Do you have Dado rails.

IMO dado rails look fine in period houses where they were put to prevent furniture scraping the walls.
In more modern houses they were a 1980/90s fashion.
But if you want them then you have them.

I think the original purpose was to prevent chairs from banging into walls - the Georgian fashion was to have the chairs round the perimeter of the room until small groups were formed - fairly grand houses, obviously, but the Victorians continued the fashion as we found in two of our houses which were 19th century. If you have found a paper which you love but would be too much on its own why not? If

I had dado rails 25 yrs ago but you don't see them in ordinary homes anymore.

Personally I think they've had their day....but its your house and your preference....we have picture rails in all our reception rooms and bedrooms...but thats in keeping with the age of our house

We have in old formal rooms, very pretty. The cuts to the wood seem to be similar to all the window and cased trims.

No dado rails in our old kitchen with eating and tv areas - many windows are newer with no fancy trim, more modern/ plain wood.

It doesn't have to be a rail, you could use a textured frieze to separate upper and lower sections of the wall. That way, you could change it again if you found you didn't like it.
I think that following fashion in interior decor is a mistake. Get what you like, having regard to the age and style of your house or flat.

I'm with J52, if you want them, have them. We put them in the hall of our house which is a converted Victoria's school.

Our downstairs lounge and dining room have a dado rail. It was in place when we bought the house, and I think it was put in when the house was built in the 1980’s. We’ve never bothered having it removed, I think it looks fine anyway, and probably removing it would mark the wall so that it might need skimming. I don’t care if it looks dated to others or not, I quite like it. So my advice would be to go ahead if that’s what you fancy doing bikergran, it’s your home 😁.

If you want them, have them. It doesn’t matter what is in or out of fashion, or what anyone else thinks, I think you should do whatever you like.

They are old fashioned but if you like them, then fair enough. Maybe the only other thing to consider is how long you intend to be at the house. May put off future potential buyers.

Very dated but if that’s what you want, do it.

I've kept the dado in my Victorian house and am pleased I have as, apart from retaining the original features, the dado over the years has prevented many a would be 'disaster' of having, eg: toys relentlessly bashed into it, heavy objects being moved around bashing into it, and it's easier to keep clean.

They were originally an extremely practical feature, in common with much of Victorian interior design.
Up to the dado rail woukd be papered with something like Lincrusta- a very strong embossed or textured “paper” and then possibly painted with (usually) gloss paint which could be wiped and washed. Above the rail, as far as the picture rail, would be wall paper so a lot less expensive than papering whole walls and having to cope with scuff marks, fingerprints etc at the lower level.
From the Lincrusta website
1877
Lincrusta was the ingenious invention of Frederick Walton, who had pioneered the development of linoleum floor coverings in the 1860’s. Heralded as the first washable wallcovering, Lincrusta was an instant success, replacing painstaking artisan plasterwork and appealing to Victorian England’s tastes because of its sanitary properties as well as its beauty, practicality and durability.
Originally patented as Linoleum Muralis (Linoleum for walls), its name soon changed to Lincrusta-Walton – Lin for Linum (flax, from which linseed oil is made) and Crusta (Relief), with the inventor’s name being added to prevent others using the same title
Had to suppress a grin when one of our daughters spoke of a “dildo rail” though!

Dado rails with wallpaper below and paint or a different wallpaper above no longer look right in modern houses. However, at our last (1990s) house we put a dado rail up the stairs wall opposite the bannister. We had the same colour paint above and below, and some pictures above. It broke up the big, high wall very well.

We live in a detached built in early 1980s it didn't have dado rails. When we moved in our son made and fitted dado rails down stairs. They suite the furniture which is rather old my DH worked in antiques when he was young.

Lol Maw

My dh used to be a proffesional decorator {old school) he used to grain front doors and all the old stuff.I remember him giving me a lesson on Lincrusta ( I tried to look interested)

Just been looking at some ideas for dados, will have a mooch n see. Thanks all. I have been to Graham and Brown wallpaper outlet today and it got me thinking D.I.Y which I love, it's my happy place.

We have them up the stairs, and along the hall and landings. I've no idea why, as we don't have chairs on the stairs ). They have Lincrusta under the rail and there has been wallpaper above, but currently the wall is painted. The house is Edwardian.

The stairs are painted green - a forest green under the dado and a much paler sage green above.

We live in a 1960s bungalow. It has dado rails in the hall ( not sure if they’ve always been there) and we have texture grey wallpaper above and below, with the rail painted white. I like it and others have said it’s nice too.

I always go on Pintrest if I’m looking for DIY inspiration. Dado rails are dated but it’s often a case of, What goes around, comes around with decorating- in which case you’d be ahead of the game!

Thanks all for the ideas. Still pondering if I do decide then they are on for good, as If I wanted to take them off they would bring half the plasterboard with them.

Decorating might be easier in future, as the area under the rail is unlikely to get dirty (particularly if you have it a darker colour), so you'd just have to paint above.

What would you do in the rest of the room, if the stairs are in there? Would you extend the rails around the rest of the walls, or just have it on the stairs?

You could always put a narrow border where a dado would go then if you like it put a wooden dado rail next time. Though I think Borders are considered old-fashioned as well.

If anything, I would paper above, not below the rail. I found an inspiration picture on line. I think it only works if you have quite high ceilings, otherwise it could make the room look out of proportion.

Hmm Doodledog I hadn't thought about further than the bottom of the stairs (silly me) was going to take it fron nr the door then up the stairs. Think I need to have a re think.

I did once paper the big wall going up the stairs, so some of the paper was sort of in the lounge and the rest on the way up to the stairs.(who on earth had the idea of putting stairs direct into the lounge) presume it was a cost cutting idea as a lot of modern houses seem to have the stairs directly into the lounge (like with no door seperating the lounge and the stairs).