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Before & After: Claire's Wainscoted Bedroom

7-27-09-wainscotting.jpg

Claire had some really funky wainscoting in her bedroom. While wainscoting is often a beautiful and coveted feature, this job involved mismatched boards of different widths and thicknesses -- not necessarily the period feature of her dreams. So she ripped it out and started over...

 
 

7-27-09-wainscotting-2.jpg

Underneath the boards she found walls marked with adhesive and strips of wallpaper, which she cleaned up to transform into this:

7-27-09-wainscotting-3.jpg

...a clean-lined, pale grey bedroom. Nice work, Claire!

Read more on her blog, Needle Book

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Bedroom, painting, fixing & repair

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Comments (17)

I liked the funky wainscoting!

posted by mirandabee on July 27th 2009 at 7:19pm
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me too. I thought it had more character before.

posted by LyndseyK on July 27th 2009 at 7:26pm
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I'm sure it is lovely now but I am in love with the before wainscoting. I want to do that in my kitchen. Right after I pain the trim and the walls and re-caulk the sink and wax the floors and replace the faucet and get new chairs.

posted by flossie on July 27th 2009 at 7:57pm
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I LOVED the wainscoting. Can you imagine what a few different neutral colors of paint could have done for that? And maybe one brighter color? Oh, the possibilities. It does look nice now, but not quite as individualized.

Emily

posted by Emily Sneds on July 27th 2009 at 8:45pm
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I liked it too. I was thinking about painting the boards in a few different colors too.

posted by Icanmakeit on July 27th 2009 at 8:58pm
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Oh man! When I saw she got rid of it I nearly cried! I agree with Emily, it would have been *so* awesome to paint it different colors!

posted by SCADanielle on July 27th 2009 at 9:01pm
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I loved the wainscoting too! New bedroom is lovely, but I love the old details.

posted by oncelivedthere on July 27th 2009 at 9:08pm
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How sad.

The "Before" was cleverly created w/ what appears to be repurposed wood.

Now the room looks like every other characterless sheetrock-lined box...
...and the wood is undoubtedly in a landfill someplace.

posted by bepsf on July 27th 2009 at 9:28pm
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The new bedroom is lovely, but I want to cry for the discarded wainscotting which obviously had a great deal of care and work go into its installment. The original room had character, I only wish my own home had come with such a delightful find!

posted by verano on July 27th 2009 at 9:39pm
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While I also pictured the wainscotting antiqued in different colors, if it's not her style then it wouldn't work for her. Our homes have to reflect us, and just because we like that element, certainly doesn't mean she should. I think what she created is beautiful.

I do hope, like some of you, that the wood got repurposed instead of trashed.

posted by sam on July 27th 2009 at 10:12pm
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i agree that the room certainly had more character beforehand, and where I personally liked the wainscotting, i can understand why not everyone would. if there is something in your house that you are not a die hard fan of, it's pretty easy to let that thing get under your skin. there are things about the old rowhouse i bought that i hated so they had to go. however willy nilly wainscotting wouldn't have been one of them

posted by austin Charles Benton on July 27th 2009 at 10:50pm
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That wainscotting was fabulous.... =(

posted by rosenatti on July 28th 2009 at 2:05am
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Personal preference. I would have gone happily nuts if it looked like this:
http://www.dryadsdancing.com/products/index.php?cPath=29

I love that look right now. Mostly because I can't decide on any one color. I want them all. And I can't decide on any one texture, I want them all too.

But by golly, if I had one color in mind, and one finish in mind, there's no way I would want a jumble of colors and textures and shapes.

If I had glamour or serene or sleek or mirrored or lacquered in mind, that wainscoting would have been horrible.

On the other hand, if I had some time (I do), and liked the varied look, I may well have pulled off ONE board at a time and fiddled with the color, texture, finish and put it back.

I might have put up a picture rail all around, so I never had to pound nails again...at least things would be even along the bottom. Prop the art or photos or mirrors.

If one style fit all, we'd not have to worry, and we'd not have this great site either.

posted by #9 on July 28th 2009 at 2:27am
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I too preferred the quirky panelling of the "Before" to the blandifying anonymity of the "After"

posted by idontdobeige on July 28th 2009 at 4:31am
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I liked the wainscotting! It had so much character. Those mismatched boards and the "hand crafted" look was darling and individual.

posted by cassielynn on July 28th 2009 at 9:20am
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I thought the wainscotting was the after. Loved it.

posted by 42rocky on July 28th 2009 at 6:19pm
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i had to tear down a wooden ceiling that was made up of bits of wood like that lol.

posted by click 4 beds on November 4th 2009 at 6:43am
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