Wainscoting

Wainscoting is a centuries-old technique of beautifying homes and giving them a homely, charming finish. Historically, old wainscoting panels were made from elegantly carved hardwood but this soon went out of style in the 1960's in order to mitigate costs. Instead, manufacturers came up with thin panel boards uniformly designed with straight lines, which immediately gained acclaim and continues to be available until today.

People who wanted to wainscot their walls were left with only a couple of choices: either to meet with the high cost to pay for craftsmanship or simply use the pressed panel with a generic board design.

Wainscoting Ideas

Wainscoting panels come in a wide array of styles and types of wood grains such as Arcadian Oak, American Oak, Honey Oak, Bedford Village, Nordic Pine, Rustic Honey Oak, Ann Arbor Birch, Rustic Unfinished Oak, Unfinished Oak, Unfinished Natural Birch, Ready to Paint, and White Ice Beaded. Installing wainscot is easy but instantly changes the aura of a room from a dull interior to an impressive living space.

If you're looking for the hottest new trends of wainscoting panels, the three-quarter walls old design is having a come back that dares to put character on plain old walls with impressive architectural character. These decorative panels leave an aura reminiscent of old-fashioned porches or beach cottages.

Although the norm revolves around wood wainscoting, interior designers have come up with low-cost styles by utilizing wallpaper capped with chair rail to create a complete wainscot look. You can also find wainscot panels with permanent finish that makes cleaning with soap and water feasible. These are the types you might want to use in high-moisture areas like bathroom walls, damp basements, garages, laundry rooms and mudrooms, sunrooms and patios, on porch walls and decks, dens, family rooms, sheds and cabanas.

When you're about to begin installing wainscot panels, it might be necessary to custom-cut the panels to the desired length to fit your walls. This would be easier by using circular saws, which cuts accurately along marker lines with the use of a laser.

Installing Wainscot

A chair-rail design typically consists of wainscot panels, stiles (for use as respite between panels), top and bottom rail, and a shoe for base and end cap rail. Casings to match panels should be used as finishing for windows and doors.

You will then need a level, tape measure, combination square, utility knife, hammer, clamps, chops saw, table saw or a radial arm saw, a circular saw or hand saw, miter box and coping saw, dividers, a drill/driver, pneumatic nailer and jig saw. Also prepare construction adhesive, 8d and 4d finish nails, wood glue, wood shims, and wood filler. This is a general information in installing pre-finished panels and rail system.

Prime the wall where wainscot paneling will go. This means are to take out all existing moldings, baseboard, and other treatments that could interfere with wainscoting. The surface also has to be even (you can use a level to check this), scraped or sanded to eliminate uneven spots.

To create a Classic Traditional design, find the center of your wall and lean one panel against it, making sure its center is aligned with the wall's center line (which you need to draw). Pick a 3-inch stile and place it beside your center panel. Then fit the panel and stile until you reach the corner of the wall. Do not affix the panels on the wall yet. What you're trying to do is establish the layout and to allow room for errors.

When wainscoting needs to pass along a window, assemble the panels under it first – you may need to cut a 10-inch stile to fit it in between the bottom of the window and the panel to give space for the bottom rail.

You can experiment with different layouts of wainscoting as long as it doesn't defy the wainscoting style you want for your wall. There is a wide array of precut panels in interior design stores. Plan your wainscoting now.