November 2019

Hello friends! Since I gave you a sneak peek earlier this week of the wall in our living room, I couldn’t wait a day longer to take you further on into our Living Room. I shared a little glimpse of this space last week on Instagram and a reader commented that I should be calling it our  “glam wall” instead of a Wainscoting Wall. I guess wainscoting can sound a little design -ish. I wanted this space to be bright and spacious but still functional for our family; and yes functional can be glamours.  Now here’s a little glimpse of our “in progress” – later we will incorporate the furniture and decor. But for now go see this awesome DIY.

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One of our biggest challenge was its rectangular shape. I wanted the space to remain big and open but still have defined spaces for the reading nook area and the living room.  The Wainscoting on our focal wall enhanced the living space and brought a touch of architectural element that was much needed in this space.  By painting the wall white it amplified the space, it also tricked the eye into seeing a continued wall into the raised ceiling. Here is a look at how we build this stunning wall and what you can do to recreate it in your own home.

ABOUT THIS LOOK:

HOW TO INSTALL WAINSCOTING ON WALL:

1. REPLACE THE BASEBOARDS:

The first step to installing The Wainscoting Wall was to remove the old existing baseboards. I upgraded to the 6 inch, thick baseboards – I feel like it updated the space and brought it a modern feel to the living room wall.

2. SKETCH AND MEASURE:

 Once the baseboards were installed, we measured the space and made a sketch of what we wanted to wall to look like. Measure your space and calculate how much materials you need. Below is our sketch and a list of materials we used.

3.GATHER MATERIALS FOR THIS PROJECT:

First, here is a list of the items that you will need for a Wainscoting Wall. I will include affiliate links, which means that I make a small commission from the sale of this item, at no additional cost to you.

4. PREPARE THE WALL:

Next, we removed the existing molding that was on the walls.  Sanded down any imperfection and removed any nails. We wanted to make sure we had a prepared wall for our project.

4. CUT AND INSTALL:

We measured carefully and cut the  1 x 4s into long and shorter pieces. Measurements shown below.  Once we had all of the cut pieces, it was time to install them. This process was not very difficult but it does take careful attention, you want to make sure that everything lines up; the level will become your best friend.

• Add liquid nails to your board.
• Verify that your piece is leveled.
• Hold the piece in place and hammer in a finishing nail.
• Do this to all five pieces.
• Then proceed to the next section.
• Repeat this until you are done.

5. THE DETAILS:

Adding small wall molding to finish off the boards will make your wainscoting look finished and polished. I used 3/4 in. molding and painted them white afterwards.

We absolutely loved this finished wall. It is bright and beautiful. It one of the first things that catch you eye as you walk into this space. I hope that you enjoy this project. Please comment below with any questions and I will make sure to keep answering them in a timely manner.