Super Easy DIY Wainscoting
This DIY wainscoting project is my favorite home renovation project that we have done. It’s been a long time coming and I can’t wait to share the results.
I’m not quite sure where to begin, I guess the beginning is always a good start. When we purchased this house in March and I knew that it was the perfect place to add some DIY wainscoting. We started the wainscoting in the hallway and the main living room back in the spring and then life happened. We didn’t complete the last room until the end of November. I’m so relieved that it’s finally done.
This room looked like this for months.
DIY Wainscoting
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.
This project is easy, but it drags on. After the boards go up, that’s when the work begins. Puttying, sanding, caulking, and painting. All four of those tasks are at the bottom of the favorite pile and (naturally) that is what I was in charge of with this wainscoting project. Wainscoting or board and batten? Honestly, I’m not sure. I have called it both.
Another before and after.
Wainscotting Supplies
Since our rooms will be different sizes, I can’t say how many you will need.
- 3.5″ x .5″ primed boards (top piece and separators)
- 5.5″ x .5″ primed board (baseboard)
- Nail gun
- 1 3/4 ” nails
- Paintable caulk + caulking gun
- Putty
- I like this one because it goes on pink and dries white.
- Sanding blocks
- Paint – I used Benjamin Moore’s, Cloud White.
- My walls in the main living room is Revere Pewter, the hallway is Classic Grey.
Randa’s Tip: I used both the Ben line and the Aura line in my rooms. Go with Aura. You save so much time.
How I did it:
Spacing
Floor to top of wainscoting: 36″
Spacing in between: 24″
In all honesty, I have to just say we wung it. We didn’t do anything formally, we put up the boards, decided what looked good to us and went for it. That was the most difficult part of this wainscoting project: going for it. PS -> not everything is perfectly 24″ in between, there were a few we had to adjust.
Caulking is the savior of this project. As you can tell with the above two photos, it fills the cracks and makes everything look seamless. Use the putty on the nail holes (and any dings in the walls or the wood) and fill the gaps and cracks with caulk (just make sure it’s paintable).
In both living rooms, the Cloud White wainscotting is paired with Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter. In the hallway, it’s paired with Classic Grey (see above photo).
I hope this post made sense! It’s hard for me to put into words what I did, but I wanted to give you the dimensions and tell you my secret: JUST DO IT! Go for it, and try to have fun doing it.
More DIY house projects I’ve done:
Painting Kitchen Cabinets
Painting Kitchen Countertops
Home Office Makeover
Bedroom Makeover
DIY Kitchen Renovation
How to stain a deck
FREE Recipe Binder
Are you constantly wondering what's for dinner?
When I don't meal plan I feel behind, and we usually end up ordering take out. This recipe binder will keep you organized and make life a little bit easier.
looks fantastic, what a fun project to try and what a difference it makes
It’s amazing what some wainscoting and paint can do!
It looks great Randa!!!!!
The before and after pictures are amazing. What a difference! It looks like a lot of work thought but worth it in the end. I love the grey you picked to off set the white. Also I noticed you painted the door to match the trim. It looks a 100X’s better and very stylish!
I used chalk paint on the door, but I’m not loving it. I think I’m going to simply replace it with a new door in the new year. Thanks!
Looks amazing!! Nice and classic 🙂
looks great, I want something similar in my place
It was really easy to do Debbie, just time consuming with all the little things. I’m so happy with it though!
It looks so nice! I love your colour choices!
Allot of work but looks well worth it, you did a beautiful job.
Wow,that looks wonderful! Thanks for all the little tips and tricks… I have a dining room I have wanted to apply this finish to.
How did you get the wainscoting to wrap around the rounded corners?
At Home Depot they have trim pieces that fit on the round corners! They’re awesome!
The floors look darker. Is that an optical illusion? I like it! What did you do, and was it costly?
It could be the lighting, or the time of day when I took it. 🙂
How do you make sure the horizontal boards look like one long piece (as much as possible)?
Caulk and putty are your friend for this! Once that’s dried and evened (sanded if you’re using wood putty) the paint hides it.
What did you do with the baseboard? Did you rip out and replace? It looks great!
Hi Su,
Yes we did rip out the original baseboard and we used the thicker board I listed in the supplies 🙂 Thanks!
Did you nail boards into wall studs, or glue? How exactly to attach the boards?
Hey Brenda,
We used a nail gun 🙂
Where did you find .5″ thick board? Everything in the box stores is .75 thick. Thanks
Hey Jason,
I picked them up at Home Depot, I just double checked and they’re .5″.
Did your walls have any texture on them? Mine do (wahhhh wahhhh). If so, how did you handle that? Also, I have short (you know) baseboards — then quarter round to cover the gap between that and the hardwood. Did you have anything like that or maybe your boards butted up against better? My wood was added later . . . so, here, it is normal to hit the baseboard (without removing) and then quarter round it for the gap. It looks GREAT!!! Thanks for sharing.
Hey Sherrie! No, my walls were not textured. I had a bunch of holes and scrapes in them though 😉
If the walls are textured, something you can do is add a thin piece of MDF board. I almost went that route originally and realized I didn’t have to. So place the MDF behind and then build up from there. I haven’t used quarter round, but I might soon. I have to rip out the flooring in a few of the rooms and I don’t want to rip off the baseboards too haha. So I may use quarter round to cover the gap if I have to cut them.
Love what you’ve done it is beautiful. I was just wondering for the crown molding did you install that yourself and if so how?
Hi Marie,
No we didn’t install that. It came with the house. I like my ceiling too 🙂
Looks great! Something we might do! What color is the grey you chose? Sooooo many greys! And I love this one!
Hey Mandie!
The hallway is classic grey and the rest is Revere Pewter (all Benjamin Moore).
Hi! I love this so much! It turned out beautifully! We are in the process of doing this in one room in our house. Do you have any areas where your new baseboards meet the old ones? We can’t figure out how to transition them to the old ones because of the height difference and because they are thicker than the one ones!
XO Bekah
Hey Bekah,
We ripped out all the old baseboards and put up the new ones for that reason.
I did this using SW EXTRA WHITE in Satin 3 weeks ago looks amazing but now starting to get dust caught in the grooves. I feel it’s a big high maintenance. I have gotten a small duster broom, but there is still dust almost stuck in the little corners. I have had to get a small rag and use my finger to scrub the corner. Any suggestions on cleaning for dust?? Pls help. I used pine wood over existing wall. Thinking of re painting it semi gloss. I don’t know…;(
I get a little dust build up as well, I believe the satin can make it a little high maintenance too (but that could just be my theory) but I think its worth it. I went back and forth between satin and semigloss for a long time but opted for satin for the look but if you want semi gloss, I don’t think it would look terrible. Maybe get a sample and paint an area.
Hi-
I’m hoping your’e still watching the comments on this page. Could you provide the link to the 0.5″ thick materials you used for the trim? I have looked and cannot find it.
Thanks!
Hey Alison, I didn’t buy it online. I just went to Home Depot and grabbed some in their molding/trim area.
Where did you find the flat panel wainscoting? Home Depot only has raised panel! Thank you!!
Hey, it’s actually just the wall and I painted it 😀