A DIY Wainscoting Project in a 140

Sep 22, 2023

By Morgan Goldberg

Welcome to DIY Diary. Each entry covers a new home improvement project. Here, designers Will Glaser and Aubrey Ament show you how to install wainscoting in a kitchen.

Will Glaser and Aubrey Ament built their relationship on creative collaborations. The couple first met in a ceramics class 12 years ago and bonded over their love for DIY projects. Today, the duo is running GLAM Studio, a New York-based interior design firm that combines his woodworking skills with her product design education. They’re currently tackling their biggest project yet: Remodeling their 140-year-old Brooklyn brownstone.

Despite their previous renovation experience, Glaser and Ament were surprised by the magnitude of work required to update a two-story fixer-upper with a ground-level garden studio. At each and every turn, they discovered more damage than they had anticipated. "Will and I have extreme optimism syndrome," Ament admits. "We thought we were buying a place that was basically move-in ready." The couple quickly adjusted their expectations. Glaser did the majority of the construction himself, aside from the specialized work like plumbing, electrical, roofing, and tiling. Because Ament was pregnant at the time, she contributed conceptually with design ideas. "I helped as much as I could until I was too wobbly to help anymore," she recalls.

Glaser and Ament were inspired by Victorian elements and a vintage point of view.

In the garden studio apartment, which the couple now rent out on Airbnb, they wanted to honor the rich history of the home with Victorian finishes that might have been there centuries before. Wainscoting, a type of partial wood paneling that was once used to protect against scuffs, presented a solid opportunity to give the studio an architectural nod to a bygone era. Inspired by trips to the Merchant's House Museum, Glaser and Ament chose DIY wainscoting with traditional tongue-and-groove beadboard. "We thought it’d be nice to bring back that texture and materiality," Ament says. "We wanted that cozy vibe. We felt there was an opportunity to really hark back to that time."

Matching wainscoting paint color to trim and doors makes the space feel larger.

No backsplash necessary: Glaser added a shelf to the cap rail for extra storage.

The wainscoting extends beyond the kitchen counters for a cohesive look.

To achieve a period-appropriate look, Glaser paired the beadboard with 5.5-inch straight baseboard and 2.5-inch straight cap rail. He avoided making the studio too antique by layering the wainscoting with mid-century-style appliances and contemporary furniture. "I think you can get an authentic feeling and be true to context without being specifically accurate," Ament says.

The vertical lines of wainscoting pair well with the horizontal grain of the counter.

With authenticity in mind, Glaser masterfully constructed the perfect and Victorian-reminiscent DIY wainscoting. Here's how he pulled it off, and how you can recreate the look, step by step.

Glaser and Ament knew they wanted an open shelf about 24 inches above the counter. This feature dictated the height of their wainscoting project, which was 60 inches tall from the floor. Once the measurement was locked in, they used a laser level to trace the top line of the beadboard around the entire room. Glaser recommends using a laser level for optimal straightness.

The groove end of the beadboard should align with the corner when you start. Use the pencil-drawn line as a guide and cut the first few pieces of beadboard with a miter saw, Glaser instructs. "Before cutting more, test for a good fit from the top of the baseboard to your cap rail line," he says. Since the corner itself might not be straight, ensure that these first few boards are going in as plumb (straight up and down) as possible.

To properly secure the beadboard, use the pneumatic brad nailer to equally space nails about 18 inches apart.

To fasten the boards to the wall, Glaser recommends adding construction adhesive to the back of the beadboard then placing the wainscoting against the wall. Use a pneumatic brad nailer to fasten the boards to the wall. "Hold the tool at a slight angle while nailing to better secure beadboard to wall," Glaser says.

As you add each piece, Glaser suggests continuously checking the plumb level. Installing the last piece of wainscoting was tricky, especially because Glaser's brownstone is more than a century old, and the walls are far from straight. Once you get to the end of the line, you will almost certainly have to cut your last piece to fit, Glaser says. This is done by cutting the wainscoting longways with the grain. To get a decent fit, scribe your piece to the wall and cut with a jigsaw. "The corner piece will give you some leeway. There's no need to be too crazy about achieving a perfect fit," he says.

Don't forget to account for outlets.

If the wainscoting covers an existing electrical outlet or trim, pencil in the lines to know where it will go. Cut out the outlet shape before adhering beadboard to the wall. Glaser prefers to use an oscillating multi-tool, which is handy for quick and precise cuts. A hand saw, or miter saw, and chisel can work as well.

After you have all of your pieces in place, Glaser typically measures the lengths for the cap rail and installs it with adhesive and nails. "Your cap rail should have a notch in the back to allow it to slip over the top of the beadboard to hide any imperfection," he notes. "I would recommend butting the inside corners and mitering the outside corners."

If your scribe isn't perfect, Glaser says that you can easily smooth it out with a paintable white caulk. "Because our trim is super old and covered in layers of paint, we just really had to finesse those little pieces. It's not gonna be perfect, but when you’re caulking, one of the biggest things I learned was that using a wet sponge helps smooth out your line," he says.

Layering tone-on-tone whites gives the kitchen wall a clean finish.

Since the garden level doesn't get a lot of natural light, Ament decided that an off-white tone-on-tone paint would give the right amount of contrast to make the wainscoting stand out. The couple painted the walls Benjamin Moore Simply White (OC-117), and chose Benjamin Moore Grand Teton White (OC-132) for the wainscoting.