Raised Panel Wainscoting

Show Off Your Flair With a Nice Wainscoting Design

Anyone looking for a decorative way to enhance the lining of a wall or stairwell owes it to themselves to consider wooden raised panel wainscoting. Installing this stylish type of wainscoting can give an otherwise drab room some flair and elegance.

An unfortunate reality in many new homes is that construction companies and other home builders do not give much thought to building some character and warmth into the walls and moldings. One creative design solution can be to put in some wainscoting panels around the room or rooms. The wainscoting is usually positioned directly above the baseboard molding on the floor.

The first known practical use for wainscoting was to offer some additional protection to walls from stains, scuff marks and other types of potential damage. Due to the fact that it is typically made out of sealed and stained wood, wainscoting panels are a snap to keep clean compared to painted walls. Another added benefit is that it traditionally has a longer life than paint on other coverings like wallpaper because it's manufactured out of a more solid material.



Installing wainscoting used to be a knuckle-busting, expensive and nightmarishly time-consuming chore. A homeowner who chose to put it in would generally have had to hire a professional carpenter. Then, the individual pieces of wainscoting were installed one at a time. Today, there are a multitude of hardware and multi-purpose stores that sell raised panel wainscoting installation kits. These provide the handy do-it-yourself homeowner with a cost-effective, more hassle-free means of putting this in their home.

Wainscoting is most commonly comprised of different types of wood, but one might also find it made from as wide a variety of materials as bead board, stone, marble and plaster or molded tin.

Within every section of raised panel wainscoting there will be a design of some type comprised of wood and set in decorative patterns and adhered to a flat expanse of wood. It is made to cover most, if not all, of the wall. Most styles of wainscoting consist of simple wood strips aligned in rows. Others display geometrical patterns arranged in a decorative manner, while still others can be found with complex carved molding designs on them.

Today, the wainscoting design is most often used in the practical sense. Homeowners select wainscoting for high-traffic rooms and hallways specifically for the purpose of preservation of the walls in those areas.

Installing Wainscoting
Here are some step by step instructions for installing wainscoting.



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