Dado rail? Yay or Nay?

[thebluehen]

My new home has a dado rail in the living room.

Get rid of it? Keep it?

It's a 1980's house, so not an original feature!

Get rid
picture rail yes
dado rail no

Get rid - I used my wrecking bar and it didn’t damage the plaster.

I kept mine in my similarly 80s house! Thought it would be too much faff to remove it and have to replaster etc so never tried

When I first moved in it was dark wood, so I sanded/used liquid sander and painted it and the wall above it white. Done various different colours on the bottom, grayish, greenish etc sometimes just a darker white for contrast.
Have seen on Pinterest some people do panelling and incorporate the rail that way.

However as pictured mine was in the hallway. Maybe less naff?

It probably is an original feature in a 1980s house! There was a fashion that went on for years in the 80s for vertically striped wallpaper below a dado rail and a sparsely patterned wallpaper with a toning background above. It was the height of interior decor fashion!

I'd get rid though.

For those of you saying take it out, how much damage did it cause to the walls underneath? Did they need a bit of filler or room re-plaster? Thanks.

Always yay! Provides interest, lends itself to great decorating ideas.

Agree, love them and picture rails!

you could put wood/mdf panels underneath it and paint it all to match - if you like that look that's fashionable at the mo.

I'd keep it too. It probably was original in the 80s and these things always come back. You can make it look more modern, of course, like the people above have suggested. I just hate the trend for making everything so samey!

Do you want the dado rail?

In the hall way is ok…..in the lounge definitely a no no

Well, put it this way, if there wasn't one there, I wouldn't be putting one in!

But I don't hate it enough to cause a massive re-plastering problem either!

I might look at putting panelling underneath it.

@thebluehen
I hear you!
I love panelling. I'm sure whatever you do it'll look fab 😄

1980s house here too and we have one.... did think about taking out but actually I think it gives some nice interest in an otherwise large lounge plus gives more decorating options. Plus, its an original feature... I've grown to really like it

Keep it and paint the same colour as the wall, this is the contemporary look for dado rails, I think it adds interest to a plain wall.

I love dado rails with a different colour above and below. My daughter said definitely not.
I wish they'd come back onto fashion.

I have a dado rail and picture rail in the hall , no idea how long they've been there , our house was a 1930s and we've been in since 1990. Old neighbours said they were original when the house was built .

When we moved in we stripped off the gloss paint , sanded it and varnished .

I love it , many people don't like them . There was a thread on here about them hauling themselves off the walls and throwing themselves into the Skip of Shame that the 80s called them back from

I think the HGTV everything grey and plain thing is really over. Keep your dado rail. This video interested me on this, from a "Gen Z" perspective