How to Elevate Any Room With A Beadboard Wall
Today, my friends, I have a quick, easy, and budget-friendly way to elevate any room in your home. Beadboard, also known as wainscoting, is the focus of our post today! We currently have two rooms in our home with beadboard walls. You will find it in our guest bath and dining room.
What Beadboard Will Do For Your Home
What will a beadboard wall do for your home? First, it will provide texture and visual interest to any wall or any room in your home. It does, indeed, elevate a room and give it a little something to take it up a notch. Therefore, if you have a room that needs a little touch of something, consider adding a beadboard wall or two.
Second, if you have damaged walls and you don’t want to drywall or patch them, this is a fantastic and fairly easy way to cover holes and boogered-up walls.
And lastly, a beadboard wall can actually have a purpose in the room. More on that to come.
Beadboard In The Guest Bathroom
As I said, we currently have two rooms in our home with a beadboard. The first room is our upstairs guest bathroom. We gave this bathroom a makeover in 2021. As per our usual style, we did a lot of DIY and worked within a budget. We replaced everything but the tub/shower.
One big impactful change we made in this bathroom was to add beadboard to the walls. As part of the makeover, we replaced the flooring with ceramic tile. In so doing, we gutted the old baseboards and added a simple 1 x 4.
It was very simple to then add the beadboard directly on top of the baseboard. We nailed it to the walls, along with adding some caulk to keep it in place. However, if you place the nails in the opposite directions it should hold up pretty well without the caulk.
Adding beadboard behind a toilet or vanity isn’t always easy, but we had replaced both of them in our renovation, which allowed us to add the beadboard without all the cuts and difficulties.
We went about two-thirds of the way up the wall and then added a 1 x 4 with another 1 x 2 on top. The 1 x 2 was laid flat giving us a ledge. The purpose of the ledge was to give some dimension, but also a place where pictures could lean for a decorative touch.
There is no perfect height when you add beadboard to your walls. They are different heights in the two rooms I have them in. Do what feels best to you!! You can even cover the entire wall.
We then applied white paint to the top portion of the wall and painted the beadboard/wainscotting with the color Grey Owl by Benjamin Moore. It is a very, very pale gray with a green tint.
This was our first beadboard wall ever, and I love it so much. We did it two years ago, and I still love it to this day!
Dining Room
Quick story about our dining room. It used to be a living room. However, since we have a family room in our home, our living room sat empty most of time. Our dining room was small for our big family so we did a switcharoo.
The dining room became my new office and the living room became our dining room. It was a perfect solution and I’ve never regreted it. Never be afraid to make your home work for your family!
Our newly acquired large dining room was considerably better for the needs of our family and a much more efficient use of space. We painted the room white, had an electrician add a receptacle for a chandelier, and voila, we had a beautiful, large enough for our family, dining room.
The dining room is the first room you see when you walk into our home, and I love the cozy, warm vibe it gives off. We added a china cabinet (Goodwill find) to hold my china (which had been in boxes since given to me as a young bride).
For more on thrifting, Thrifting: How to Thrift and What to Look For is a great post to head to! In the original “dining room”, it would have definitely been a tight squeeze.
Beadboard Wall In The Dining Room
Let’s get back to the beadboard wall in our “newly” acquired dining room. For two years, I kept coming back to the same idea—adding a beadboard wall in the dining room corner, topped with a trim piece and pegs for hanging coats.
Adding beadboard would not only add some lovely texture to an otherwise boring corner, but it would also provide us with a convenient place for coats and purses.
We estimated this to be a two day project, but that was definitely not the case. As we typically discover after we starting a new project, there were things we hadn’t considered. We had to add an extra piece of trim to the bottom where the baseboards met the beadboard because the beadboard wasn’t butting up properly.
It took us a bit to come up with a solution for that problem, but we figured it out. As one of my favorite sayings goes, “Where there is a will, there is a way!” I was determined to make it work!
Next problem…the pegs. Oh, those dang pegs. Honestly, I think the main problem was that we didn’t have the correct tool to make the hole for the pegs. This is often where our problems occur when we take on projects 😆
One night when I was out, my husband decided to try to add the pegs and surprise me. Let me preface this by saying I am somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to projects. My hubby, not as much as me…lol. This has been an issue with projects over the years, but we always get past it, and between the two of us, we get it right.
Jeff was so excited to surprise me with the pegs. However, all I could see were the crooked pegs. Unfortunately, my reaction was not what he had hoped for. I deflated his excitement, and I immediately regretted my lack of thankfulness for his sweet efforts.
That being said, I knew we had to fix it or I would see those crooked pegs for the rest of my living days in that house. Together, we fixed them, and it turned out absolutely beautiful. We get compliments on this corner of our room often, and we now have a place to hang our guests’ coats and purses.
The Fun Part-Adding Decor
My favorite part is always adding the décor and bringing the whole space to life. I love mixing old and new pieces to give the room character. One of my favorites is an old-school bench we found at a flea market a few years ago. It’s perfect for extra seating when we have a crowd for dinner—and it happens to fit this wall just right.ong this wall.
You can learn more about adding character through vintage items in my post How to Add Character to Your Home With a Vintage Door. This door gets the most attention and comments when guests enter our home.
We styled the space with a few vintage touches—old books, a charming carpet beater, and a clearance sign I scored at Hobby Lobby. About six months ago, I also thrifted the sweetest picture, and it found its perfect spot here. I couldn’t be happier with how it all came together.
As you can probably tell from these photos, I love to switch up the décor throughout the year, changing it with the seasons to keep the space fresh and inviting.. Your Spring Cleaning Checklist & Spring Decor and 8 Ways to Add Winter Decor to Your Home will offer more details on making changes for the seasons.
What You Need To Know
We picked up 8-foot sections of beadboard from Home Depot and had them cut to size right there in the store. Just be sure to decide on the height you want before you go—it’ll save you time and make the process so much easier.
Home Depot offers amazing saws for large projects, and an employee will do it for you. Sometimes they charge and sometimes they don’t-at least this has been our experience.
We had to cut a few pieces at home using a circular saw/table saw for the corners and edges. You can get creative with baseboards and top trim pieces. There are a wide range of options at HD. Again, think outside the box on these projects. Make it your own.
My initial thought was to paint it a putty color with my white walls, but in the end, bright white won out. The white we chose for that room several years ago didn’t quite go with a putty color.
Lessons Learned
First, think outside the box and make your home work for your family’s needs. I haven’t regretted a single decision we made here—in fact, I only wish we’d done them sooner!
Second, it’s true—a beadboard wall can instantly elevate any space in your home. It’s an affordable way to add dimension, texture, and character. And remember, the goal in making changes isn’t just about style—it’s about creating a warm, cozy, and inviting place for your family to live, love, and make memories for years to come.
Lastly, you can learn just about anything on YouTube. Don’t be afraid to take on something new. Believe in yourself, jump in, and give it a try. The reward is often far greater than the risk. And if it doesn’t work out the first time, it’s simply another opportunity to learn and make it right—because failure is really just growth in disguise.
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
-Thomas Edison
Much Love~Kim💗
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