Beadboard - New and Old - 7/17
From LoveToKnow Interior Design
Beadboard has been around since the 1850s. The classic tongue and groove paneling is traditionally used as wainscoting and often found in dining rooms, kitchens, porches, and family rooms. Beadboard adds a casual, rustic, and historic look to a room. It also helps to hide an old house's irregularities - the bane of an old house owner's existence. Beadboard is great for high-traffic areas and homes with children. A couple of nicks just add to the beadboard's charm.
Restoring Beadboard
If you're lucky enough to own a house with beadboard paneling, most likely it needs some restoring. My house, which was built in the 1860s, has beadboard in three rooms. When I moved it, all of it was covered with a half-dozen coats of paint. If you have beadboard that needs restoring, follow these three steps:
- Stripping - Use a commercial stripper (available at Home Depot and similar stores) to remove the old paint. Be sure to wear a mask and rubber gloves, to ventilate the room well, and to keep children and pets away from the room where you are working. If your house is older than 1970, you will probably will be stripping off lead-based paint. Be sure to take the necessary precautions, including sweeping up any paint chips that may drop.
The stripper is painted onto the beadboard surface and allowed to work for about 15 minutes. You then scrape off the old paint with a paint or wallpaper scraper, being careful to get into all of the grooves. Repeat, if necessary.
- Sanding - After you have scraped most of the old paint off of the beadboard, go over the surface with a medium-grained sandpaper to remove any residual paint. Follow that with a fine-grained sandpaper to create a smooth surface.
- Staining - Stain your beadboard to the desired finish. Most projects will take at least two coats of stain, three if you prefer a darker finish. Allow the stain to dry one to two days, and seal the beadboard with a matte finished sealant.
New Beadboard
If you love the beadboard look, but have a newer home, don't despair. Many lumberyards sell pre-cut and pre-grooved boards to be used as beadboard. Additionally, several lumber companies, such as Georgia Pacific, sell beadboard veneer panels. These ΒΌ" sheets come in a wide variety of finishes at a fraction of the price of installing authentic beadboard.
Related DIY Articles
This page has been accessed 1,785 times. This page was last modified 12:38, 19 October 2006.
© 2006-2008 LoveToKnow Corp.
