New baby nursery makeover. How to install wood wainscoting

I loved doing this wood wainscoting project on Theresa’s nursery makeover. It’s like the ultimate carpentry-DIY-home improvement project. Fun, fast, easy—and I never say that unless it’s uber true—and awesome looking. Here’s the highlight reel.

Tools and supplies

Your inner carpenter will love this because the main tools are: miter saw, table saw, and nailer. You also need a level and some 1×4 wood trim. The wood wainscoting is solid Southern Yellow Pine made by Prefinished Wood Accents. Here we go…

This room is 100% lacking both wainscoting and a pulse.

Prefinished Wood Accents is like CPR for this room, instantly bringing it back to life.

This is the same room. I checked the color. It’s officially called: BoringThe Prefinished Wood Accents is a tongue and groove system. Kind of like a floor. Start from the bottom and work your way up. I think it’s best to run it level instead of using the floor as a guide—just in case the floor isn’t level. That way, the wood trim that I’m installing is level

I love how Theresa got several different finishes. I randomized them during installation.

I used the table saw to cut a small notch in the solid 1×4 pine trim to ‘trap’ the top and sides of the wood wainscoting.

A pneumatic or cordless nailer is awesome for installation. While you should mark the studs and nail into one when you can, it doesn’t always work out. However, because the Prefinished Wood Accents is T&G it all locks together and nail gun nail popped into plaser (that’s what we had here) or drywall is sufficient for holding power.

Factory-primed wood molding holds both nails and paint.

Theresa’s signature: Artist, designer, color expert.

Finishing touches. Wood wainscoting changes up linear directions, adds texture, shadow lines and depth and makes a baby’s room fun and fancy.

Mark

A licensed contractor, tool expert, wood and outdoor enthusiast, and elite Spartan Race competitor, he writes about home improvement and tools for national magazines and websites, and teaches hands-on clinics for other remodeling professionals. Check out his book, The Carpenter's Notebook.

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