Why wainscot at all?

Few reasons anymore, at least from a functional standpoint. For a few centuries, wainscot has been used to line the lower half of walls to protect them against dampness and minor flooding. Wainscot, especially when capped with chair railing, has always been useful in strengthening that bottom half of the wall against chair bumps and other dings that may puncture plaster and drywall.

As a rigid material often painted with semi-gloss paint, wainscot is easy to spray down with cleaners and wipe off.

See Linda's Video About Colored Wainscot

Wainscot Looks Great As Well

From a decorative standpoint, though, wainscot visually breaks up large wall expanses and, in the case of 10' or higher walls, it gives a room a more "human" dimension. Additionally, it gives you the chance to use two different colors in your room.

The Ubiquitous White Wainscot

Unfortunately, wainscot tends to be painted just one color: white (Picture #1). White wainscot does look terrific. If you're trying for a traditional or even a "beachy" feeling, white wainscot looks very clean and fresh.

Try New Materials

Waitscot usually implies beadboard--or at least wood of some type. But you can upset the norm and try something a bit different by choosing unconventional materials. "In one case," says Linda Castle of Decorated Designs, "we actually used the tile, and this is a slate tile. It’s brought up coming right off the slate floor." (Picture #2)

Bright New Colors

Castle tells that "In another one of our installations we did a creamy colored paint and over that paint we did a glaze with a beautiful green color above." (Picture #3)

The Formal Treatment

Another direction to take your colored wainscot is formal. "We’ve got some other examples here where we’ve done it in more of a chocolate paint and all the way to using a stain. Stain is going to give a more formal treatment, a little more decorative, a little dressier." (Picture #4).