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DIY Wainscot project before&after

Amy
last year

While I badly wanted to replace a tub and vanity and really re-do the very boring bathroom in our new house, budget wouldn't allow. So we decided to do a cheap DIY wainscot project instead. Thought I'd share.


Bathroom before:




Mid-way:


Bathroom After. Paint is SW 'Expressive Plum' and BM 'Chantilly Lace'



(I'll actually be swapping out that shower curtain for one i have that is mostly black/white/gray)



Comments (26)

  • HU-954817888
    last year

    Looks great!

    Amy thanked HU-954817888
  • remodeling1840
    last year

    Sometimes a tight budget really forces creativity! Great job!

    Amy thanked remodeling1840
  • RedRyder
    last year

    Well done! I am thinking of doing wainscoting in a powder room and you gave me courage to just do it! Love the plum colored walls.

    Amy thanked RedRyder
  • Julie R.
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Looks great! And hope you love Expressive Plum as much as I do! I used it in my powder room.

    Amy thanked Julie R.
  • catbuilder
    last year

    Keep the curtain but change the rug.

    Amy thanked catbuilder
  • kculbers
    last year

    Beautiful!! Well done.

    Amy thanked kculbers
  • Connecticut Yankeeeee
    last year

    Very nice job! I, too, love that plum. You can DIY my bathroom anytime 😊!

    Amy thanked Connecticut Yankeeeee
  • arcy_gw
    last year

    Love it! We did ours in subway tile and have been soooo happy!

    Amy thanked arcy_gw
  • ShadyWillowFarm
    last year

    Cute! Love the color, and agree you can kick it up a notch with floor coverings and linens.

    Amy thanked ShadyWillowFarm
  • nuppal
    last year

    Looks great! Now I think I’ll pull the trigger on mine! How high did you go for the wainscoting? Can you show a pic of how you handled behind the toilet? Thanks!

    Amy thanked nuppal
  • nuppal
    last year

    Also a pic of the towel bar side, thank you!

    Amy thanked nuppal
  • Amy
    Original Author
    last year
    last modified: last year

    @nuppal - sure. The height took me forever to figure out. Internet says rule of thumb is 1/3 height of ceiling, but for this room that put it at level with the top of the vanity. I used painters tape to get a feel for it, and it just seemed like it would look strange with that back piece of the vanity that goes up the wall a bit. The other common height per the internet seemed to be 1/2 up the wall, but that was too much for me.

    So I just moved the painters tape around a bit until I thought it looked good in the room. We ended up putting the bottom of the chairrail 38" from the top of the baseboard. I thought it looked good in the room and with the vanity, and it gave us a very nice 30" height to the squares and 4" between both top and bottom. We also did a 4" space left and right between the square and to the edges, which decided the width of the squares.

    I also decided not to put a square behind the toilet. We started in that direction, and I know that it is the norm, but once we had it there I just hated it. It looked to me like we were framing the toilet in a weird way. So I took that square off and we just painted behind the toilet.

    The towel bar isn't something you'll likely want to copy, although to be honest I like how this one looks more than I thought I would. We're out of town most of the year and rent the house out while we are away. I had to go with a towel bar that could accomodate a lot of towels and a lot of abuse. After having to patch holes in the wall after even the best anchors were pulled about in another house I used to rent out, I went with a vertical towel bar that I could install purely into a stud (why on earth they don't do more 16" widths to things like towel bars I will never understand...).

    This was my first shot at anything like this, and the other experts on here can very likely input how our project could have been tweaked to be better as you launch into your own!












  • Iris Wood
    last year

    Do you have any tips on learning how to do this project?!

    Amy thanked Iris Wood
  • jck910
    last year

    Very nice! Love the plum walls

    Amy thanked jck910
  • Amy
    Original Author
    last year
    last modified: last year

    @Iris Wood, given that I've never done anything like this in my life, it was surprisingly easy. Cutting the corners of the decorative moulding strips to meet properly and form the squares would have been the biggest problem, but I enlisted my dad and his miter saw and with the proper saw even that was really easy. He also gave me the great tip to use two 4" wide pieces of lumber cut from a 2x4 to sit against the baseboard and side, then to just sit the decorative moulding strips up against those wood pieces in order to align the first bottom corner of each square. Once those are in place the other two pieces of the square just fit in, and the entire thing goes very smoothly with perfect 4" spacing between squares and below them thanks to using those boards for alignment. Otherwise, it was just liquid nails, a nail gun, and caulking at the end. This is one of those things where watching the youtube videos is truly enough.

  • PRO
    Norwood Architects
    last year

    It does look better for sure.

    Amy thanked Norwood Architects
  • PRO
    PRM Custom Builders
    last year

    Looks fantastic and professionally done!

    Amy thanked PRM Custom Builders
  • PRO
    FrameMyMirror
    last year

    Great job! Love the added color

    Amy thanked FrameMyMirror
  • enajasereht
    last year

    much better!

    Amy thanked enajasereht
  • PRO
    OTM Designs & Remodeling Inc.
    last year

    Looks great !

    Amy thanked OTM Designs & Remodeling Inc.
  • Jeanne Cardwell
    last year

    Get some Grout Renew to soften up those dark grout lines. You will be amazed at the difference.
    PS. Good job!

    Amy thanked Jeanne Cardwell
  • felizlady
    last year

    Great shower curtain! Play it up with a few accessories. I like framed art under glass for a bathroom to protect it from moisture. Do you have an exhaust fan to expel moisture out of the bathroom through the roof?

    Amy thanked felizlady
  • sealedesign
    last year

    Amazing. So little money for such a nice reno.

    Amy thanked sealedesign
  • Jamie T. Miller
    last year

    ooo wow! good change!

  • K Laurence
    last year

    DepDepending upon how old what color the grour was,, my grout lines looked similar, i renewed them with a grout brush & a paste made from white vinegar & baking soda. Time consuming but looked like new after.