I wanted to post some after photos and thank everyone who took the time to comment. It turns out that the wall was "indented" when we removed the chair rail so my DH has spent several weekends to build it back up with joint compound and texture it to blend in with the walls. It was a painfully tedious process (first trying to do it by hand, then with a sponge, then with spray-on compound that dribbled everywhere, and finally with a trowel lightly loading dabs of compound on). If you look closely you can still tell, but it's not as glaring as it was several iterations ago. Suffice to say, we are thrilled to be done with sanding, priming, texturing, and painting! Now, I need to figure out what wall decor to put up as the removal of the chair rail makes it a much easier space to deal with! Any and all advice would be appreciated. I was thinking of doing a photo gallery near the front entry, but that is a HUGE wall and I don't know that I can put photos high enough where you can still see them but not so low that the wall looks off-balance. Forgive the quality of the photos, taken without a flash on my iPhone.

Here's the sofa area with the picture lowered and area filled out. Showing the addition of a coffee table in two shapes. And also trying lighter mats on the pics to brighten things up. I love what you have going. It just needs to be completed and filled out some : ) The colors are just gorgeous and make for a wonderful and comforting setting to spend time. You might want to start another thread, as this one is bogged down with a lot of pics. Also, once the images become oversized and the text doesn't wrap anymore, a lot of people won't look anymore as it can't be read easily.

This is what I'm going for! Except that in this pic, the color is blue. I'd like to do the same but with taupe (beige?). https://www.google.com/search?q=dining+room+white+wainscoting+darker+upper+walls&client=safari&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=tEsTVb6nD8_ooATQ0IKoCA&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=320&bih=460&dpr=2#imgrc=DjARw6wc_0FNrM%3A;3hYnUEMzfq7F2M;http%3A%2F%2Fhgtvhome.sndimg.com%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Fimages%2Fhgtv%2Ffullset%2F2011%2F1%2F11%2F1%2FDP_Pangaea-contemporary-blue-dining-room_s4x3.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.1280.960.jpeg;http%3A%2F%2Fphotos.hgtv.com%2Fphotos%2Fnavy-walls-;1280;960

Please, do not cut the switch covers. It looks to me like the molding you have was flat on the back, so they improvised and installed it at an angle, not vertically, right? The bottom sticks out further from the wall than the top does. They cut the miter right if they were going to install it flat, as it should be installed, but installed it at an angle coming away from the wall simply because when they nailed the top, snugging it up against the wall, the wainscotting pivoted it so the bottom of the molding was then floating in the air! So can you get a fingertip behind the bottom of the molding, between it and the beadboard wainscotting? Is the bottom of the molding even nailed? What Bozos! I agree that you should first find the professional to hire, show them what needs to be done, and have them either purchase the molding or tell you precisely the type and size of molding to buy.