Straightforward Hands-on Wainscoting For Your Hallway

Our upstairs hallway lately got the wainscot treatment, and it is kind of like the debonair older cousin to the Hands-on board & batten from our last house. Kind of a board & batten meets picture-frame molding look. Let us simply say, if our hallways were the Lindsay Lohans from The Parent Trap, this one would be the fancier-sounding English one (who I sometimes imagine grew up to live a less chaotic life than the American one).

The Straightforward Approach To Installing Hands-on Wainscoting

This Hands-on project began as one of those no-brainer tasks that we did not expect to spread much beyond the confines of a weekend. We planned to simply repeat the board & batten look from our last house. We have consistently enjoyed how that molding turned out and how straightforward it was (plus it is the project that spawned the enjoy triangle that is me, Sherry, and our nail gun). Here is a flashback to Sherry getting some quality time with it back in 2013.

UPDATE: We have since moved on to this battery-operated nailgun because it does not require an air compressor. It is cheaper, easier, and more nimble to use. But we still remember our first enjoy fondly.

You can see our old board & batten walkthrough for a more detailed step-by-step on the original wainscoting, but the gist is that we used vertical lattice pieces (spaced 16″ apart, where all the wall studs are) along with a horizontal 1 x 3″ pine board across the top to create a chair rail of sorts. Then you touch up cracks with caulk, add some primer and paint, and you are done.

This time around, things began off strong. We picked up the wood! We readied the caulk gun! We filled the air compressor! Heck, we even installed crown molding around the ceilings too (using baseboard underneath it to give it a chunkier look, like the crown that is already in a bunch of other rooms).

But when we were done this time, we were kinda “meh” about it. We were not sure exactly why, but it did not seem to be working the same magic.

Upgrading The Board & Batten

We slept on it for a while and then made two adjustments:

1. We doubled up the thickness of the vertical batten by nailing a second layer of lattice on them
2. We brought in a top “ledge” or “cap rail” that is frequently paired with wainscoting by nailing a 1×2″ pine board atop the 1×3″ top rail which helped the whole thing feel weightier and more substantial.

We certainly liked it more with chunkier battens the addition of a top ledge, but we chose to percolate on it a little more before calling it done. And sure sufficient, a few weeks later it struck us that the crisp clean lines that worked so well next to the flat slab doors of our last home (which complemented it is mid-century ranch aesthetic) were not playing as nicely with the more detailed six-paneled doors in our colonial. Well, duh. Fortunately, there was a fairly plain solution. More cowbell molding.

We picked up some decorative shoe molding at Home Depot that fit nicely within the panels we had already created, giving it a more intricate profile. To install it, we simply held up strips along the inside edges of each panel’s four sides, marked the ends, and then made miter cuts on a 45-degree angle so the pieces could be nailed into place like a picture frame. We did not use any construction adhesive behind the boards, because we found the finishing nails were sufficient last time.We also opted to add some cove molding under the ledge, which also gave it a more traditional look.

NOTE: We did not use any wood glue or construction adhesive behind the boards, because we found the finishing nails were sufficient to hold everything to the drywall. Apart from the top rail and cap rail pieces, all of the wood we used is relatively light, so we were free to space our battens evenly without having to worry about finding studs in the wall. But we did use our go-to stud finder to make sure those top rail pieces were securely held up.

The Final Result

The project was straightforward, but somewhat tedious because of the size of our hallway. But it could easily be knocked out in a day or two for smaller spaces like bathrooms or dining rooms. So we are gonna fast forward through all the miter cutting, nailing, caulking seams, filling nail holes, priming, and painting and – VOILA! Cue the (caulk-covered) high-fives.

UPDATE! We have at last transitioned our whole house to LED lights (they save tons of energy & money, and they are a lazy person’s best friend because you never have to change them). For anyone wondering, these are our go-to interior LEDs. Their glow is warm & natural (not weird/blue like some of the others we have tried) and they are in fact the ones you see glowing in these pics (they are extremely similar to regular bulbs, but they use around 90% less energy).

It is certainly a far cry from the space we first laid eyes on. We can hardly even remember our washer & dryer being there (you can see how we reconfigured those here).

We are still playing around with art and stuff. We are learning that too much stuff on the walls in here can feel a little busy, so we have chosen a few select spots to hang some temporary frames to assist us get a sense of where we might like things to go before deciding on what exactly makes the cut. Brass bird is making a strong case for himself.

The drum stool is simply placeholder too (we might grab a tall basket or some other small kid-friendly furniture piece) but our house has an abundance of drum stools and faux succulents, so… when in Rome.

Even without the finalized art and stuff, we are fairly psyched about how far this hallway has come.

Oh and we popped off the baby gate at the top of the stairs for the photos above (we have one of those because, well, toddlers) but here is how it looks when it is on. It is nothing fancy – simply a basic white metal one we found at Babies R’ Us – but we like that it sort of mimics the railing.

The only other thing we will likely add at some point is a runner on the floor, but we have not found one that we like sufficient to bring home with us yet. And apparently, we look at the floor a lot (Burger included).

In the end, being patient with this project and being willing to adjust and fine-tune things instead of rushing to cross it off the to-do list ended up getting us from “meh” to “that new Missy Elliott song” (as in, we truly like it).

We are also finding ourselves leaning into our home’s traditional style a little more lately too, which has been an interesting observation as we look ahead to some future projects (picture frame molding like this would’ve been another good option for traditional-looking Hands-on molding) . We are also especially behind on holiday decorating this year, but we are hoping to share some shots of the house all fest-ified once it gets there. Soon, I hope.

SOURCES: Wall color: Edgecomb Gray by Benjamin Moore | Trim & wainscoting color: Simply White by Benjamin Moore | Framed print: Emily Jeffords | Brass bird: secondhand | Pendant lights: World Market | Wooden pegs: HethrFethr on Etsy | Ceramic garden stool: Amazon | Faux succulent: HomeGoods (source links may include affiliates)