I like the look of the chair rail with teh subway tile. it seems to give it a more dressed up look. having said that, I probably would do a bullnose in the shower area, well not really, if it were me, I'd tile to the ceiling.

I'm planning on doing a subway tile bathroom in my house. the Daltile octagon, where are you getting it? is it all white? what size? 3/4 or 1"? glazed or unglazed?

I'm still trying to pick my floor tile.

Either one is acceptable, although the chair rail certainly looks alot more decorative, and not necessarily "victorian" at all.

I have a bull nose but I think a chair rail looks very nice. To be honest, I did know what all my options were before doing the remodel. I have a half wall of white subway tile and a full wall in the shower tub including tile on the ceiling but in squares. Here is a picture:

Hi, Having done one bathroom (children's hall bath) with subway tiles and bullnose caps, I will be doing our master bath in subway tiles and chair rails. I think the look with the chair rails gives the bathroom a more decorative finished look.

Dazedandconfused, whenever I get around to doing my master bathroom, (Can only take so much remodeling at one time :))I will also go with chair rails. I like the look

Subwaytile, Originally I had ordered Carrara marble chair rails for the hall bath but for whatever reason (miscommunication or oversight by tile designer at store) they were never received. Because we were about to put our house on the market we decided to go for the more inexpensive alternative. I still like the bathroom as it is. The chair rail would have made it a bit more dressed up. The only other regret I have is not putting in a vanity. Again, since we were about to sell we decided to forgo the vanity and put a pedestal sink in. Although I love the clean streamlined look of the pedestal sink, I think we could use the extra storage. We never did move. Right now, we also in the process of repainting it.
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Here is a link that might be useful:

Here is the picture of my subway tile with caps. Sorry for the large size.

If you are invoking a certain period of bathroom for a certain age house, I would say that you would be more likely to see chair rail pre WWI and simpler cap after, followed by even flatter bullnose, but by the 30s and 40s field tile had also shifted to square rather than rectangular.

However if you are going for a 2000s subway tile look I would say if anything chair rail speaks of a bit more formality and bullnose as less formal, but either is fine.

Dazedandconfused, your subway tile/bullnose/width of accent looks similar to mine. I considered a pedestal sink for the kids bath because I also like the look but I could not figure out where I or the kids would put stuff. I was going to do a pedestal sink against beadboard, which is something I saw in a Pottery Barn bathroom book. That said, I am glad that I went with the subway tile

Palimpsest, I think you are exactly right. Chair rails are more formal and both are fine.