Renovation Detail: Beadboard Wainscoting
Tastefully protecting your walls from knocks and splashes, beadboard wainscoting is an eye-pleasing design element as well
When we bought our historic house, I wanted to transform it into a world of wainscoting. So it was important for me to research the subject, to understand its characteristics and architectural history. In a nutshell, wainscoting was designed hundreds of years ago in a marriage of form and function to enhance the look of a room while protecting the bottom half of the walls from dirt and damage. Throughout the years, wainscoting has evolved to suit different architectural styles and design elements. Today board and batten, frame and panel, and beadboard have evolved as the most prevalent designs, with beadboard providing the most bang for your buck.
Beadboard wainscoting is either installed as tongue and groove boards or as tongue and groove sheets, the latter being the more cost-effective option. Consisting of a baseboard, the beadboard and a cap (whether it be a chair rail, a plate rail or a picture rail), beadboard wainscoting is really a quite simple system. In fact, it's self-explanatory name comes from the round bead along its edge that disguises the joint between strips.
Hundreds of years since its conception, wainscoting is still used to dress up areas that get a lot of wear and tear. I'm especially fond of beadboard wainscoting in bathrooms!
Beadboard wainscoting is either installed as tongue and groove boards or as tongue and groove sheets, the latter being the more cost-effective option. Consisting of a baseboard, the beadboard and a cap (whether it be a chair rail, a plate rail or a picture rail), beadboard wainscoting is really a quite simple system. In fact, it's self-explanatory name comes from the round bead along its edge that disguises the joint between strips.
Hundreds of years since its conception, wainscoting is still used to dress up areas that get a lot of wear and tear. I'm especially fond of beadboard wainscoting in bathrooms!
In the bathroom, beadboard wainscoting protects the walls from humidity and tub splashes.
In a bathroom with so many cool surfaces, beadboard wainscoting has a warming effect.
Referred to as elegant armor for your walls, beadboard wainscoting is a smart choice for mudrooms, which see a lot of messy action.
The rich wooden floor and grass cloth window shade create a striking contrast against the white beadboard wainscoting in this showcase bathroom.
White painted beadboard wainscoting acts as a backsplash for this pair of pedestal sinks.
Beadboard wainscoting in the bathroom is a cost-effective alternative to pricey tiled walls.
Here, beadboard wainscoting doubles as the back and sides of a built-in breakfast nook.
The horizontal lines of the shutters and the vertical lines of the beadboard create a visually striking bathroom.
Beadboard wainscoting is also architecturally calming. In this bedroom it almost envelops the bed.
More guides to designing with trim
More guides to designing with trim