Chair railing is decorative trim that runs around the room in the middle of the wall, several feet off the ground. The original function was to protect walls from dining chairs and push carts. Wainscoting is any installation of boards or paneling underneath of the chair rail. It was originally designed to help insulate walls and protect from damp rising up from the floorboards, and is now considered mostly decorative. One wainscoting look is bead board, which resembles individual planks of wood running up the wall. Bead board will usually add a slightly old-fashioned look, but it is still beautiful and highly popular, especially in kitchens and bathrooms.
Wainscoting can also be composed of individually built panels, usually square or rectangular, which can range in design from plain and simple to complicated and elegant. This type of wainscoting will add a more formal look to a room. It is highly customized as the panel height and width must be appropriate for the room; you must take into account the length of each wall the panels will be installed on when planning their size and design. Or, you can simply install the chair rail without the wainscoting; this will still add a little something extra special to the room. The height of the chair rail must also be carefully selected; chair rail that is too low or high for your ceilings will look odd and out of place.
