Not quite sure by what you mean by "picture molding" Are you talking about framing rectangles on the wall below the chair rail to create a sort of wainscoting,or are you planning to frame the window with what is called "picture framed" where the molding is laid flat and mitered at the corners, without a sill, or something else altogether?

Note that molding used for picture frames has a rabbet to allow the "package." It's not really what you want for wall molding. You want something with a flat back.

Here is a link that might be useful:

This post was edited by bobsmyuncle on Thu, Sep 19, 13 at 18:43

I thought picture molding was the stuff about 8 ft off the floor that went around the entire room. You can then hang pictures off it with pretty cord and hooks. Maybe that's a picture rail.

Now, the chair rail I think should go right into that window. It might not be traditional or functional, but I think it'll look better than stopping short. This opinion may or may not change based on what picture molding is!

And have you asked the home decorating forum? They WILL have opinions, lots of 'em, and most of them good. :P

Yes what your describing is picture moulding, but you asked about "picture frame" moulding, and these are two entirely different animals.

Sorry, my mistake! And thank you for your replies. I did ask in the decorating forum too, and someone posted this pic which is what I had thought to do, just wasn't sure if that was how bay windows are usually finished and didn't want my room to wind up looking odd lol.

(We call ours the picture rail. Yours is pretty elaborate--are you sure that's not crown molding? Picture rails are usually pretty small in profile--you don't want the pictures dangling down too far out from the wall. Are you adding picture rail to that, or perhaps the bottom-most molding piece is the picture rail?)

I think you can do either one w/ that chair rail.

Your 2nd pic shows wainscoting below the chair rail, and it continues into the window bay as well; that's a different effect, a bit, than yours, with the wall all one color above and below.

The logic is different. In #2, it's simply the way the bottom half of the wall is finished. In #1, the chair rail looks like a functional chair rail--to keep chairs from bumping the wall. And since chairs can't go in the bay, well, there's a rationale for not turning the corner with the molding strip.

But I agree with you--I think it might look a bit more finished if the chair rail turned into the bay and ended next to the next vertical molding (i.e., the window frame).

You could try to butt it up against the window frame, or you could give it a nice-looking ending right next to the window frame with a tiny gap. (If you thought butting it would end up messy looking.)

This post was edited by talley_sue_nyc on Thu, Sep 26, 13 at 23:58