I don’t usually care for “decorating rules.”  They are typically preferences and gimmicks more than actual rules.  “Blue and green should never be seen.” is one rule that I threw in the garbage bin pretty quickly when I started decorating.  I want to ask the person who came up with that adage if they ever stepped outside with their eyes open.  The dominant colors in nature are undeniably blue and green, and it’s one of the most harmonious and beautiful combinations.  Now that I’ve poo-pooed decorating rules, I will say that there are design principles that seem to be universal across all art forms.  One of those principles is the rule of thirds.  Trios are more aesthetically pleasing than duos when arranging a vignette.  A photo or painting composition is stronger when the focal point or horizon line is placed following the rule of thirds.  Eye makeup looks better if it covers 2/3 or 1/3 of the lid, but not right at the halfway point.  Even comedians and writers know that things are funnier in threes.

This design principle also applies to wainscoting, chair rail, paneling, and other architectural additions to a room that visually divide a wall.  In our basement, the wood paneling splits the wall right in the middle, and while it looks fine, it doesn’t look as strong as it would if the height of the paneling were a little lower or a little higher.

Let me show you a few examples…

The typical height of a chair rail is 30-36″ off the floor, depending on the height of the ceilings.  I’ve installed chair rail or some sort of paneling in all of our homes, and I typically install it around 32″ for eight and nine-foot ceilings.    If you do the math, that works out to exactly or about 1/3 of the height of the wall.

You can find a tutorial on installing a chair rail and picture frame molding HERE.

Here’s an example of a historic home where the ceilings are even taller than nine feet, but the chair rail is still installed around the 30-36″ height.

If you’re installing tall molding, like a picture rail, paneling, or wainscoting, you want to install the trim at least at the 2/3 mark up to about 1/4 the height of the wall.

I installed a variation of 3/4-height paneling in the laundry room in our MN house.  You can find those paneling details HERE.

In our PA house, we added architectural interest to our family room with vaulted ceilings by installing tall wainscoting inspired by a historic inn in Charlottesville.  I did it so many years ago that I forget how I came up with the exact dimensions, but the important thing to remember is scale.  Does the scale of the woodwork complement or fight against the scale of the walls, ceiling height, and size of the room?  I’ll typically start with a measurement and then tape it off to see how it looks in actuality.

You can find a tutorial on the wainscoting we installed in our family room in our PA house HERE.

I also opted for tall paneling in my office in our MN house.

You can find details of how we installed that paneling HERE, and more detailed instructions are in my book, Feels Like Home.

So, when it comes to rules for the height of installing paneling or chair rail, there really isn’t a hard and fast rule of exactly where it has to be installed.  I think the clearer “rule” to follow is where not to install it.  Don’t cut the room exactly in half.  But, if you did or you do, as is the case with our basement, that’s okay.  If it’s a highly visible room, it might be worth adding some wide trim to beef up the paneling and add some more height or to redo it entirely.  In the case of our basement, it doesn’t bother me enough to do that.  It’s sufficient for what the space is.

I thought I would share this design principle, though, so if you’re planning on installing paneling, chair rail, or wainscoting, you know what to avoid for the most aesthetically pleasing result.