?
What will be my bathroom was originally a servant’s room, and blanket closet. The closet would not have had picture rail but did the servant’s room?
Last week, a tantalizing clue appeared, as if to answer this question:
A piece of plaster, found inside the east exterior wall, with some paper attached. It seems unlikely that this plaster fragment came from somewhere else in the house. The paper also looks cheap, which is what would have been found in a servant’s room.
If the room was wallpapered, it likely had picture rail. If so, I would want to reinstate this feature. Of course!
Was there evidence of a lost rail? Most of the plaster on the walls has been lost. Would what remained reveal anything?
What I hoped to find was a thin gray line as found throughout the house, which I detailed in this post.
Today, I scraped away layers of post-1950 wallpaper on one the few areas of remaining wall plaster and discovered…something.
I did not find a thin gray line. I did though find an incised line in the plaster at the exact height where any 1890s wallpaper would have ended.
An incised line? You can see this in the above image. The horizontal incised line is kinda white against the gray plaster. On the arched wall is a pencil line at the same height.
Was the line created by 1890s wallpaper being cut at the 20-inch mark?
I do not know but find all this kinda thrilling.
If the 1894 servant’s room did have picture rail, it would have sat atop the window trim. The arch, of course, is new. If I reinstate picture rail, it would cut off the very top of the arch. Oh, dear.
Obviously, I am not going to flatten the top of the curve with picture rail.
But I really want to install picture rail.
It is all so vexing!
Another concern is that I plan to wallpaper the room. But, what to do about the bottom of the arch? Just papering it will look weird. I could though just paint it whatever the ceiling color will be. Or not.
This is the paper I will be using in my bedroom. I think I have enough for the bathroom, too. You can see how soooooo not attractive this will look cut into a thin strip for the bottom of the arch.
It is all so vexing!
In pondering, I think I have a solution to both the picture rail dilemma on the arch, and the bottom of the arch dilemma.
I think I will add picture rail around the room but NOT on the new arched wall! Thus, my two vexing problems vanish!
This also resolves a third concern.
The servant’s room may have had picture rail in 1894. So, reinstating such a feature would not confuse the historical narrative.
The arched wall is new. Giving it picture rail will help it look like an original wall, thus……confusing the historical narrative.
So, skipping picture rail on the new wall resolves three issues. Ross happy!
So, I might just paint the new wall.
The border above the picture rail will get some sort of stencil designs. And there will be some kind of ceiling patterns.
The room has two crazy-big windows, south (shown here) and east. The lower sashes need a shade or cafe curtains for privacy, but nobody can see through the upper sashes as none of the surrounding houses are tall enough.
While my mind understands that nobody can see through the upper sashes, I will not truly believe this at night. Thus, I will not be comfortable using the room after dark unless I can fully cover the windows. Even though this will not be necessary.
Yes, this is crazy. But, only a crazy person would have purchased the Cross House, right?
My plan……is to:
- hang four panels of drapery,
- one to each side of the windows,
- and each about the height of the windows,
- and with each panel…SQUEE!!!!!!!!…a different color!
So, four panels: red, yellow, blue, and green!
I think the colors will prove dashing against the black paper.
Yes, I know y’all are thinking: But, that will be so dramatic! And Ross is not a dramatic personality type!
[Insert Ross laughing, crazily.]
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I think that solution is excellent. Having the paper and picture rail go around the rule ignoring the arch is the best solution, since the arch is new. I might also add that it’s a bathroom now and you shouldn’t feel too tied to preserving the servant’s room. The purpose has changed. With that wallpaper you can do anything with that arch. Paint it all white, all black, monochrome or have the bottom of the arch a different color or have all three surfaces different. You could follow the theme of your draperies and make the arch a fifth color. cyan or magenta or a vibrant purple.
I would be hesitant to use the same wallpaper as the bedroom. To me too matchy-matchy. Great to match it around the room and ignore the arch, though. I do love those pops or red with it in the original photo. I would also suggest either some silver or gold gilt in the room something really metallic. Maybe even a Venetian mirror or something similar.
Have you considered putting something on the window glass to make them opaque? There are frosted films that are temporary that aren’t that expensive. You can swap them in and out until you find something you like. Also temporary sprays that can be cleaned off. I used Glasswax for a while until I decided. There are all sorts of patterned clear glass that acts as a visual block. If you find something you like you can have the entire window replaced with a sheet of it. Your stained glass guy should have plenty to look at.
I replaced my bathroom window glass with crossthreaded glass but then, my bathroom was created in the 1949 remodel. When I did I removed all of the wall coverings and the room is so much brighter.
This also makes one ponder: Did the second floor stair hall have a picture rail? If so, how was the arch in the middle of that hallway treated? If not, then the decision to have no picture rail on the new matching arch in the bathroom makes even better sense.
I love the solution about the wallpaper and paint. But I think you are going to run in to difficulty if you try to hang drapes to either side of the windows. On the side by the arch, and the side by the shower, there is not going to be enough room. It will look squished and not well planned. I would do just a half curtain, and leave the top open to enjoy the stars. But then, I am the crazy cat lady with NO drapes or window coverings in the house, except for in my girls’ rooms. I covered the lower half of our first floor bathroom with paper ModgePodged on, leaving the top half bare. Our second floor bathroom has no windows. I love showering and seeing the tree outside the window, having sunshine in the bathroom.
You’re right. With the shower and arch abutting the trim, no real room for a working drape on those sides. He could do a full panel for each window in the corner. Or use a pressure rod inside the window but then they would be sort of permanent. I doubt Ross would want lace, even if it goes with the wallpaper. A sheer would work for privacy but still allow light. I have black sheers in my living room. A roller shade would work but probably isn’t period. I custom make mine. I’m not sure when roller shades came into use. I have them in my house but my house is 1922 with a 1949 addition.
Hi, Miriam!
The drapery panels will hang from a rod set inside the window frames. So, the trim will still be visible.
“Ross not that dramatic???” Who is this stranger you refer to??? 🤣
It will look amazing!!!
As usual, I can’t visualize this (because I’m not good at visualizing, unlike my daughter, who experiences the world visually). So I can’t wait to see it all come together, because it will all be a happy surprise to me.
Love the wall paper! Comments about curtains have a point. (Could use 1 curtain with pullback on one side, then you could un-do the curtain to let it hang and cover the whole window when you want privacy.) Whatever you decide, I know it will be gorgeous! 🙂
I used Florentine patterned glass in the bottom sash in my kitchen so I didn’t have to use curtains. My adjacent bathroom had the same glass, as that window looks out onto the back porch.
Sounds like a grand plan. As always, well thought out and deliberate.
I would like to point out that not every room had a picture rail, especially the service rooms like kitchens, bathrooms, service entrances and the maid’s rooms. (Quelle horreurs! if the hired help had the gall!) If there is only an incised line on your walls at a certain height and no nail holes from attaching picture rail, chances are good the effect was achieved with wallpaper borders. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. I can’t link pictures here, but check out the Bradbury site for examples.
Hi, David!
In the former servant’s room, there are infilled holes where small nails would have been for picture-rail. To me, this confirms that such rail did exist in the room originally.
Ross, I like the picture rail solution and I LOVE that wallpaper. While I like the idea of different colored curtain panels and can visualize their effect, I might be a little concerned with how sanitary all that fabric would be behind the toilet. However, you may know something we don’t and it will work out just fine. No matter what, I personally can’t wait to see the end result!
Hi Ross. IDk if you’ve seen this home restoration, but check out their parlor to see how they papered the arch. Its gorgeous!
Cool! Thank you!
Papering the bottom of an arch works well with a small-scale pattern
That would not work with my large-scale pattern paper!