Yes, you read that correct, I don’t own a saw and I didn’t need one for this project! As soon as we decided to begin working on our dining room, I said to my husband, we MUST put some wainscoting in here! I love love love wainscoting, if I could have it throughout my entire home without having it look like complete overkill, trust me, it would be everywhere! I love that it can be as simple or as intricate as you want and it completely changes and refreshes a room!
What is wainscoting?
As per definition, wainscoting is simply wood paneling that lines the lower part of the walls of a room. I chose to do a traditional picture frame wainscoting because 1. it looked rather simple and this was a DIY project, unbind 2, I liked that it still allowed me to have a room that wasn’t too busy. Some of the other panel patterns I have found were too intricate for my taste, this was a win win for me 😉
What makes this doable without a saw?
Simply put, these frame pieces that you see are customarily built by measuring a whole lot and cutting one long piece of paneling into 4 smaller pieces before gluing and nailing them together to create the frame shape. This seemed too tedious a task but my husband happily obliged and we headed out to my favorite store as of late, Lowes. We picked up the moulding trim and were set to have them cut by the self-cut station right here in the aisle.
I then came across these! ⬆️ These are panel frames that are already assembled out of a hard foam material and only require you to measure for spacing and adhere them to the wall! 😲 I couldn’t believe this could be a real thing, would I really be able to pull off my entire dining room using only two sizes of this moulding (which is all it came in)?! Was I about to surprise my husband and tell him when he rounded the corner into my aisle that I found something that was about to make his life a whole lot easier?! Why YES I was! 😊 I wasn’t prepared with exact measurements so I went ahead and bought a bunch of each of the two sizes (less of the smaller size) and headed home to get to work.
First things first, we needed to take off that awful chair rail that was left by the previous owners. As you can see, we attempted to salvage it by priming it for painting and that was a huge fail. Off it went! This was super easy by using a putty knife to wedge behind the moulding and slowly and carefully as to not damage the wall behind it, prying it off. After some careful maneuvering it pops right off!
Once it’s removed, my husband said he measured the entire length of the wall and then did some math based on the sizes of the frames we bought. I want to stress to you to get it as close as possible to uniform when it comes to the space between each frame on the sides and on the top and bottom, BUT this isn’t supposed to be rocket science. If some are a little closer than others, no one will notice, I promise! We had to rearrange some measurements at times just to make them fit evenly on our walls, we all have to compromise somewhere when it comes to home renovation 😉
These panels can NOT be secured using a nail gun!! The nails will shoot right through the foam and will literally hold nothing. This threw us a curve ball because we hadn’t thought of this beforehand but it’s an easy fix by using some wood glue to secure them on the wall and while that dries, simply place one or two small nails to secure them to the wall. Once they are dried in place the next day, simply pull the nails out and add some caulking to smooth over the nail holes, it comes out seamless! Follow this by using white caulk to seal the perimeter of the frame.
As for the top chair rail pieces that we had to replace, you know the ones we took out at the top of this post? We bought a pre-primed piece of moulding that was BY CHANCE, the EXACT size we needed for this room. My husband simply had to have the ends cut on a 45 degree angle so that they lined up in the corners well. I highly recommend using the self-service cutting stations at your local hardware store! (Sorry for no photos of this process, I was at work while my husband was doing this and of course he “forgot” to take photos of the most important parts 🙄) lol
Before and After!
This is a before of my dining room. In just two short months, we’ve changed the paint, floors, and moulding…we are on a roll hear people! 🙌🏽
Here is the after 😍 I can not be more pleased with how this project turned out. It has changed the room completely and now I really feel like it reflects my personal home style. I am slowly learning that it is important to tackle one room at a time when you are renovating a home, that simple things like paint can entirely change the whole vibe of a room, and that you can get anything done with a little research, patience, and determination 💪🏽
Room Details:
Paint color: Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter (top half) The bottom half was recommenced to us at the paint store and I forget the name!
Pre-Made Frames: Purchased at Lowe’s HERE
Chair Rail Moulding: Purchased at Lowe’s HERE
Onto the next house project 🔨,
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