My wainscoting is standard 4 ft. tall. I actually wanted it taller in the bedroom but DH said money was tight and it would be less waste to go with the 4ft. so I did. In making my decision to go tall I learned from another poster that tall wainscoting can bring a ceiling down and make a room smaller/cozier. That's why I was going to put it in the largest bedroom as it could handle it and it had 10ft. ceilings.

I love wainscoting, any height, is fine with me. I love it on the ceiling and the walls.

As far as the outside corner, I can ask DH to tell me how that is done. For the wall of the outside corner you can use an end piece as is pictured to the right of my first photo. You buy it in 6 or 8ft. length and cut it to your specifications. Someoone may have a photo for you to see.

Here are my rooms. The baths are PVC bought from HD. The PVC comes in 8ft. lengths. The bedroom is actual pine beadboard.

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I love, love, love wainscoting. If you google "wainscoting" and hit "images" you'll see lots of pretty pictures. There are also pics in our Gallery.

You may find this page interesting... http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080513123533AAOiPka.

I'm doing wainscoting myself right now (just taking a break for dinner). I've done the paneling kind before and the tricky part with that is cutting the holes for all your electrical outlets. This time I'm doing something that looks more like this:

http://www.elitetrimworks.com/home.php?cat=50

It will be a lot easier to dodge around electrical outlets this way, and easier to just handle smaller pieces of lumber. To hold expenses down, I'm using my existing baseboards. I'm putting up a top chair rail type of trim. Everything else will be Masonite. They did the table saw type ripping cuts for me at the hardware store, so all I have to do is adjust height of the uprights and length of the top and bottom boards. Uprights and top boards are 3". Bottom board is 5". The Masonite is saving me tons of money.

The PO of this house was a carpenter. He had chair rail up in the DR. He ended it at the corner by running a floor-to-ceiling little corner piece. It covers about 1/2" of each wall as it goes around the corner.

Also interesting, I have seen the corners where you are continuing to do the wainscoting left with no uprights... IOW, only the top and bottom treatments went around the corner. That would be easier too I think in some cases (certainly where my stair railing ends right near the top).

I'm doing my staircase right now. The angles are really tricky. I made things meet perfectly, but then one board stuck out more than the other, which left me scratching my head.

I finally googled and learned the trick. Where you have tricky angles to cut, make a paper copy of the boards, exact same width. I taped those papers on the wall with painter's tape. Then make a line from the inside to the outside corner where the two paper "boards" cross. I'm using those papers for patterns now at my saw and I'm about to find out if that works well. I think going down the hall is going to be easy compared to the staircase.

Hope that helped. My advice... avoid staircases -- lol!

You can find a lot of good info on the web if you snoop around. BTW, the trick with using the paper worked perfectly for some really bizarre, unknown angles. :-)

Persnickity - I love your wainscoting, it certainly is less $$$ to just use trim and paint instead of panels. But does anybody have an idea of how it would look with all stained trim in the room? I was thinking of staining the trim boards so it would look more like your "unfinished" photo, but painting the interior "panels" an accent color different from the tops of the walls? Maybe some nice wallpaper in the panels? Or should I just bit the bullet and buy plywood veneer panels to put up on the walls, then trim over them and stain the whole thing?

I've also been researching wainscotting or judges panels, the stained not painted version. I was given some raised panels (stain grade), so I only need the rails and stiles. Our house has all stained trim, so that's why I want to do stained waincotting. The problem with us comes with mixing wood colors. I have a cherry stain colored fireplace mantel and the kitchen cabinets (open floor plan) in the next room are a natural alder with a glaze finish. There is a lot of wood in the area and I don't know how to tie it all together. This room I'm wanting to do is more of a library/sitting area, so that's why I thought the panels would look good in there.

I'm very encouraged by oceanna's progress. I have a lot of DIY experience, but not much with wood working other than trim. Oceanna, keep us posted. I'd love to see what you have done :-)

Here are some pictures of the high wainscoting we just did in our dining room. I just measured and it is about 59.5" and we have 8 foot ceilings. Like persnickity, we had molding and trim applied to the sheetrocked walls to save money. I love it.

This is how we ended it to transition to the cabinetry.

Donna,
I LOVE your wainscoting. Of course I also love the idea of saving money by using the moulding on the walls. Did you do the project yourself?

9 foot ceilings-wainscotting to about 58" from the floor.

trk65, lovely wainscoting. Your ceiling is beautiful too.

nicolelynn, thank you. I'm sorry to say we did not do it ourselves. I wish I was talented enough to do a project like that, then we would have REALLY saved some money. The carpenter who installed our cabinets did it for us.

Everybody's projects look so beautiful. White wainscoting has a way of setting off whatever color you use above it so beautifully. It makes a room look so much better.

LaFonda, thanks. It's coming along, with interruptions, but surely. I'm so excited about it. I will post pics when I'm all done.

persnicketydesigns and donna214 - love your wainscoating and paint colors. The contrast between the white and the walls is beautiful. If you don't mind me asking I'd love to know what they are.

My husband and I installed our wainscoting in an unused back hall of our 1910 house. Although it is not a large space, the wainscoting makes it feel "finished" and I use the area for painting and crafts.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

Thank you arapaho. The wall color is BM Potters Clay, the trim is BM Cream Fleece and the ceiling is BM Monroe Bisque.

brutuses an donna, WOWWW---your homes are both so beautifully and tastefully finished! I love the wainscoting in both!

Thanks, arapaho! Our trim is painted SW Alabaster and the walls are SW Baguette.

All of the pictures above are beautiful! Love the different wainscoting.

We recently put a board and batten look up in the living room, using the sheetrock as the back of the 'panel'. We used the mantle as a guide, but it's around 2/3's up.

Here's the wainscoting project I did a couple of years ago in our teeny tiny dining room. I think the rule on wainscoting height is your preference of covering either the lower 1/3 or 2/3 of the wall. Obviously, mine covers 2/3 of the wall space and I love it! The trim color is SW Bright White and the wall is SW Connected Grey.

Donna, would you mind sharing your cabinet info? It looks very similar to a product I am considering for my basement kitchen cabs. I am looking at Decora maple Galleria in a coffe glaze. Yours look VERY similar. I also adore the paint color with it!

kmcg85, the cabinetry is Greenfield maple Amberglo with a black glaze. After much agonizing over the paint color, we are very happy with how it turned out.

Donna

Thanks Donna! Your paint color is great inspiration for me!

parsonse, I like your simple ORB light fixure! (or is that a deep antique bronze?) Do you remember the brand and model? It has a downlight too, which is something IÂm looking for. Hard to find! Thanks!

All these rooms are so impressive! I like the deep wall colors: by using it with white wainscoting it doesnÂt make the room too dark?

linnea56,

Thanks for the compliment! The light fixture is actually a Lowe's brand - Portfolio - from the Libbe collection and was only $150 or so. It's an antique brass finish and I've been very pleased with how it works in the room.

Thanks everyone for your responses! So many great examples to choose from!

BTW...parsonse... I happen to have that EXACT same light in my breakfast nook!! I love it too! Great taste! ;)

My poor man's wainscoting is coming along. I have the upper staircase finished. There are a couple of boards there I *might* want to replace, not sure if it's wise to try.

I tried to take a picture with my new Sony digital camera, but every time I hit the little button and the lens pops out, it waits about 1 second and then sucks back in. What's with that? Anyone know?

ALL your Tall wainscoting is/are Fabulous! What a beautiful elegant dramatic look!

Oceanna.... battery? Or did you check that already?

"but every time I hit the little button and the lens pops out, it waits about 1 second and then sucks back in."

probably means the battery does not have enough juice to take the picture. The cameras are designed so there is always enough power reserved to close it down and shut the lens opening. Mine does that when it is low. Try different batteries: if it does the same thing, take it back.

Thanks, parsonse! Amazed that light is from Lowe's. I need to go there! Of course, seeing lights in a beautiful context instead of just in the store really helps too.

Creekylis and Linnea, thanks. My previous camera just wouldn't pop the lens out if the batt was too low. Live and learn, I'll try recharging the batt. This camera is new to me so I'm still trying to figure the beastie out.

Parsonse, I'll join the others in telling you your room is very pretty, and the light fixture is just right. Your panelling job is gorgeous! It looks like it's always been there. I've looked at that style before (drawings) and wondered how it would look made up. Did you also beef up the moulding around your door?

Thanks for the compliments, oceanna. We did remove the trim around the doors and added 1x4 moulding. The trim is also made up if 1x4's with a 1x6 for the top and bottom horizontal rails. I had never done such a project and it took a long time to complete but we're very pleased with the outcome. Hubby was a little concerned that it might be too busy for the room - it's only 12 x 11 - but I think it's great! Hubby didn't help as he 'doesn't do' home reno projects so he didn't really get a say anyway!!!

Hi Donna,

I'd love to get the information on your chandelier, it's just what we need in our dining room!

Thank you!

Denise

Hi Denise,
Sorry it took so long to reply to you. The chandelier in the dining room is made by Hubbardton Forge. The model is Trellis model # 10-3063-03 with water glass domes. Hope this helps.

It certainly does, thank you so much!

Denise

I LOVE all of these pictures. We too are wanting to lay wood on the sheetrock to make our own wainscoting. But some of you said you layered trim boards. What boards did you use? I love the look of it. Also, when you painted them, did you spray it or do it with brushes and little rollers??

THANK YOU!