Beadboard Installation on a Budget: Tips and Tricks

This summer, we were absolutely thrilled to move from our tiny, three bedroom, starter house, into a two story, four bedroom home. I cannot tell you how amazing it is to shut all of the kid's stuff up stairs! We've been missing out! Anyways, now that we have a bedroom for each of our little ones, I've been itching to get started on a special room for my sweet little E. She started out in our master closet, went on to sharing a room with her big sister, and now she's moved onto bigger and better things ;-). (I know, it sounds horrible that we had her in our closet, but we were desperate for our own space and it was pretty roomy in there!) So now that I finally had the chance to decorate a room for her, I knew that I wanted to do something super special. Maybe then she'll forgive us for the whole closet thing! 

This was my inspiration, but think pink!

So after painting the main rooms in our new house, it was time to move on to little E's space. Her room was first because of the awful hunter green color that the previous owner had blessed us with. After pinteresting for a bit and a home depot gift card burning a hole in my pocket, I made the plans for my husband to install beadboard in little E's room. 

I'm so happy with how it turned out, but it was definitely a substantial project. Almost every DIY I read talked about how easy of a project this was and how quick it was to install. I guess we were unlucky with some uneven walls and not completely square beadboard. But in the end, I am very happy with the results. We did take some shortcuts that saved some time and money. So because there are so many great DIY beadboard installation tutorials out there, I'm not going to go into detail of how we did it, but will give you a few helpful tips and tricks that we found along the way! Also, here are a few tutorials that I found helpful: DIY Network, BlogHer, & Twenty Something. 

We finally settled on Benjamin Moore's Angel Pink for the wall color. 

1) Choose your wall color first and paint this a few days ahead of time. This first one is a no-brainer, and we actually did it both ways because I painted a total of 5 coats (yes, 5 coats- 1 of primer, 2 of yellow paint, and then 2 of pink because I hated the yellow). This not only saves on time because you don't have to cut in above the chair rail, but also on a mess from paint droplets getting on the beadboard. 

2) If you don't have the time and want to save on cost, keep the baseboards in place. We chose not to remove our baseboards for a few reasons. Our baseboards are pretty level, so instead of spending time and money on removing & replacing, we spent a few dollars on some caulk. It really looks great and any imperfections aren't noticed as the vertical lines draw the eye upward. 

3) Decide on the height of the beadboard plus chair rail before purchasing the materials. Make sure that the height of your light switches doesn't interfere with the chair rail, or be prepared to either move them or have a break in the moulding. When you purchase the panels from Home Depot, or Lowes, they'll cut the large 4' x 8' sheets down to a manageable size. We just chose to do 4' x 4' panels, but realized when we got home that the light switches interfered with the chair rail. 

4) Instead of chair rail, or slotted chair rail, buy casing. If you're not dead set on the actual curves on the chair rail, a cheaper alternative is casing. At 66 cents vs $3 per foot, this saves a ton of money! Our total cost for the project was about $130. 

5) Make outlet holes small enough so that the tabs will come in front of the beadboard. Most of the tutorials that we followed didn't address how to make it so that your outlets aren't sunken in from the covers. Come to find out, you can buy spacers, but my husband cut the beadboard so that the metal tabs above and below the electrical outlet extend over top. 

6) Don't freak out if there are gaps, caulk is your best friend for this project. There were some pretty bad gaps in the corners and small imperfections that I was a little weary of, but all turned out well after caulking, sanding and painting. You probably would never notice them, much less with furniture in the room. 

I hope these tips help! I wish the lighting was better so that I could get a color true photo. I am so pleased with the impact that the beadboard has in little E's new space! I cannot wait to reveal her whole room makeover (in time). But for now, I can breathe easy with one more project down :-)

Do you have any breadboard installation tips that you'd like to share? 

linking up to these lovely parties:
Transformation Thursday
Live Laugh Linky
Blog Stalking Thursday
Thursday's Temptaion
Hookin Up wiyh HoH