Susan, pictures to come! We finished the trim tonight and have to hit the walls with one more coat. (Btw, that's the pre-painted room, in the pic at the top of the post.)

Elaine, I love your "oozing of charm" and "dripping of water" descriptors. Those of us who deeply love old houses will never be cured, will we? 

Mark, we haven't used the picture rail in the past, but we're considering it now that we've gone through the process of patching up holes in the plaster and making everything pretty. :) (And I love the old VW ad. It sounds like they had the Mini Cooper branding attitude down long before the Mini did.)