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Beadboard vs. Subway Tile

15 years ago

For our classic Cape near the ocean, we're debating beadboard vs. tile for the lower walls in our bathroom. One issue that has come up is the ease of keeping the beadboard clean.

Thoughts?

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november

15 years ago

We just installed the PVC beadboard on the lower half of our bathroom walls and LOVE it! And we also have subway tile in our shower, which we also love.

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Comments (11)

blondelle
15 years ago
If you like the look, you can get beadboard in a glazed tile. Daltile makes a nice one.
oruboris
15 years ago
Gotta say, the appeal of subway tiles escape me. Tile just doesn't get any more plain, other than the fact that it's oblong. Yet it's easily the hotest trend in tile.

There's nothing really wrong with it-- I just find it boring as heck, at least in the standard white.

Guess this is a vote for beadboard...
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Pepperidge farm--are you talking about the page with the shower on the left and the dark vanity and mirror on the right? If so, yes I see what you are talking about after looking more closely and that does look nice. That is what you mean about "running bond" pattern? My ceilings are 9 ft. BTW. The project is already so ridiculous as far as cost, what's a few more bucks. The custom Alantra base is costing me over 2K. Couldn't find anyone around here that I trusted to build a non-leaky shower pan out of tile. Not to mention I have already paid a man to build the shower, tear it out, rebuild it, have it leak again and then not return my phone calls for over a year. So now I am paying again to start from scratch. Okay now I will stop whining. Thanks for the advice. Happy Valentines Day all!
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Comments (4)
If you have good ventilation and no small children who might decide to decorate with crayon, beadboard should be fine. We (our contractor, actually) put in beadboard when we redid our front bathroom four years ago and there has been no problem whatsoever with it.The BR originally had black and white tile that was cracked, chipped, and stained, an awful mess. When the tile came off, so did whatever was behind it, so those parts of the walls were down to the studs. I don't recall what our GC used behind the beadboard, but it is very solid and there hasn't been a trace of mold. We painted it a white that matched the Daltile that went up on the tub surround. To clean it, I use one of those mild kitchen and BR sprays - like Windex - and a slightly damp sponge every so often, but really, upkeep is no problem. For ventilation we have a jalousie window over the sink (original to the house, from 1933, not code today, but we love that window). I leave the window slightly ajar most days and that's all the ventilation we need. I think white beadboard would look lovely with your floral wallpaper, very cottage-y, one of my favorite looks. You could pick up the colors of the wallpaper in your towels and an accessory or two.
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Comments (3)
We just recently finished our bathroom and I'll be posting pics soon. We wanted a "white" bathroom with subway tile wainscoating. We love the look of marble, but we wanted something that was warmer and a little less formal looking. We decided to use a wood countertop and travertine floors. We also used a slightly off-white subway matte finish subway tile to "soften" the look and feel. We used larger format tiles on the floor and a herringbone pattern on the shower floor. Picking the right tile was difficult, but we found an "ancient" tumble travertine that is perfect for the look we wanted. We are extremely pleased with the finished look. It achieves the clean, fresh feeling of a white bathroom, but its also warm, soothing, and has a subtle warm energy to it. I'll probably be posting finished pics this coming week if you're interested in seeing it.
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Will the beadboard be used as a bsplash on one set of cabinets only? If you are looking for an unfitted hutch type of effect, I would use the beadboard backing between the shelves in the wall cabinets (they would be open cabinets obviously, lol) and then continue it down for the bsplash. Your idea reminds me of catmom's contemporary space in a sense. The pronounced horizontal lines of her cabinetry run combined with the very vertical lines of her bsplash creates a gorgeous juxposition. I think you would get a look especially perfect for a victorian space.
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bluekitobsessed
15 years ago
KA, do you mean that beadboard is easier to keep clean because it doesn't have grout or that tile is easier to clean because it doesn't have those little grooves? I'm wrestling with the same question so I'm following this thread. FWIW, I'm leaning toward beadboard now because I'm DIY'ing as much as possible and figure that it's easier and less expensive.
tken
15 years ago
We're still in the planning stages, and are thinking about the same issue for our master bathroom. Ultimately, we may decide on beadboard due to the material and installation costs. We will probably go with the PVC (Azek) beadboard. I think that would be eaiser to keep clean than the standard wood beadboard, although I'm not certain.
kawfeeaddict
Original Author
15 years ago
Blue, The thought here is the beadboard would be harder to keep clean due to the deep grooves.

Tken, I was also thinking the Azek beadboard would be easier to keep clean. Keep us posted with your thought process!
pupwhipped
15 years ago
Where do you get the PVC beadboard?

This is unrelated to this post but get this...hubby met with a painter today to get quote on interior painting. We put wood beadboard individual boards in our little guest bedroom floor to ceiling. Hubby asked painter what was the process to paint the beadboard. He said, "well, first we will have to caulk all these lines." What the heck???
november
15 years ago
pupwhipped, I'm crying with laughter! That's hilarious! Our contractor got the pvc stuff at Lowe's or Home Depot, I forget which.
oruboris
15 years ago
Are there gaps between the boards? Mine went up like tongue and groove, so I'm guessing no, but I'm hoping yes.

Otherwise, your painter has been breathing way too many fumes.
pupwhipped
15 years ago
Sorry, been out-of-town with no Internet. No gaps as far as I can see. It is tongue and groove and our contractor put them in tight. We did do some caulking already on some of the knot holes. We could do a little more of that. I don't know what the heck this painter dude was talking about. It's beadboard for gosh sake...I paid for those lines!
Angela Foster
2 years ago
5 years later and I’m contemplating the same thing. Any input?

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