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The Ultimate Guide to Wainscoting: 25+ Stylish Wainscoting Ideas

Written by Cassity

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The Ultimate Guide to Wainscoting: 25+ wainscoting ideas and styles | Remodelaholic.com #wainscoting #inspiration #design #walls @Remodelaholic

The Ultimate Guide to Wainscoting:
25+ Stylish Wainscoting Ideas

Wainscoting is a classic way to add texture and interest to the walls of any room. Deciding what style and height of wainscoting, however, can be as tricky as choosing the color of paint! We’ve rounded up nearly 40 stylish wainscoting ideas that we’ve shown here on Remodelaholic to help you decide what look is best for your home.
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Why Wainscoting?

Wainscoting can be used for many different reasons. Most commonly, wainscoting  is used to add interest and texture, even without adding color, such as this full paneled wall, shared with us by Decor Chick:

diy paneled wall, Decor Chick on Remodelaholic

Adding a little extra wainscoting can help dress up a standard chair rail and make it an architectural feature:

decorative wall panel wainscoting, My Cottage Charm on Remodelaholicshared by My Cottage Charm

Wainscoting helps enhance the structure and design of the room. Merely by splitting the wall into two sections and giving the eye a line to follow, wainscoting helps the room feel bigger. Molding and wall treatments can also help a tall space feel fitting instead of echoey-large, such as this tall 7-foot wainscoting in this extra-tall 14-foot entryway, shared by Design Dump.

tall wainscoting in a tall entry, Design Dump on Remodelaholic

Wainscoting can also be a wonderful solution to disguising some of your home’s quirks, such as oddly placed utility access points. The Modern Parsonage shared how they hid their plumbing access by dressing it up to match the wainscoting.

hide plumbing access with wainscoting, The Modern Parsonage on Remodelaholic

Taller wainscoting with a ledge on top provides a great place to add decor, especially if you intend to switch it out frequently.

beadboard wainscoting with ledge, Tell'er All About It on Remodelaholic wainscoting ledge, 33 Shades of Green on Remodelaholic

guest room updates by Tell’er All About It  | home tour by 33 Shades of Green

And styles? There are so many different styles of wainscoting!

Beadboard Wainscot

Beadboard is a wonderful wainscot material because it is quick to install and doesn’t require as much of the measuring and math as many of the other styles of wainscoting do.

Simple Beautiful Home installed beadboard wainscoting in a half bath remodel.

half bath remodel with beadboard wainscoting, Simple Beautiful Home on Remodelaholic

And The Reformed Ranch installed a tall beadboard wainscot in a farmhouse dining room.

industrial farmhouse dining room beadboard wainscoting, The Reformed Ranch on Remodelaholic

You can also add a ledge to beadboard wainscoting like we did in our Logan House bathroom

beadboard wainscoting with ledge, Remodelaholic

or install the beadboard horizontally like we did in the half bath that we added to our Logan House.

half bath remodel with horizontal beadboard wainscoting, Remodelaholic

And if you’re going for a different look, just paint the beadboard black like The DIY Diaries did in their modern powder room:

black beadboard wainscoting, The DIY Diaries on Remodelaholic

 

See more great wainscoting ideas on the next page –>

 

Beadboard Wainscoting Styles And Ideas From Remodelaholic[pinit align=”center” url=”https://www.remodelaholic.com/25-wainscoting-ideas/” image_url=”https://www.remodelaholic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Beadboard-wainscoting-styles-and-ideas.png” description=”Have a DIY wainscot project in mind? Beadboard is one of the fastest and easiest ways to do it! Get it done (and love it!) with these ideas and tutorials from Remodelaholic” #Remodelaholic #wainscoting]

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Published: August 12, 2013Filed Under: Remodel Inspiration By Room Tagged: accent wall, DIY wainscoting, Top 25, Wainscoting, Wall Finishes, walls

About Cassity

Cassity started Remodelaholic with her husband, Justin, to share their love for knocking out walls together. She is an interior designer, wife, and mother of two. She and Justin have remodeled three homes from top to bottom and are working on their fourth. Making a house a home is her favorite hobby.

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Comments

  1. John @ Our Home from Scratch says

    August 12, 2013 at 7:40 am

    Thanks for the mention! Some of these designs are amazing.

    Reply
  2. Tracy B says

    August 12, 2013 at 9:37 am

    Timely post! I’m about to do board and batten in my hallway! LOVE the look. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Cassity says

      August 12, 2013 at 10:53 am

      Good Luck! It really makes a room!

      Reply
  3. Andrea says

    August 12, 2013 at 9:53 am

    I love pretty much ALL of these ideas, and I would like to do something similar in my home. But I don’t know where to stop/start. My home is almost all exposed/open concept on the first floor. If I just wanted this in the dining room (which is 3 walls, with one wall a half open ‘window’ to the family room) I’m not sure if it would look alright since its open to the family room, kitchen and the main hallway. Are there any design tips for how many rooms or spaces in a home should have wainscoting to keep the design consistent?

    Reply
    • Cassity says

      August 12, 2013 at 10:53 am

      You might need to create some pilasters/columns to end the wainscoting… We have a column tutorial to consider here: https://www.remodelaholic.com/2013/06/interior-column-plans/ We had an open concept kitchen, living room, dining space and entry, so stopped our wainscoting from going into the entry and kitchen dining with these corner columns… just a thought!

      Reply
  4. Kayla says

    August 12, 2013 at 10:46 am

    Great ideas!! I’ve got board & batten on my to-do list for the living/dining room. Can’t wait to use some of these tips!

    Reply
  5. JDKC says

    August 12, 2013 at 12:04 pm

    Fantastic ideas. I wish you would do a similar tutorial on ceiling treatments!

    Reply
    • Justin says

      August 15, 2013 at 2:12 pm

      That is a great idea! Thanks for the comment!

      Reply
    • Chris says

      August 31, 2014 at 8:59 pm

      I actually am laying here looking at my breadboard ceiling right now. It’s actually wainscoting glued and tacked over old plaster.

      Reply
  6. Stephanie says

    August 15, 2013 at 3:15 pm

    LOVE THIS SITE!!!! My house is going to look amazing!

    Reply
    • Justin says

      August 15, 2013 at 9:31 pm

      Stephanie we are glad you are so excited. Your house will look amazing! Thanks for loving our site!

      Reply
  7. capturing joy with kristen duke says

    August 28, 2013 at 11:12 pm

    I love seeing all of those different ideas in one spot. I really love the look of wainscoating for the extra texture!

    Reply
  8. Kelly says

    January 15, 2014 at 11:37 am

    I LOVE the look of wainscoting and want to put it everywhere on my main floor. Kitchen, dining, living room, powder room. Do you think that will be over doing it?

    Reply
    • Justin says

      January 25, 2014 at 8:30 pm

      Kelly, I think that would be too much, but you should just try doing some accent walls first and see if you would want to do more. Right now we just have it on our two walls. I did a room in my dads house and we just chose to do the window wall and it turned out great with just one wall.

      Reply
  9. Karen Jones says

    January 21, 2014 at 5:34 am

    Stylish indeed! These are some authentic examples of wainscoting I’ve come across. Really great designs and worthwhile to incorporate. Thanks for sharing this post with us!

    Reply
  10. Mark says

    February 2, 2014 at 10:46 pm

    Can this be done in a full bath or will the humidity ruin the wood? Are there alternative products that are meant for such a purpose? What about within the tub area itself?

    Reply
    • Cassity says

      February 3, 2014 at 11:56 am

      Mark which wainscoting in particular are you talking about. It would probably be best to use a ceramic type product right next to a tub, but in a powder room, it should be fine.

      Reply
  11. Anne says

    February 11, 2014 at 8:24 am

    We just finished wainscoting in our baby’s nursery! We’re amateur DIY-ers and we found it was actually easier than expected. It’s a pretty incredible transformation! Cheers, Anne

    Reply
    • Cassity says

      February 13, 2014 at 7:46 pm

      Look Fabulous! What a great fireplace too!

      Reply
  12. Troy Thompson says

    August 26, 2014 at 10:52 am

    I think these ideas are amazing! Wainscoting can give a room a whole different feel. It can be modern as well as antique looking! Great stuff 🙂

    Reply
  13. Marie Hansen says

    October 22, 2014 at 9:17 am

    Cassidy, I love this post. I am going to do your full wall board and batten in my basement. It is exactly what I wanted. It’s nice to have a picture reference. How far apart are you boards? It looks as though they are only about 12 inches. Is this correct or are they farther? I love your blog and tell all my friends about it. Thanks for the inspiration.

    Reply
    • Cass says

      October 24, 2014 at 11:50 pm

      Marie – that should be about right, about 12 inches on ours. You can learn how to perfectly space the battens in our tutorial here: https://www.remodelaholic.com/2013/05/board-and-batten-spacing-tutorial/ Good luck and we’d love to see pictures when you’re done!

      Reply
  14. Guerrina says

    December 9, 2014 at 1:34 pm

    I love several wainscoting styles. So far I’ve done board and batten in my back hall. I will be doing the half bath off that hall using beadboard and will also do half wall between kitchen and dining room. I find it allows me to use darker shades on the upper walls and not feel closed in.

    Reply
    • Cass says

      December 9, 2014 at 11:24 pm

      I agree! I love the added texture. So many reasons to love wainscoting 🙂

      Reply
  15. Theresa DeCarli says

    April 24, 2015 at 12:51 pm

    I want to know if I can use wainscoting in a bathroom. Not around the tub but on the two opposite walls. Will the humidity hurt. What do you recommend?? The total boards will be 4×8 sheets,,,behind the toilet and vanity and also the opposite wall. Thanks

    Reply
    • Cass says

      April 24, 2015 at 9:41 pm

      As long as everything is primed and painted well (both sides if you are using something like MDF, I’d say) you should be fine! We’ve done wainscoting in our bathrooms and never had a problem.

      Reply
  16. Paulina says

    August 31, 2015 at 12:59 pm

    I live in a very old house. I’m thinking of putting stained wainscoting on the walls of my den. But I can only put it on 3 walls as the fourth has a wall of built ins painted a medium grayish color. This fourth wall houses a TV, bookcases and a fireplace. Hubby doesn’t want more painted wood, he likes the grain hence the possible design dilemma. Do you have any suggestions on how to make this work?

    Reply
    • Bridget says

      December 7, 2015 at 6:32 pm

      A friend of mine painted the bottom third of her walls in 4 in white and navy stripes, with a 4 inch white border on top, and then the remaining wall navy. It looked gorgeous. That may be an option if your DH doesn’t want any more painted wood in that room. Perhaps go with a dark gray instead of navy?

      Reply
      • Cass says

        December 8, 2015 at 12:03 am

        Great idea, Bridget!

        Reply
  17. Louise says

    October 1, 2015 at 1:10 pm

    I asked steve to add wainscoting in all the main areas of our house plus some bathrooms. This post was wonderful to give me some ideas of what I would like to do on my wainscouting projects. =)

    Reply
  18. Danielle says

    June 24, 2016 at 4:28 pm

    I love the circular design of the wainscoting in the cover photo! Where could I find that style to purchase?

    Reply
    • Cass says

      June 24, 2016 at 10:45 pm

      There’s more info here in this post for you: https://www.remodelaholic.com/2011/09/living-room-wainscot/

      Reply
  19. Amanda says

    February 27, 2018 at 10:05 pm

    I Need HELP! What can I do if I have regular wall paneling on top and then the 3 feet on bottom for the wainscot. The thing vertical wood looks horribl, and today i ripped it out! Now I’m stuck! Help!

    Reply
    • Cass says

      March 3, 2018 at 10:37 am

      Hi Amanda, if you’ll send us a photo or two, we’d love to post for our readers on Facebook to give you some ideas. Drop us a line over on Facebook or at [email protected].

      http://www.facebook.com/Remodelaholic

      Reply

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Hey there, I am Cassity! Nice to virtually meet you!

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