Remove the chair rail. Chair rails are for dining rooms not bedrooms. Good luck!

I agree, the chair rail only makes sense if it's there to protect the walls from chairs!

But if you don't want to mess with taking it off and patching the walls just paint it the same colour as the walls. It will recede tremendously. Particularly if you don't use the guest room much this is what I would do, because I like the easy way out lol.

Chair rails are for protecting walls against bumps from chair backs. So they probably aren't necessary in a guest bedroom. Additionally, in a small room, the extra detail can be busy looking.

Examine how they are attached to the wall. If they're just nailed on then taking them down will just require patching some small nail holes. But if they are glued on, or if they were painted after they were installed, then you'll have some major wall repair or smoothing to do if you remove them. If that's the case, just paint the whole wall, rails included, the same colour.

Thanks for the feedback. I think they will be easy to remove. I kept pulling them off the wall as I took down the paper. Of course now that I want them off it may be a different story.

I find that a chair rail can be aesthetically pleasing, which would be a good enough reason to keep it. I'd go with a soft colour top and bottom, and an off-white rail, low contrast, like this.

I think they could look nice with the right paint color underneath. I think it depends on the look of the house. If your house is more traditional style than I think keeping them would be fine; it adds character. If your house is newer and mire modern style than probably remove.

Remove it

I would remove it and I hope you have already chosen bedding before the wall color.

I myself would not want to do the work for a guest room. I would paint the wall all one color or do what Rina suggested .

When you start removing chair rails you will have to patch, sand, prime.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I do love the look of a chair rail especially with the walls painted in two colors so I think that is why part of me wanted to keep it but you all are helping me realize not for this room. The house is only 13 years old and chair rails do not match the style of the house. They should be easy to remove with just some small nail holes to patch.

My daughter and I just went shopping yesterday and picked out the bedding and got some curtain ideas. We plan to go out today to look at light fixtures and paint colors. Unfortunately prior owners painted every room on their own and did a crappy job. So I have to repaint all the ceilings and walls, thus now is the time to replace the light in the room while repainting the ceiling.

Good point! I just took down a section and there is a faint paint line. I think it may sand down fine but I’ll keep the chair rail in case I find I need to put it back.

thanks for that photo anita, you will ABSOLUTELY see that raised paint line around the room, and with the textured surface you cannot sand it smooth without making a smooth line around the room. leave the chair rail! or you'll end up with the smooth area above your chair rail and then you will be stuck.

ETA its one thing with a major public room to get just the look you want, including replacing the wallboard if thats whats necessary. i just don't see that a guest room is worth the effort.

Wouldn’t just a can of wall texture spray fix the line problem? I’ve used it when patching our walls and it’s always turned out well and is super cheap