Installing wainscot in the Dining Room

I loved the wainscot that I installed in the dining room in our last home. It made such a difference in the look of that room. I knew I wanted to repeat that same look in the dining room of our new home. In this home, I have already installed a planked wall wainscot in the kitchen, and in the bathroom, but chose to go the more traditional route of picture frame wainscot for the dining room.

I started by painting the lower portion of the wall the same white as all the trim in the house is. I did not do this first last time, and it was hard to do several coats with the molding up so I chose to do this first this time. I actually learned from my mistakes!!!

The wall color is a very light off white - it looks tan in this picture. It is the flat paint the builders used, and it is getting changed. It looks similar to this in the after photos at the end of the post, but it is actually painted Sand Beach (SW color mixed in BM paint).

For the chair rail, I used the same door casing (we upgraded to 3 /14 in. in our home) that I used on the plank walls. I simply wrapped this around the corner to the dining room. Just installing that made a big difference!

Here is the corner, before caulk and wood filler and paint. This little wall is on the left of the bathroom, and I already planked the wall to the right of the bathroom door. Doing this little section really makes a difference when looking at the bathroom door.

Here is that same area after.

Here is how I ended the section where the door to the butler's pantry is. You make it return to the wall, the same way you do with crown molding. You simply make an OUTSIDE corner cut about an inch in from the end of the wall. Then make a very small piece with another outside corner cut, but there is no length to it. I do not nail this in place, I use wood glue, and painters tape to hold it while the wood glue dries. After sanding and caulking and painting, it will look much better.

Here is that same spot after paint and caulk (keep in mind the corner is not painted yet....)

To figure out how big to make your boxes you:
Measure your wall
Decide how many inches between your boxes (I chose 3 Inches)
Decide how many boxes you want (this will be trial and error)
Then subtract the 3 inch space on either end and between your boxes from the total wall measurement
Divide this by the number of boxes
Your answer is how big your box should be.....
The picture below depicts the wall with 3 boxes on it with 3 inches of spacing all around. Both between and above and below each box.

My method when installing was to draw my boxes on the wall in pencil - this was you know if you need to adjust for an outlet. Like I did, but it is hidden behind the china cabinets!

Then I measured and cut the top and bottom pieces (they should be the same length. I also cut the side pieces (these stay the same for the entire room) EXCEPT for under the window.

I installed the top horizontal piece first, using a level. Then I installed the right vertical side. Then I put one nail in the bottom horizontal piece (on the right hand side). Then I put one nail in the left hand vertical piece at the top. This allowed me to have a little wiggle room at the bottom right corner, to make certain it was a tight fit before nailing the bottom and left piece fully.

The white makes such a difference in this room, it really brightens it up. And the addition of molding makes it even better! Molding makes everything prettier! I just love how it turned out and can't wait to do another molding project. Here are photos of the finished room.

This picture is not good quality at all but it really shows the entire room. I don't have that capability on my camera, so I used the panoramic setting on my iphone for this.

COST BREAKDOWN:
I bought 8 foot sections of the trim and needed about 16 pieces total. They were $8 each.
Trim total = $128
Chairrail - FREE (it was left over from building)
Paint - FREE - I already had it but it was about $65 for the gallon of semi-gloss BM
Nails - already had Caulk - already had
GRAND TOTAL: $128

** Update: I forgot that I also bought the wall color for this room. So add Benjamin Moore paint @ $35
Total gets bumped up to: $163 ***

Visit my other wainscot projects in this house:
Plank Wall in Kitchen
Plank Wall in Bathroom

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Linking up with:
Green Willow Pond
Crafty Allie ,
Skip To My Lou,
Keeping it Simple
The Girl Creative,
Between Naps on the Porch

Planked Wall in our 1/2 bath

Happy Monday! Unfortunately, this is not a reveal post! I still have work to do for that post!!!

I had so much fun planking the wall in the kitchen that I did it in another room too! My half bath is downstairs and was lacking some serious personality. It is so small that you can't really decorate it, so I decided to plank the lower portion of the wall. It is around the corner from the other wall I did, so I just kept the same height on the wainscot. I used the same wood and I used the same trim I used in the kitchen to cap it off.

You have seen this picture before with the kitchen post. The door frame you see on the left in the photo below, is the door to the bathroom.

I also used the same paint (on the wainscot) as in the kitchen, as it is the trim paint in the entire house as well. To start the transformation, I painted the top part of the wall first. I chose a slate grey blue color that coordinated with the curtains in the family room. It is Earl Grey by SW. It is a little darker than my usual choices, but I have read that it is okay to go for dark and drama in a 1/2 bath (and I was hoping the white wainscott would balance it out). Anyways, I love it! I did not paint all the way to the ceiling since I am planning to add crown in here. I already have it, just need to get it installed. I'll add it to the ever growing list....

This time, I was much more careful when sanding the edges of the boards. There are a few that were installed in the kitchen that were not sanded well and it looked bad when installed and it was difficult to sand after they are nailed to the wall.

Here are some pics during and just after install of planks.

I had to get tricky around the plumbing for the toilet and sink. I decided to use a board on either side and used a jig saw to cut out around the pipes. The sleeve, when pushed back against the wall, hides the cuts.

The only wall in this bath that does not have full boards is this back wall. Hopefully because the joints are behind the sink and toilet, they will not be that noticeable.

After install I used wood filler to fill the nail gun holes in the wood. I used caulk at the joint between the chair rail and the wall, and in the corners and where the chair rail meets in the corners. It never fails to impress me how a little (inexpensive) caulking can make such a huge difference in how your project looks. Even before paint!

Before Caulk / Wood Filler:

After Caulk/ Wood Filler:

This project lasted a little longer that I would have liked for 2 reasons. First my parents visited for 2 weeks so I was less motivated to do projects like this. Both my mom and dad helped us to start and finish other projects, but I was not into getting this done. Secondly, our floors are being replaced (very bad install job and something got all over them after install and before we moved in) which means the pedestal sink and toilet will be taken out.......which means I will have much easier access to the area behind the toilet and can put the planks up right across the wall where the pedestal sink meets the wall while it is removed. When they put the sink back up they can just put it back over the planking! (and they can fix the poorly aligned plumbing - who wants to see plumbing peeking out from behind the pedestal base.....) Whoo Hoo!

Here are all the photos. This room does not have a window, so it is difficult to take photos in here. I hope you can tell how much this has improved the look in here. The last thing I need to do (after finishing the back wall) is find something for over the toilet. If you recall from a recent post, I built a shelf for this spot, but it was too big, so it went elsewhere. I have not decided if I am just going to install narrow shelves, or hang baskets or something else. For now, the extra TP will be stored in a basket on the floor. Any ideas? What has worked for you?

Thank you for reading. I will do a final reveal once the back wall is done (I already have all the boards cut and ready to install).

Please come back soon!


I'm linking up with these lovely blogs:
Thrifty Decor Chick
Between Naps on the Porch
The Dedicated House

Picture Frame Wainscotting in Dining Room

Decorating, for me, is a long process. I always have to live in a space and see how it works and find things slowly, and keep adding layers to my decorating. Nothing is done like those TV shows that have it done in 2 days (or so we are led to believe...). That would be nice sometimes, but then it would not reflect me and my family. Afterall, it is our home and should reflect the personalities of those who live here.

The before picture was taken the day we moved in over 8 years ago. The only thing that has not changed is the wall paint and the chair rail/baseboard. Here it is below.



What an awful, boring photo. Sorry about that! Here is a breakdown of what we I did!

1. Paint decorative treatment around step up tray ceiling (is that what you call it?) You can see it in the photos below.

2. Replace light fixture. I don't think I realized the power of spray paint back then and could have sprayed this awful gold chandelier. However, it would not have stayed in the dining room. The scale of it was all wrong. See how small it is? It is not a large space but has tall ceilings and the light was just swallowed up in the room.

3. Replace window covering. While I did like the texture of the one left behind it covered up the curve at the top of the window. I love this little detail and did not want a shade/blind and/or drapes to cover it up.

4. Make some drapes. I made these almost 8 years ago and still love them. They have a lining which has saved them from the beating of the western sun that comes in these windows every afternoon.

5. We replaced the peel and stick parquet floor you see in the before pictures. We lived with it for 5 years before we replaced it (and a lot of carpet) with engineered wood floors. We did hire this out as it was not a job I had any interest in doing. That decision alone changed the look of our home and we love how they look and feel.

6. The last project done over a year ago, was to add the wainscotting to the walls. It did not look bad without it, but once it was done it looked so much better!

The photo below shows before I caulked. See, how it does not totally line up? Well, a little sanding and a little caulk hide everything! I did paint one coat on all the wainscott pieces before I cut and installed.



This is a corner shot before caulk and final paint coat.


Before starting I had to decide the spacing of my "frames". I decided that I wanted 3" all around my frames. I had several walls to contend with and based on that and the number of frames I wanted on that wall, the actual frame sizes would be different, but the constant would be 3" of space all around.

I did break this rule on one wall where the wall had a bend (not a corner). I thought it would look funny with the 3" of space there and chose to do 6" on either end. That photo is below.




Did you catch a glimpse of the kitchen through the opening? Those oak cabinets are no more! They are glorious white cabinets now! I don't know why I waited so long, I should have done it LONG ago. You can also see a tiny sliver of the island that is off white. That got a facelift with new moulding all around and a new paint job.




Thank you so much for visiting. Have a great day!


I'm linking to:
Savy Southern Style

Metamorphosis Monday
Sawdust Girl

Board and Batten in entry

Like a lot of bloggers I got the board and batten bug and found a good spot to install it in my home; my entry way.


It is open to the dining room, which I installed picture frame molding in, so it blends nicely, while allowing it to be a separate space with the visual difference. The trim in both rooms is the same color, as is the wall color above the wainscoting. I installed it on the wall to the right as you enter my home. It is just over 10ft long and has a small jut out for a column that was the perfect ending point.

The vertical pieces are 3" wide and the top horizontal board is 4 1/2" wide (I used MDF). I capped it with a 1x2 (which is actually 3/4" x 1 1/2") and used a cove moulding piece where the intersect.

The blue painters tape mark my studs for nailing into the proper spot on the horizontal piece.

I cut a scrap piece to 13" to be the spacer for my vertical boards. Once I figured out the layout, I just used this to space them out. I still used a level to make certain the entire board was level vertically. TIP: Pay attention to things like light switches, alarm boxes or outlets. You don't want to start and then have a vertical slat land smack in the middle of one of those......that may or may not have happened to me......


I used finish nails and HAND hammered each and every one, then went back with a counter sink. The only problem I had was some "puffing up" of the MDF around the nail. I don't know how else to describe it. I filled the holes and sanded A LOT, but a few of the boards are not totally smooth. It really is only noticeable when the sun is shining in the front door. I don't know if anyone else has had this experience with MDF, or if I could have done something different. I do own a nail gun and compressor, so this may not be a problem in the future. Of course hubby got me the compressor for my nail gun 2 weeks AFTER this project. I'm thankful for the gift, but could have used it earlier!!

Here it is before adding the top cap and cove molding. You can just barely see the seam on the horizontal piece. I had 8 foot lengths and needed 10 feet of coverage. I actually planned ahead and strategically placed this seam behind where the mirror would hang.



The image below shows details of all the mouldings that I cut around the ginormous mirror. I only did this with the top cap and the cove. This was so the mirror would be flat on the wall and not have a funny angle to it. I made this frame about 8 years ago when we first moved in and I used the mirror that was the entire wall (builders grade) of the guest bath - I just cut it down some. I loved it then and I still love it.

One last image of the finished product. Our home faces West so we get really bright sun in the afternoon and evenings but it is dark during the morning. The white on the board and batten really brightened the space up. My motto is the more light the better. I like to add mirrors because they are cheaper than putting windows in!




Hope you enjoyed this post and good luck on your project!




I'm linking to:
Savy Southern Style

That DIY Party
http://sawdustgirl.com/2013/03/08/sawdust-throwdown-link-party/