Remember my “Difference Molding Can Make” post? If you don’t, I’ll be nice and show you the after picture again when we put up the chair rail and framed boxes…
I liked it, but wanted to try something different. We have textured walls, so I was a little scared to try this, but I have seen others do board and batten and wainscoting with textured walls and it looked great. One that comes to mind is Joy from Thrifty Parsonage Living when she did board and batten in their bedroom. I had asked her about her textured walls and it didn’t bother her, so it shouldn’t bother me then right?! :) Her new board and batten looks great!!
So, keep in mind that “true” wainscoting has smooth wood paneling completely covering the wall, then you put your boxes on top of that. But since I already had the boxes up and the chair rail, I didn’t want to have to redo everything and take off the baseboards etc, or spend any money for that matter.
So, how do you get the look of wainscoting without all the extra work and money you ask? Paint!!
Please don’t pay attention to my uneven line there on the right corner. I still have to figure out what to do with that transition column. So instead, just humor me and admire my fake wainscoting for a moment. :) It looks real to me, and if it doesn’t to you, please don’t say so and rain on my fake wainscoting parade. :)
Last Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. I just popped up and said “I’m going to paint that wall, it’ll be easy!” I already had that white semi-gloss paint in the garage. Well of course it turned into a 2 day project because I needed 3 coats of white paint, because again, I didn’t prime. When will I ever learn? And then after I painted it all, the boxed frames looked like this…
I had already started caulking everything when I remembered to take a picture, but you can see the ugliness I’m talking about. So yes, I had to caulk ALL of the frames inside and out. Again, when will I learn to do this FIRST? I guess never.
This is the caulking/sealant stuff I used in a tube. It was really easy to work with…a lot easier than the caulking gun, for this project anyway.
So in a nutshell it was pretty easy, but would have been easier if I had primed and caulked first. Oh well, I’m happy with my new wall. :)
Here is a close up of the textured wall in case you are curious like me. Yes you can still see it, but it still looks pretty. And from afar you can’t even tell that much. Also, if you have people coming over and inspecting your walls for the real stuff, then they shouldn’t be in your home. :)
Another before…
And after…
Ahhhh! So whatcha think? I think this really dressed up the wall, much more than before. I have plans to do this in our living room, the opposite entry wall, and more fun molding in the dining room to tie everything together. Oh, and some board and batten or beadboard in our bedrooms and bathrooms. Yea, I love molding, all kinds, and I want it all. It’s amazing people. I think it gives you the biggest “bang” for your buck! Now I just need the bucks. :)
So have you tried anything like this with textured walls? If so, did you like the results?
Sharing this post at Layla’s Tutorial party.
xxoo,
Decorchick!
Subscribe by email:
{ 186 comments… read them below or add one }
You did a great job, it looks beautiful, something like that would look great in a dining room too. I love your colors.
Thank you so much!
oh, I love this look!!! I think when the kids go back to school, this is my new project!!! you did a fab job!
Thanks so much Stefanie. :)
Oh yes, looks great all painted out! I think a lot of people have the textured walls. I don’t think it looks bad at all. And yes, I hear ya with the caulking. When I started painting all of my trim. I primed first then all the spots that needed caulking showed up. Caulk hides all! I did just notice some spots on my stairs that need some touching up though. I have to get out my gun!
Oh Anita I can only imagine all the caulking you had to do. That was a LOT of trim!!
Your wainscotting looks beautiful ! My entrace way is screaming for this right now;)
Haha thank you. :)
very very nice i like when i get into doing some re-dos in LR and BR i am thinking of doing this…..but that is in the furture, also i think your memory wall looks fantastic 1 of the nicest ones i seen i bet its the wainscoatting!!!
Aww thanks so much Chris!
That looks gorgeous! You did such a great job! I just can’t stop looking at your pictures of it – it just looks so elegant! :)
Ahh Amanda thank you so much!!
i am planning on doing this in my kitchen! you did a wonderful job and i do have to say i like it much better!! =)
Thanks Brandi, me too! :)
I seriously did not know that was drywall with molding! It faked me out! It looks awesome.
Oh wow that makes me feel good!! Thanks so much Stephanie. :)
Love, love, love your wall. It turned out gorgeous. Hugs, Marty
Aww thank you so much Marty!!
I LOVE this! Great job.
Thank you Allie! :)
well fine, you’re a genius. you deserve all the props and kudos and features you get for this project, b/c girl, it rocks! seriously great job, and you have me wondering where i can do this….
Oh wow, thank you so much!! You are so sweet. :)
Love it! You did a fabulous job. It really stands out now.
Thank you Lauren!!
This looks great! We have the textured walls too and I am not a fan. I would like to do something similiar to what you did. Thanks for the close up of the wall too, I was wondering if you had the “orange peel” or “knockdown” walls and you have knockdown like us. So I also asked you about the rainwashed and still haven’t started painting yet. But I shouldn’t have painted the sample in our laundry room because there is no natural light in there. We liked the color but thought we needed something lighter so we picked out a different color for our living room, but not we’re scared it’s too light/bright. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I wish I had money to hire a professional cuz I have no idea what I’m doing! I did spray paint our doorknobs though, so at least that is under my belt. I’ve still gotta do the hinges though…
Hi Eve, I’m not really sure what the orange peel or knockdown is. I’m assuming that is the “popcorn” texture? We don’t have that. Nothing flakes off or anything it’s not like that. It’s not really “raised” texture if that makes any sense.
Well at least you’ve made a little progress! I wish I had money to hire a professional too. :)
Here are some images of knockdown, which is what I think you have. I didn’t know what the stuff was either until I started wondering about painting it. If I ever get to pick and choose I am picking smooth walls for sure. http://www.google.com/images?q=knockdown+texture&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rlz=1R1GGGL_en___US352&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=lS9ITL-7BcP98AaMkqm_Dg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDYQsAQwAw&biw=1280&bih=600
Oh cool, thanks for the link! Glad to know what I have now. :)
love it!!! Thanks for showing us the details.
Thanks Judy!!
Looks fab!
Thanks Tanya. :)
I really liked it without the paint in your original post, but now that you have it painted-it definitely makes a statement! Much better! :)
Thank you! :)
Looks great! I liked it before, but think it looks even more fab now.
Ahh well good! Thank you!!
Love how this turned out. I have a room I’m dying to try fake wainscoting or B&B in one of my rooms.
Great job!
Thanks so much. Go for it, you’ll love it. :)
OH MY GOSH!!!! I LOVE IT!!! It looks great!
Well thank you Mattie! Thank you for your excitement!! :)
I think it looks great! Really finished off the look of the wall! Great job!
Thanks so much Michelle! :)
I love the 9pm inspiration! It seriously looks AWESOME! I really love it. p.s. I saw a comment about “orange peel”- that is what our builder also called the texture of our walls- similar to what an actual orange peel feels like. The super, super smooth wals are apparently also super, super expensive.
Thanks Megan! That’s good to know about the peel. Never heard of that. I wonder if that is what we have? Oh yes, the smooth walls are ultra expensive, but oh so luxurious! That will be a requirement in our new house if we ever build one one day. :)
Emily, I love this! I think it turned out great! I love how it looks now. It looked good before, but it looks fab now!
Thanks so much Allison! :)
There is no way I would rain on your parade, I think it looks great and I can’t find the unevenness your talking about, I think your over analyzing! Great Job!
Carol
Aw Carol thank you! It’s over there by the column. I just need to sand down the corner to get it smooth so I can get a straight line. :)
It looks great! I have been wanting to do this same things for awhile now but I cant convince my hubby that it would look fine with textured walls. Now I can show him yours and hopefully sway him!
PS: I think I had the same floorplan as you in my last house (that one was a rental). Really puts into perspective what a difference wainscoting makes when I remember how my old house looked and see how yours is now!
Thanks so much Emily! Hopefully your hubby will go for it!
Yes, I’m slowly but surely trying to add molding in this house…it had none. It should definitely be a “standard” feature. :)
WOW! Emily this looks fantastic! I need to try it.
Thank you for showing us how. ~Melissa :)
Thank you so much Melissa!!
Wow! it turned out great!!! It’s amazing what a few small changes can do to change the whole look. Great job!
Thanks so much Joy!
WOW! It’s looks amazing. Please move to NY so you can be my new best friend and do this for me!
Oh wow, I’d love to come to NY to be your new BFF! I love NY!!
I am so impressed!!! I still didn’t get it after you said paint…. I didn’t get it until you showed the close up picture!!! This looks great!! I love it
Thank you Holly!! I’m glad I tricked you! ;)
Looks great. I’ve been thinking of doing this in my home as well. I just love wainscoting and lots of architectural details…which my home has little of. Thanks for sharing. Take Care, Carrie
Thanks Carrie! Yea, ours had none when we moved in. I’m slowly but surely going to add it everywhere!
Love it!! I am having a CSN Giveway on my blog My Dream Canvas and would love for you to drop by.
Thanks Anu! :)
Hi there! Popping over from NFF! This looks amazing. I have textured walls too and have been thinking about doing something like this…inspiration for sure! I am a new follower.
Thank you so much Holly and thank you for visiting from NFF!!
It looks fabulous! I love that shade of brown, and all your pictures!
I am following you from New Friend Fridays!
http://starspinkworld.blogspot.com/
Thank you so much Star you’re so sweet!!
I’ll bet it was a lot of work with that textured wall, but it really looks great. I’ve been wanting to do this in my dining room for ages. Someday … ;-)
Thanks Melanie! It really wasn’t hard at all. The paint goes on easily. It’s not rough texture or anything. :)
I looooove this! Very nice! What section did you get your “foam framed boxes”? Is that the technical name for it in case I need to ask someone where it is?
Thanks Lori. They are in the molding section of Lowe’s, like where the chair rails and everything are. If you asked for the premade foam boxes, someone should know what you are talking about. :)
Thank you for the tutorial. I too have wanted that look without the added cost of putting up flat board ( I have textured walls also). I think your wall turned out great! Now I’m a bit closer to doing it myself.
Thanks so much Ann! Go for it!! :)
I think it lookis fabulous! I loved the before, but I think I like the after even more!!!! Beautiful!
Thank you so much Michelle! :)
Wow your a genius I live in a 1950′s beach cottage but am a renter and cannot paint knotty pine trying to think of creative ides to make rooms lighter without painting!
Thanks Denise!!
It looks fantastic! You did a great job :).
Thank you Beth! :)
WOW! And I thought it looked great before!! This looks really amazing! Great job!
Thank you so much Amy! :)
Love, Love the after! Looks GREAT!!
Thank you so much Tiffany!!
I LOOOOOVE this! Looks fantastic –Thanks for sharing!
Aww thank you Amy!!
That is what we have in our house- when our builder built our house, the trim guys put up the beauty boxes and then the painters came in and painted it white in the dining room. Then later we added more in the foyer and staircase- I watched them do the trim, it was really interesting. I blogged about it here: http://yoga-gal.blogspot.com/2009/10/trimapalooza.html.
New Follower from New Friend Fridays! :) Your wainscoting job is awesome. It is harder than it looks, isn’t it? All the caulking and painting in the ridges and what not. Good job!
Wow Katie what a beautiful home you have!!! I love your wainscoting and trim work. It’s gorgeous! Looking forward to reading more of your blog for sure. Your staircase is killer!
It wasn’t that hard, just a little time consuming with the caulking, but isn’t every project? haha. The paint goes on the wall very easily. The texture is not rough or anything, which is a good thing. It’d be better if they were completely smooth walls, but that costs a fortune.
I love it… we are doing faux in our sons room… but you are right no people should be over inspecting that!!!
Did you do the texture on your walls? or was that there already?
Hey I am your newest follower… glad I found you on a little lovely
haha right?!!
Oh no, we didn’t do that. If I had it my way our walls would have had no texture!
Thanks so much for following! :)
I love the wall! I have been thinking of doing this in my dining room! But can’t decide since it’s kind of a weird shape but since you did one wall you got me thinking!
Totally agree that new build homes lack character.
You can always make the boxes odd shapes too, to go with the shape of your wall.
Yea, such a bummer. Builders really need to read these blogs. :)
Thanx for posting this!! We are getting ready to put up picture molding in our dining room. I wanted to do board and batten but the hubster said it would look funny with our textured walls. I keep telling him that does not matter so picture framing was a compromise. I can not wait to get started! Yours looks great!
Thank you so much Pamela!! That’s so great you get to do the frames!! Yay for textured walls! :)
What an incredible idea, and so beautifully executed. Gotta set the computer down for a bit, walk around my house, and see where I can give this a try!
Aww thanks so much Jenn! I’m sure there are some spaces you could do it. :)
BTW, New follower from Tater Tots and Jello. Have a great weekend! Jenn
It looks marvelous! One of these days I will be brave enough to try it in my home!
Oh just do it!! It’ll make the world of difference. :)
This is just soooo clever! And I love your comment about people that inspect your walls so closely. lol.
Aw thanks Nina! I’m glad you enjoyed my humor.:)
It really looks great! And you’re right, people shouldn’t be inspecting your walls; that would just be weird =)
Haha yep! :) Thank you!
WOW! That looks amazing! I can’t wait to own my own home so I can decorate however I want. lol Great job!
Thanks so much Kelley! You’ll have a lot of fun when you get your home. :)
WHAT A SUPER FAB. FAKE! HA! BRILLIANT! jenn
Haha thanks Jenn! :)
Great job! Thanks for linking up to Mad Skills Monday!
Thanks Ginger. :)
LOVE IT!!! I absolutely love wainscoting and I think you did an outstanding job!!! :)
Thank you so much!!
I love what you did. I did the same thing in my family room and hallway. I did put up thin wood panel in my foyer with the picture framing on top. I gave up on it and contined the way you did. No one could tell the difference. My ceilings are very high so I put a sub rail under the chair rail. I love the color of your walls also. Fantastic!!
Thank you Debbie! I’m glad you did it like this too and like it. :)
This looks SO good! Good for you for being brave and tackling it! The end result sure paid off :)
Thanks so much Kari!
I love this idea! I’ve been looking for a new idea for our long entryway hall, I think I’ve found it!
Oh great, I’m glad!!
It looks fabulous!
Thanks Colette!
absolutely amazing how good that looks on a well, nearly $0 budget and no super woodworking skills required.
well, you deserve an invite:
come link your tutorial up with us so our readers can find you:
http://www.finecraftguild.com/diy-tutorial-linky-party-7/
(new party, every wednesday, findable from the home page)
we love to feature you,
Thanks so much Rose!
I love love love it!!! It is totally FABULOUS!
Thank you so much Val!!
I wanted to ask you what color is on your wall? The neutral brown color? What color and store did you purchase it at? Love it. The molding job you did looks amazing! :)
Looks Fab! cant wait to try it out myself. :) Was wondering… whats the color of the wall? It isnt Tobacco Road is it?
Hi Nicole, the color on that particular wall is “Baguette” from Sherwin Williams. The color underneath the bar is Tobacco Road, a custom color. :)
Thanks for linking up to the Mad Skills party!
Absolutely fabulous make over. One opinion…wrap the top trim piece around the corner to finish it off.
Great job! What a great way to get a killer look for an awesome price. I will def. be trying this. BTW…I joined your group! makingmudpie.blogspot.com
Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant. . . I will keep this one in mind for the future! ♥
It is beautiful. We have some of that “fake” wainscotting in our dining room and I love it. Thanks for linking to Transform Tuesday. I really enjoy your posts!
I LOVE the new look! We appreciate you joining us this week at Anything Related!
{Rebekah}
Oh I soooooo prefer the white, that looks amazing!!! I would never have known it wasn’t wainscotted if you hadn’t said so, it looks that good! Thanks for linking up! :)
Oh my, I totally thought you had put something up on the wall! I didn’t realize it was just paint! Wow! That is awesome!!! Great project!
This looks fantastic! I’m impressed! I’ve been thinking about doing this next to my stairs, but I’m afraid of all that cutting….I don’t think I’d get anything straight. ugh!
I am loving this idea ! My living room is in desperate need of something. I tried some color on the walls and it failed miserably I want to go back to a neutral on the walls but felt if I am gonna do that it DEFINITELY needs something special going on. I’m going to give this a shot !!
Hello! I just found your blog for the first time! I have been MAJORLY contemplating doing the same sort of ‘fake’ wainscotting in my living room but didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg! I love what you have done here – looks great. I’m a follower now.
WOW, I love it!! I love the later pic’s with the lower half painted white. I think the contrast of the 2 colors is great it really makes the white pop and draws more attention downward to the wainscoting.
That is brilliant! You’ve inspired me! My dad has a woodworking shop and I could get trim boxes like that any day of the week… then I’d just need a touch of paint and waa laa! The solution to my son’s nursery walls =D Thanks!!!
LOVE this! I’m bookmarking it, because I adore the look, and want to try something similar when we move into our new home. Thanks for the info. Really great.
I love it!! It looks fantastic! Will have to give that some thought for my place!
I’ve been wanting to do exactly this on my textured walls, but I’ve been too chicken. But seeing yours, I think you’ve given me just the confidence I need. Let us know what you end up doing on the corner transition. Thanks for sharing! It’s glorious!! Rebecca
I like it so much better now. I think I need to do this somewhere in my house – but I haven’t figured out where yet. You did a great job. The caulking definitely made it look better. Love it.
Yeah! Thanks for sharing. I have been trying to decide if I should buy the wallpaper that looks like bead board. But one of the sites showed that it was easy to mark up, and I didn’t want to risk that with 5 kids! This is a beautiful, simple “fake out”!
that is fabulous! i want to do something like that in my hallway, cuz hallways r boring! you did a great job! visiting from finding fabulous’ link party!
I love it! It looks great!
Thanks for linking up!
~Liz
I love it!
This looks so great! Thanks for sharing!
It looks great. I love Wainscoting!
What is the paint/paint color that you used in the hallway. I’m trying to find the perfect paint color and it looks just like what I want! Thanks!
This looks fabulous! My best friend just bought a house and was asking me about how she could do this and I had a similar idea. This one looks much easier so we’ll have to try it out. Thanks!!
Wow! This is absolutely amazing!
You’ve done a fantastic job!
Thanks for sharing this! I enjoy your blog and plan to follow.
Come and visit :)
With all my heart..Deborah
This is going to be my “first project” when we moved in to our new home! You have the best idea, ever! I have been looking for funds to have that wainscot and almost gave up (because most of our money will be funneled to the purchase). Thank you very much for this entry.
i love this idea and i always wondered how i could get the look for cheaper!! this is awesome, if your starting from scratch i think it would be easiest to just paint the wall first then apply the moldings??
LOVE this idea!!!!! LOVE LOVE!
I think my comment went into cyber space….
This is awesome!!!
Thanks for sharing!
Technical question!
It appears you used semi-gloss on both the the “wall” and the “trim” part of the “wainscot.” Is that what you would recommend?
I assume they should both be semi-gloss because if it were “real” wainscoting it would all be semi-gloss. However, I wondered if the semi-gloss doesn’t emphasize the “texture” on the drywall part of the wainscot? They always say to use flat to de-emphasize imperfections…
I suppose it would be weird to use flat and semi together and have it all look like one.
Do you understand what I’m asking?
Wow, this is just what I wanted to see! I have textured walls just like yours, and I was thinking I’d have to sand them down before doing faux board and batten. Thanks for sharing!
Love the after! :)
Emily, I have been saving this link to feature forever now! I am featuring this on CrazyDomestic.com tomorrow (Thursday)
Thanks for the great idea!
-Steph
I liked your before… You know, before. But now that I’ve seen the after it looks like it was always meant to be that way. It looks amazing!
I LOVE it! Our house has NO molding and it seems so plain. I’m trying to convince my hubby that it will look fine with our textured walls. I will have to show him your pictures! I love your room with the board and batten too. The ledge is fantastic. I really want to run to Home Depot right now! :)
This is SO beautiful! I’m just getting ready to start redoing my foyer….I want this look! I don’t know if it’d work well, though, because all of the trim in the foyer (the whole house for that matter) is natural wood color and I’d hate to have one room with white trim but….man, this is so pretty!
I was all set to send hubby to get supplies for wainscotting – but I happened upon this post of yours and I thought I CAN DO THAT MYSELF!! I like it better with the knockdown texture behind and between the frames. How easy is that – I never thought of it. Thanks!!! I will get started on this next week. (:
Love the wainscot you did to your walls! In fact, I am featuring them at Extreme Personal Measures this morning.
Denise
Extreme Personal Measures
Lookeee!
http://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/2011/04/wainscotting-love.html
Your wall looks awesome! I am in the process of doing that to my dinin room wall. We are remodeling kitchen/dining area. My walls are Behr Wine Barrel. Hubs painted the bottom snow cloud (white) and I almost fainted last night! Started having second thoughts bout doint the wainscoting. I’m hoping it will be done tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed that i like it. If not, back to painting again! Where did you get your shelves? Love them!
Cool informational internet site!!! I have to say which I am completely adoring it. ;-) I’ve just signed up to your site RSS feed also and I’ll come again again. ;-) thank
Superb site you have here but I was curious if you knew of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics discussed in this article? I’d really like to be a part of community where I can get advice from other experienced individuals that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Cheers!
OH! I am SO doing this!
You inspired me to continue my fake wainscoting in my upstairs hallway! Thanks so much. Check it out if you have a chance. Love your blog!
carnoustielane.blogspot.com
I absolutely love the tan color on your wall! Would you care to tell me what color it is?? I have been trying to get the perfect tan color in my living room for years!!
Hey very nice website, the content is written in a simple yet very effective manner so even the newbie could understand and put these great tips to practise, I will be coming back to check out your new post, thanks again.
what color paint is that? i like the color! want to use that in my bedroom!
I love the look of this so much that I used it for inspiration in our hallway. I just posted about it, and I of course linked back to you. Thanks Emily!!
http://www.creationsbykara.com/2012/01/diy-hallway-wainscoting-reveal.html
Love this! Exactly the idea I am looking to steal…um, inspire me. Do happen to have pictures that shows the different moldings you layered together. Building up moldings is such a challenge for me.
Tnx for sharing!
Love it! Thanks for sharing info about the pre-made boxes! What a time saver! I’m going to try my dining room. I’m a little stuck on how far apart to space the boxes. I guess what ever looks best and fits the wallet. :-) Great job – LOVE the white wainscotting!
THANK YOU so VERY much for sharing this! I HATE my diningroom and wanted to add wainscot paneling but do not have the money to do so…however, I have all the materials you used on hand and will only have to buy the molding! This is seriously one of the MOST CREATIVE ideas I’ve seen…Not only will I be doing the diningroom, but I am going to do the majority of the house! Thank you again and GREAT JOB! YOUR WALL LOOKS AMAZING!
Hi, I am thinking of doing this technique on the front of the island in my kitchen that faces my livingroom just to add some detail. How did you secure the boards to the wall? Did you nail them or glue them?
Found you through Google images – because we’re planning on “faking” wainscoting, ourselves, and I wanted to see if I like it. Yes! So thanks for posting this!
I LOVE your wainscoting and my husband and i were looking online for inexpensive ways to create this in our house and we came across yours. but now we just wqnt to know how you did it step by step. where did you get those square wood fames for the middle part? please help we are planning to do this project this week.
selena, did you find out if you nail or glue the frames? also, where to get the frames already made?
I know you can get the frames already made at home depot/lowes in the moulding department.. they are on the bottom shelf so they weren’t easy to find in my local home depot. I think they run about 7 bucks and up (depending on the size you are using).
Hi
Great job
can i ask you the name of the paints you used
brilliant
Txs
Paul
I’ve wanted to do this for SO long in my hallway! It looks great.
It looks amazing!!! I am going to be doing this starting tomorrow! I have a question though..what was the spacing you used between the squares, between the chair rail and the squares, and the base boards?
What is the color and brand of paint on your wall? Love it!
Can you please share what color your yellow wall is? And where you purchased that paint I just love it! I love your whole project thank you for sharing it!!! Brandi
I am going to do the faux wainscoting in my bathroom. Did you use wood or PVC moulding? I understand that PVC is cheaper and also recommended for bathrooms because it is waterproof, but I don’t want it to look cheap. Yours looks wonderful! Is it wood or PVC? Thank you!
{ 6 trackbacks }