Beadboard Paneling in Bathrooms


If you want the walls of your bathroom to exude a rustic look, one way to do so would be to use beadboard paneling in bathrooms. If you are living in a cottage-style home, beadboard wall panels will surely provide the other world charm or rustic appeal that sets this style of architecture from other architectural styles. This type of wall treatment surely blends in well with interiors of cottages or homes constructed according to traditional architectural designs. The defining characteristic of these panels is their vertical line pattern. This paneling design is increasingly being used to give a rich look to halls, bathrooms and kitchens.

Why Use Beadboard Wainscoting in the Bathroom

This type of paneling has been used for lending visual interest to walls since a long time. This style of paneling became very popular in the late nineteenth century and since then its popularity has only risen. In this wall treatment, the panels are installed vertically in the bottom half of the wall. Initially, the purpose of installing these wall panels at the chair rail height was to prevent the damage to the walls due to chairs or furniture scraping against them. In case of a bathroom, ugly patches or stains on walls caused due to moisture could be very well concealed with the help of this wall treatment. Besides protecting the walls, another advantage of wainscoting bathroom is that it accentuates the walls. The thin vertical lines in these panels will definitely draw your attention and add visual interest to your bathroom. This can be achieved by painting or staining the paneling.

Ideas for Using Beadboard Panels in the Bathrooms

If you have ever been to a cottage style home, you would have seen bathroom wall paneling with decorative wooden molding. The molding can be seen on the top of the panels or panels at the chair rail height. Another feature in such bathrooms is the wooden baseboard moldings. Though most people have the panels painted in shades of white or cream, you could try other vibrant shades, but make sure that the color blends well with other elements of bathroom design. You could also use faux painting techniques to simulate the look of other materials. If you are planning to have the wooden panels painted or stained, make sure that you select the colors carefully. These panels can certainly provide a wholesome look and enhance the bathroom decor to a great extent.

If you want a rich look, make sure that you select a very wood with rich wood grain characteristics. Just a slight coating of varnish or very light wood staining will be enough to add visual appeal to good quality planks. If you are looking for a cheaper alternative, you could buy the less expensive pre-finished beadboard sheets. These will have to be painted. Make sure that you apply a gloss paint to give a sheen to the panels. As far as the installation is concerned, you could either get the tongue-and-groove paneling system or use the sheets. The effort that goes into the installation of the tongue-and-groove boards is more and the cost of the material is also higher than the sheets. The installation task involves cutting the sheets to size and installing them as per the desirable height. You will also need to remove bathroom vanities before installation and fit them back after you have finished applying the sheets or boards. If you have good woodworking skills, you could turn this into a DIY home improvement project, otherwise the wise thing to do would be to leave the job of installing these panels to professionals.

Dressing up the plain bathroom walls with these panels will surely give your bathroom a nice makeover. You will be surprised at the difference beadboard wainscoting can make to your bathroom. So, spruce up the walls with this paneling design soon!

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