Is beadboard right for my farmhouse?

In the working rooms, almost certainly — back halls, kitchens, pantries, mudrooms and stair walls are where it belongs and where these houses originally had it. In a front parlor or dining room a plain flat-panel wainscot usually suits better. The distinction is that farmhouses treated their service rooms and their formal rooms differently, and keeping that difference is what makes the work look original.

Can you match wainscoting that is already in part of the house?

Yes. We take the bead spacing, the cap profile and the height off the existing run and mill to match, so a new section in an adjoining room reads as part of the same original scheme. Where the existing has been damaged we can repair into it rather than replacing the whole wall.

Richmond, Macomb County, MI

Wainscoting in Richmond, MI

Name: Maceri Woodworking
Address: 33628 Bayview Dr, Chesterfield, MI, 48047, US
Telephone: (586) 823-2887
Price range: $$

Beadboard is the Richmond answer. Where a Victorian in a river town would have had a panelled dado, farmhouse interiors of this era used narrow vertical beadboard in the rooms that took wear — back halls, kitchens, pantries, stair walls and porches.

Putting it back, or putting it where it should have been, is one of the most convincing things you can do in a house like this, because it is period-correct rather than period-flavoured. We run beadboard as a proper dado with a plain square cap and a matching base, which is how it was originally done, rather than as a sheet product with a moulded rail on top. In the back hall and boot room it also earns its keep practically: it takes knocks that would dent drywall, and it can be repainted rather than patched. Front rooms take a different treatment. A plain flat-panel wainscot with square stiles suits a farmhouse parlor or dining room where beadboard would read too utilitarian, and board and batten works across the whole house because its plainness matches the original trim register. In the newer subdivisions on the edge of town we build the same range as anywhere, with the taller wainscots and stairwell paneling those ceiling heights carry. Layout is set out on site so the boards or panels finish evenly at both corners.

We mill the beadboard and the panel components at our Chesterfield shop, match the cap and base to your existing trim register, and set the layout against the actual wall before installing.

Richmond is a straight run north from our Chesterfield shop up M-19, close enough that we work there regularly.

Wainscoting questions from Richmond homeowners

Is beadboard right for my farmhouse?: In the working rooms, almost certainly — back halls, kitchens, pantries, mudrooms and stair walls are where it belongs and where these houses originally had it. In a front parlor or dining room a plain flat-panel wainscot usually suits better. The distinction is that farmhouses treated their service rooms and their formal rooms differently, and keeping that difference is what makes the work look original.
Can you match wainscoting that is already in part of the house?: Yes. We take the bead spacing, the cap profile and the height off the existing run and mill to match, so a new section in an adjoining room reads as part of the same original scheme. Where the existing has been damaged we can repair into it rather than replacing the whole wall.