dado rails up stairs in 1920s house

[ParadigmGiraffe]

Period House with quite a few period features left. Would it be out of keeping to put a dado rail up the stairs?

Our house was built in 1932 and we have put picture rails up in some rooms, I thought some of the rooms felt a bit boxy without them and thought the house was old enough to justify it.

From my (admittedly brief) research, a dado rail was primarily used in Georgian houses to keep chair backs from scuffing the walls when they were pushed back on to them. So it's not really in keeping with the age or the usage to run it up the stairs. We have a 1930s house which has cornicing and a picture rail (both quite plain, in a 'post war' style), fluted glass doors and Bakelite door handles.

Our current Victorian House had one put in by the previous owners I think. I quite like the way it breaks up the paint. Similar to this (mine isn't as lovely)

I've had them. Sometimes there was a hard-wearing wall covering (e.g. lincrusta) below the rail in the hall, stairs and landing. Some are paintable, some have a fake wood panel effect. I prefer decoration to be the same above and below but tastes differ.

The rail also gives you something to slide your hands along if you like to. You can get pig's ear rail if you actually want to have a safe grippable support on the wall.

just moved out of a 30s house with a dado rail on one side of the stairs looks in keeping but everyone puts their hands on it going up or down the stairs and if like mine painted a pale colour gets very grimy very quickly

Hi, we are a 1920s house..... there are no dado tails, only picture rails in the original part of the house. What was also put in some 1920s houses was panelling, especially in the hallway. Hope that helps 😊

If you like the look, you might as well put it in but I expect it’ll look out of keeping for people familiar with houses of different periods.

We’re in a 1920’s house and have added details that are out of keeping but we like, eg Victorian style ceiling roses. I feel that it’s fine to just do what you like unless it’s a house of architectural merit in which case I wouldn’t advocate making a mess of it.

Thanks all. The panelling idea is appealing, saw another very similar house with panels and it really worked.