Dado/Chair Rail - madness?

[MillieEpple]

I have a kitchen diner and the dining bit is quite cramped. The chairs are constantly either brushing the wall when in use or people lean the chairs against the wall when sitting.
My lovely painted wall has lots of scuff marks which dont wash off. Basically in a straight line level with the tops of the chairs.

Shall i put a chair rail in or is it too old fashioned. If i have ine can it just be the same colour as the wall or is it supposed to contrast.

I was thinking of having a dado rail in our dining room and hallway, I think they are due a comeback! Ideally painted a different colour, white or natural wood, if it was the same colour as the wall it would look odd.

Far too much minimalist and blank walls in fashion at the moment!

If we both do it, we've started a trend

You could add in the rail to be more functional- would you consider placing panelling effect below? Some great diy ways of achieving the look now days too!

So long as your house is of a design that would suit that look, either a genuine Victorian or a modern build Victorian style, age of house does not matter, it’s the style it’s built in that’s important, then it will work, if you live in a 1960’s or 70’s style build it will look odd. If your house suits that style then to add a contemporary twist paint the walls all the same colour as the dado rail.

@ZaraCarmichaelshighheels - its 1930s but seems to have been oldfashioned when built. The original nightgrates etc are all the same as the edwardian ones in other houses in the village. It originally had picture rails but the previous owner took them out and put coving in.

I think i might go for it!

How about putting tiny 'bumpers' on the chairs or the wall? I bought see thru slightly raised stickers to stick on my wall to stop the door handles knocking into the wall. Each sticker is around 1cm across and 3mm high. It's the kind of thing you use for separating a sheet of glass from the top of a piece of furniture that the glass is resting on.

I hope you understand what i mean. Stick them on the wall or on your chairs. They are very cheap and practically invisible.