Nearly every panelling brief starts here. Should the panelling stop at waist height with a rail, or run the whole way to the ceiling? Both are traditional, both are current, and the wrong choice makes a room feel shorter or busier than it should.
The decision comes down to ceiling height, what the room is used for, and how much of the wall you want to be timber rather than paint.
The heights that work
Dado panelling historically sat at around one third of the wall height — roughly 900mm to 1,100mm in a standard modern room. Below that it looks mean; much above it and the room starts to feel squat. In a Victorian room with a 2.9m ceiling, a dado at 1,000mm looks right. In a new-build with a 2.4m ceiling, 900mm usually reads better.
Full-height panelling normally runs from skirting to cornice, but there is a useful variant: panelling that stops at picture-rail height, around two thirds up, with plain wall above. That gives the presence of full-height panelling without closing the room in.
When dado height is the right answer
Dado panelling suits hallways, stairwells, dining rooms and any room with a low ceiling. It protects the part of the wall that gets scuffed by bags, shoes, chair backs and dogs, and leaves the upper wall free for colour or artwork.
It is also the cheaper option — usually around half to two thirds the cost of full height on the same wall — and the easier one to live with if you like changing paint colours, because you can repaint the top half without touching the panelling.
- Ceilings under 2.5m
- Hallways, stairs and dining rooms
- Rooms where you hang a lot of pictures
- Tighter budgets
When full height is worth it
Full-height panelling turns a wall into architecture. It suits a principal bedroom behind the bed, a study, a snug, or a tall period reception room where there is enough wall to carry it. It is also the natural choice when you want the panelling to conceal something: a door into a boot room, a cupboard, or the joins of a media wall.
It does two things to a room. It makes the wall feel solid and considered, and it lowers the apparent ceiling slightly. In a tall room that is an improvement. In a low room it is not.
Mixing the two
A very common and very successful approach is dado-height panelling through the circulation spaces — hallway, stairs, landing — and one full-height panelled feature wall in the main reception room or bedroom. The hallway reads as a continuous run, and the feature wall gets its moment without the whole house being panelled.
If you do mix, keep the moulding profile the same throughout. Changing height is a design decision; changing profile just looks like two different jobs.
Setting out: the part that matters most
Whichever height you choose, the panel widths should be even across the wall and the layout should respond to what is already there. Doors, windows, radiators and sockets all sit at fixed positions, and a good layout uses them as reference points rather than fighting them.
A wall that ends with a full panel at one side and a 90mm sliver at the other is the giveaway sign of panelling that was not set out. Every wall should be drawn before anything is cut.
Cost comparison
On the same wall, expect full height to cost roughly 1.5 to 2 times dado height. More material, more mouldings, more mitres, more filling, more painting. If budget is the deciding factor, dado panelling through a whole hallway usually gives more visible impact than full-height panelling on one wall.
As rough figures for the south of England, a dado-height run around a typical dining room is commonly £1,200 to £2,200 supplied and fitted, and the same room at full height £2,200 to £4,000. Decoration is normally quoted separately either way.
Living with each height
Dado panelling is the easier of the two to live with over time. You can repaint the wall above it in a weekend without touching the joinery, which suits anyone who changes colours every few years. It also takes the knocks: bags, shoes, chair backs and dogs all connect with the lower half of a wall, and painted MDF at dado height wipes clean and touches in easily.
Full height is more of a commitment. Repainting means repainting the panelling too, and any change of colour scheme involves the whole wall. In return it gives you the option of concealing things — a cupboard door, a boot room entrance, the joins around a television — which dado height cannot.
One practical point that decides it for some rooms: radiators. At dado height the panelling usually stops below or beside a radiator without difficulty. At full height the radiator has to be worked around, moved, or replaced with a taller narrower unit, and that is a plumbing cost on top of the joinery.
Common questions
- What height should a dado rail be?
- Around one third of the wall height — typically 900mm in a modern room and up to 1,100mm in a tall period room.
- Does full-height panelling make a room feel smaller?
- It makes the ceiling feel slightly lower, which helps a tall room and hinders a low one. In pale colours the effect is much reduced.
- Can I panel only one wall?
- Yes, and it is the most popular option. Choose the wall the room is oriented towards: behind the bed, behind the sofa, or the wall you see from the door.
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