Beautiful Beadboard Paneling That's Surprisingly Easy

Adding beautiful architectural interest to your home not only adds value, but also makes your home yours. Clearly, there are many ways you can add details to your home that create character. I’ve always been drawn to styles and looks that create a sense of history, that make it feel like it’s been around for decades. Personally, I believe adding traditional beadboard paneling not only adds cottage charm to any room, but also creates a sense of history.

We have updated every space in our home except the laundry room, so this is the year! The space of the laundry room is not bad, but the finishes never reflected me or my tastes. From the florescent light fixture to the laminate and oak cabinets, it all needs to go.

My plan it not only to update the laundry room, but also create an area for jackets, coats and shoes. Actually, creating a mini mudroom within the laundry room.

You know, I’ve been a little envious ever since we built Steph’s mudroom.

Not to mention when Alex and Megan built their mudroom bench.

For phase one of this makeover, we will begin with the long wall to the right when you enter the laundry room. I feel like this is the perfect space to create hanging storage.

Adding a traditional beadboard paneled wall is really not that difficult. In fact, Steph and I were able to complete it in an afternoon. Scroll down and see our time saving tips.

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To see the complete video tutorial for installing a beadboard wainscoting, click here.

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Materials & Supplies:

You’ll find a list of materials and tools we used below.

Materials:

Tools:

Prepare the Wall for Beadboard Paneling

There are a few steps to do to prepare your wall for beadboard paneling.

Woman using a level marks the height on the wall to install the beadboard paneling.

First, we removed the adjacent door casing and base board.
Second, we made a level line for the height of the beadboard paneling. Our paneling will be a 5′ high wainscoting. By doing this I will be able to create hooks for hanging storage.
Third, using a stud finder, we marked where the studs were located in the walls.

Adding Beadboard Panels

Woman applies construction adhesive to the back of the beadboad panel.

Pro-Tip: to make the installation easier. We had each beadboard panel cut at The Home Depot to the height we needed, 5 feet.

As with any paneling, you will want to attach not only with brads or nails at the studs, but also you will want to add construction adhesive.

This step is really important on the edges of the beadboard. When installing each panel you may or may not have a stud to nail into at the edge of the panel.

Therefore, it’s important to make sure you run a solid bead of construction adhesive along each side. Just to make sure that it is secured well to the wall, we added a bit of adhesive along the top and bottom and randomly along the rest of the panel.

Next, we placed the panel along our level line and secured it with brads at each stud.

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Beadboard Paneling Cuts

Measure and mark the backside of the beadboard paneling for outlet cutouts.

Mark the backside of the beadboard paneling for outlets.

As you install your beadboard paneling, you will certainly come to outlets, or switches that will require you to make cuts.

We did have one outlet on the wall that we needed to make a cut for. I’ll be totally honest, this part made me a little nervous. As it turned out it was a lot easier than I thought.

First, we measured the distance of the outlet from the top and side of the beadboard panel. Then we marked the backside of the beadboard panel.

Mark and cut out for electrical outlets. We found it easy to cut with an oscillating tool.

All my anxiety over cutting this out was unnecessary. We used a wood blade in the oscillating tool and it cut through like butter. It worked like a charm.

If you do not have access to an oscillating tool you could also drill a pilot hole and use a scroll saw to get the job done too.

If you’re new here, welcome! We’re so glad you’re here.

Let us introduce ourselves, we’re Michelle and Steph, a mom and daughter team who love to DIY and decorate our homes.

Not only are we passionate about making our homes warm, comfortable and unique, but it’s our mission to help you create that same feeling in your own home.

You’ll find ideas for repurposing, creating, decorating and making your home truly yours, while always mindful of a tight budget.

We love finding ways to make your home look high-end on a small budget.

Plus you’ll also find a recipe or two as we share our family favorites with you.

We’d love it if you’d join our community of doers so you won’t miss any inspiration for your home.

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Installing the Header

With our beadboard panel only covering a portion of the wall, the top edge will need some sort of edge to make it look finished.

Secure at studs a 1x6 board at the top of the beadboard panel.

Because I will be adding hooks for jackets and coats I wanted a substantial piece of wood to finish off the beadboard.

For this piece of wood I chose a 1″x6″ primed pine board. It was clear, with no knot holes.

We secured it to the wall at each stud with 2 nails.

Cut the two 1x6 boards at a 45° angle. When attached to the wall they two boards will overlap.

The length of the wall was too long for just one board.

Therefore to create a seamless joint, we cut a 45° angle on each board. Then when installing the boards will fit tightly together.

Completing the Header

Finally, to finish off the header we attached a 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ primed MFD board.

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Baseboard

In addition, to finish off the lower edge of the beadboard panel we install new baseboards.

In fact, this was the final room to get the new baseboards that we had installed throughout our home.

Caulk & Putty

We are now nearing the home stretch. To make everything look finished and neat, it’s time to caulk and putty.

Woman conceal beadboard seams with a bead of caulk at each seam

Because these beadboard panels are not tongue and groove, there is a slight gap where each panel meets.

This is easy to conceal by running a bead of caulk at each seam.

Steph is a pro at this and I always leave this job for her.

To see Steph’s caulking tips click here.

Woman adds a bead of caulk at the top of the baseboard to prep for painting.

A bead of caulk was also run at the top of the header and on the top edge of the baseboard.

Woman patches brad nail holes with drywall putty. Let dry, then sand until smooth.

To conceal all of the nails we applied Drydex nail hole filler.

Then when it’s dry, you give it a light sanding with a foam sanding block until smooth.

Paint Beadboard Paneling

Pro-Tip: Purchasing primed boards will save you time.

Woman paints the beadboard paneling with 2 coats of paint using a paint sprayer.

If your boards are not primed, you will want to prime them first. All of our boards were primed except for the baseboard.

Because of the groove of the beadboard, I decided to use our Wagner paint sprayer.

I did one coat horizontally and one coat vertically using the detail nozzle.

While I love this nozzle to get a beautiful smooth finish on furniture, it does not work as well on large areas like a wall. Once the paint had dried the beadboard panel looked blotchy.

I really wanted to create a smooth finish on the beadboard without brush marks. So I finally used a small foam roller and rolled a 3rd coat and got just the finish I wanted.