Remove dado rail or not?

[Memorybear]

We’ve lived here 23 years and when we moved in every room had dado rail around the middle of the room.

Weve taken it off in the kitchen when we had a new one and one of the bedrooms but it then needed a full replaster. Quite a messy and expensive job.

I got a quote from a chap to remove it, make the walls good and also skim the ceilings as they are artexed. For the large lounge, smaller sitting room and hall stairs and landing it’s coming in at £3500. Seems like such a lot of money for something that mildly bothers me. On top of that I’d have new skirtings, flooring and the repainting costs so I could add another few grand to that cost.

Im so undecided. We have the money to do it but in time our adult children will leave (one is almost gone) and we might downsize a little and move anyway.

If I decided to stick with it what’s the best way to live with it? Paint it all the same colour as the walls or keep it satinwood white? I always paint in light neutral colours anyway so no strong, dark or dramatic colour schemes.

Should I bite the bullet and spend out to get it removed? Is it seen as horrible and old fashioned or just one of those things that aren’t noticed really. I know I shouldn’t really care about what others think but I don’t want the house becoming dated and very old fashioned.

Decisions, decisions.

Any thoughts?

I wouldn’t bother if you’re likely to sell, and it doesn’t bother you. Just paint the dado the same colour as the walls.

Keep it - Victorian features are on their way back to the masses - just paint it the same colour as the rest of the wall.

Keep it! Where do you hang your pictures from? Paint it same colour as walls. Fair point, artex ceilings are grim but I've never heard anyone hate on a dado rail.

Yes, just keep it. Earmark the saved money for decorating your new home when you decide to move. There's really no point in trying to second guess what future buyers might want, and it sounds like a lot of bother for little gain imo.

It depends on the age and other decor of the house if it fits in or not
The price is cheap but you must be in the north of England

It also depends on the height of the rails as they can make or break a room IMO as well as its width and depth

As i said, it depends on the age/layout and what you have in the house ie furniture etc

Well I hang all my pictures on the dado rail. I think.you know why!

Am I right in thinking you'd hang pictures from a picture rail, not a dado rail? As the dado rail is only at about waist height in a room?

We removed the one in our lounge as it wasn't an original and was too oppressive for the size and shape of our room. Made a big difference to the feel of the room.

Maybe you could just do one room if it was really annoying you?

How old is the house? Are the dado rails a modern addition (popular in the 80s) or an original feature. Are they really in all the rooms including bedrooms? That suggests they aren't original, they were invented to protect walls from chairs which would be less of an issue in a bedroom.

Or do you mean picture rails? Confused by the comments above about hanging pictures. Are they at the top or above the doors (picture rails) or about 75-100 cm above the floor? If you mean picture rails please keep them, we're busy replacing ours because a previous owner ripped them out, they are a gorgeous feature. If you mean dado rails keep if original and appropriate for the house but remove if a later addition.

You could lean into it and add panelling below like this: https://www.doors2floors.co.uk/blog/wall-panelling-guide/

Lots of people DIY it and it's currently fairly on trend.

For me it would depend on whether your house is the correct age for a dado rail or not. Looks lovely in older houses with high ceilings but not in modern properties.

Also if it is the correct height. We had it in our old house and it had been put in just too high to be right.

I'd keep them if they are an original feature of a Victorian/Edwardian property.

Ours is Edwardian and has original dados downstairs. If they were removed, the rooms would look weird because they have high ceilings and the proportions would look wrong without them.

It’s a 1970’s house and it was put on in the mid 90’s. It’s in every bloody room.
Its slightly lower than half way up the wall - the placement is right but I’m so over it everywhere now.

we’ve decided to do a room at a time. Will start on the ‘front room’ and get it gone bit by bit.

In a 1970s room definitely the right decision. I do wish modern houses had picture rails though. My (very modern) Oxford college had them in our bedrooms and it saved the walls.

Absolutely do not get rid of them!