If you’re looking for a new look for any of your rooms, keep a few things in mind before settling on wainscoting.
- Installation can be time-consuming for the do-it-yourselfer, although it’s doable if you’re detail-oriented and a stickler for measuring. In a nutshell, you need to measure each wall separately to make sure the paneling is even all the way around the room, as each wall might not be exactly the same width and height as another. Then remove the baseboards, cut out spaces for electrical outlets, install the wainscoting, add a chair rail and paint.
- Flat-panel and beadboard wainscoting is easier to install than raised-panel wainscoting because the panels make the thickness of the material uneven. An example: With raised-panel, you might have to move electrical outlets so they’re located on the flat face of the panels rather than on the raised bevels. It’s not hard to move an electrical outlet, but if you don’t have experience, leave that job to a licensed electrician.
- No matter what style you choose, you’ll probably need to adjust your outlets out so they fit flush with the new wainscoting. Use adjustable mud rings to add thickness to your outlets.
- You don’t have to build wainscoting from scratch if you don’t want to. Kits of prefabricated wainscoting come with pre-finished or ready-to-finish materials ranging from wood, the most popular and traditional, to MDF (a composite wood product similar to particleboard) to marble to vinyl. Prefab wood panels often are a blend of solid wood, plywood and veneers that are less susceptible to expanding and contracting than solid wood. If you want solid wood, consider hiring a carpenter.
- Traditionally, wainscoting has appeared in formal dining rooms. Now, though, homeowners are putting it in kitchens, bathrooms, breakfast nooks, family rooms and even stairways. For less-formal rooms, flat-panel or beadboard wainscoting are good choices.
- If it all sounds like too much trouble, skip the wainscoting and apply a faux finish or some wallpaper between a baseboard and chair rail painted in a solid, contrasting. You’ll still get a stunning look, with less expense and far less work.
