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38 Wainscoting Ideas to Add Character to Every Room in Your Home
Add instant charm to every room in your home with this design feature.
We’re always looking for creative and easy ways to add character to our homes. While paint, fabric, and decorative accessories certainly express our style, sometimes it’s the quieter bones of a room—the architectural details of the walls, floors, and ceiling—that make the most impact. Enter wainscoting! You may know it as wood paneling, shiplap, or beadboard, but whatever you call it, wainscoting is an easy way to layer in built-in charm to any room. In these pretty spaces from all-time our favorite houses, we explore stunning dining room wainscoting ideas, as well as beadboard wainscoting ideas for bathrooms, welcoming entryways, rustic bedrooms, and more.
So exactly what is wainscoting? By definition, it’s simply an application of wood moulding or panels to a wall. Originally meant to insulate and protect walls, wainscoting eventually became a beloved decorative element. All iterations of wood wainscoting ideas—beadboard, board-and-batten, V-groove, raised and flat panels, tambour—and even tile can be found in old and new homes alike, from historic farmhouses to modern bungalows.
Sometimes left natural for a more rustic look (we love reclaimed barnwood for horizontal wainscoting ideas), wainscoting is typically painted. And while there is no golden rule regarding the proper height for wainscoting, just think in thirds: Shorter chair-height wainscoting (the most common) lines the bottom third of a wall; taller wainscoting leaves the top third of the wall bare for paint or wallpaper. But it’s really all about what works best in your space!
Here are more ways to add built-in charm to your home:
Board-and-Batten Chair Rail Wainscoting
For interiors with loads of design personality like this cozy sitting area, solid painted wainscoting can act as a grounding reprieve from lively pattern and accessories. A collection of cuckoo clocks artfully displayed atop wallpaper in a forest-motif needs a bit of a visual break. The board-and-batten wainscoting offers just that, as well as a classic architectural detail.
Raised Panel Wainscoting
The rectangular panels on the wainscoting in this charming Maryland entryway sets the tone for a certain relaxed formality. A pretty mushroom paint color paired with a neutral wallcovering provides a welcoming breather to the more color-rich rooms beyond.
Get the Look:
Wallpaper: “Toile Des Lapins” in Mushroom by Nicholas Herbert
Tall Beadboard Bathroom Wainscoting
Sixty-inch-tall blue beadboard wainscoting adds height as well as texture to this small bathroom. A bold blue paint coats the wood, and is a perfect match to the shower tile. A dapper pair of his-and-hers wood vanities fits snuggly into the sink alcove that’s dressed up with brass sconces and shiny chrome faucets.
Get the Look:
Beadboard and Trim Paint Color: Smoky Azurite by Sherwin-Williams
Wall Paint Color: Oyster White by Sherwin-Williams
Extra Tall Board and Batten Wainscoting
Now a favored architectural detail, the historic look of leaving wall-joists exposed originated out of necessity as an inexpensive way to cover wall seams. In this primary bedroom, the wide-set board-and-batten walls recall the homey style often found in old Lake Michigan cottages.
RELATED: Tour more of this cottage-style lake house that is the vacation home of our dreams.
Horizontal Tongue-and Groove Wainscoting
In this Georgia lake house bedroom, the deep green tongue-and-groove wainscoting is the star of the room. The jewel-toned paneling color paired with the chocolate settee, scarlet quilt, and striped pillow bring a richness to this comfy nook. A collection of vintage tramp-art mirrors hangs above.
Beadboard Stair Wainscoting
A fresh coat of powdery blue paint on stair risers, trim, and beadboard wainscoting creates a pretty ascent to the second floor of this renovated 1800s home in Summerville, South Carolina. Assorted vintage maps and prints and a faux-malachite-inlay dresser give the entryway a collected-over-time feel.
Get the Look:
Stair and Trim Paint Color: Wythe Blue by Benjamin Moore
Horizontal Shiplap Wainscoting
If you’re itching to install shiplap but can’t quite commit to the whole wall, just stop halfway! Here, shiplap-style wainscoting installed horizontally brings farmhouse style to this sweet girl’s bedroom.
RELATED: Tour more of this renovated farmhouse that is packed with budget-friendly decorating ideas.
Tall V-Groove Wainscoting
Even though this kitchen space is relatively small, the young family found a way to carve out a breakfast area against a wall of happy extra-tall yellow wainscoting. Installed vertically, the lines bring the eye up, where the room’s stunning botanical wall covering depicts citrus and pomegranates.
Get the Look:
Waincoting Paint Color: Sudbury Yellow by Farrow & Ball
Wallpaper: Fruit by Morris & Co.
Banquette: “Regina Banquette” by One Kings Lane
Sconces: “Vendome” Sconce by Visual Comfort
RELATED: See the rest of this sunny kitchen—it’s just gorgeous!
Two-Tone Wainscoting
While it can be incorporated anywhere in the home, wainscoting is often found in bathrooms. Let the layout of the space inform both the height of your wainscoting and the material used. For example, this converted schoolhouse’s bathroom boasts simple wainscoting (created by adding flat boards to the wall to create the “panels”) that starts just below the window. A trellis patterned wallcovering in the same green as the paneling and floral sink skirt keep the palette tight.
Get the Look:
Wainscoting Paint Colors: Cooking Apple Green and Breakfast Room Green by Farrow & Ball
RELATED: Tour more of this converted schoolhouse that is filled to the brim with colorful decorating ideas.
Tall Beadboard Wainscoting with Stair Detail
This Texas home, which boasts a past life as a B&B, is loaded with country character. The dining room is clad in tall beadboard wainscoting that runs vertically and reaches about two-thirds up the wall. Above, horizontal shiplap painted the same buttery shade wraps the top third of the room. The same beadboard detailing shows up on the stair wall and throughout the rest of the home as well.
RELATED: These pretty staircase ideas will upgrade your entry and more.
Wood Slat Wainscoting
In this New York farmhouse dining room, understated wallpaper hung above light gray slatted wainscoting sets a simple backdrop for the collection of antique and vintage finds. Vintage wall sconces and a 19th-century Danish painting decorate the upper walls.
RELATED: Tour more of this 18th-century farmhouse of your dreams.
Tall Board-and-Batten Wainscoting
A streamlined four-poster bed stands out against this bedroom’s warm white palette. Painting the board-and-batten wainscoting, and ceiling, as well as the upper wall’s horizontal shiplap, the same warm white allows for bold bedding choices, like the quilt-inspired shams and striped bedding seen here.
RELATED: These are the coziest, most welcoming guest bedroom ideas.
Tall V-Groove Wainscoting with Custom Pegs
Customize a wall of tall V-groove paneling as a hardworking boot station. At this Maryland farmhouse, the back entry’s makeshift mudroom wall serves up genius storage with clever custom pegs and shelving.
Get the Look:
Trim and Millwork Paint Color: Inchyra Blue by Farrow & Ball
Two-Tone Cutout Wainscoting
There's no shortage of color in this entryway! The wainscot paneling was crafted with decorative corner pieces for a more artsy cottage look and painted in contrasting peachy pastel hues.
Get the Look:
Door Paint Color: Citron by Farrow & Ball
Wainscoting Paint Colors: Custis Salmon and Frosted Petal by Benjamin Moore
RELATED: Here’s everything you need to know about creating Cottagecore interiors.
Subway Tile Bathroom Wainscoting
By definition, wainscoting is wood. However, the idea of partially covering a wall has expanded to include other types of materials. Tile wainscoting, for example, is exactly what it sounds like: wainscoting made of tile, like in this bathroom. Designed to protect the walls from splashes, this type of tile application is often seen wrapping a tub and sink.
RELATED: These are the best bathroom tile ideas that will liven up your washroom.
Window Seat Wainscoting
Wainscoting can conjure up character in even the smallest spots, like this cozy window seat “phone booth” in American Pickers star Mike Wolfe’s Tennessee home. Customization is easy—note the cut-out that perfectly wraps the wall-mounted phone!
Low Horizontal Shiplap Wainscoting
This Georgia farmhouse entryway celebrates the pretty green landscape beyond the front door. To honor the land, the homeowners chose a mossy green for the wainscoting, trim, ceiling, and door. The wallpaper above the chair rail adds pastoral patina.
Get the Look:
Wallpaper: Royal Oak by Lewis & Wood
Trim Paint Color: Hampshire Gray by Benjamin Moore
Stained Board-and-Batten Wainscoting
Stained board-and-batten wainscoting lends a rustic feel to this dining room. A built-in china cabinet and door casings match the original wood paneling and floors.
RELATED: These are the best dining room decorating ideas to make this entertaining space more inviting.
Full Board-and-Batten Wainscoting
This boy’s bedroom boasts character-rich wood details on every wall and ceiling (the cedar fence planks are from the family's last home). A classic board-and-batten treatment on the walls reaches floor to ceiling, a design move that makes any space feel taller. The antique sliding barn door and railroad crossing sign bring history to the space.
Beadboard Bathroom Wainscoting with Vanity Detail
To boost character in the bathroom, these Texas homeowners used an eye-catching “Antiques” sign, a mirror with a weathered frame, and wainscoting in a pretty warm white along the bottom of the walls. The same style beadboard paneling lining the walls is also inset on the vanity front, which makes for a one-of-a-kind custom look.
RELATED: Farmhouse Decor Ideas to Create Your Dream Country Home
Amy Mitchell is the managing editor for VERANDA and Country Living, where she writes articles on a variety of topics—decorating and design, gardens, and holidays. Amy’s experience in the shelter magazine category spans more than 20 years, as she’s previously held positions at Coastal Living and Cottage Living. Her personal pursuits include cooking, gardening, and hunting her favorite tag sale spots for the next piece of Pyrex for her prized collection.
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