I recently was asked if wainscoting was in-style or out of style. After thinking about it, I decided to do some research. Let’s start with the origin of wainscoting. Around 1570-1580 wainscoting was originally oak and used for the purpose of lining interior walls to make the room more comfortable as opposed to direct stone. These boards would cover the entire wall, and it wasn’t until the 1700s that paneling only covered the lower part of the wall. The type of panel used determines the name of the wainscoting and include:
- raised-panel wainscoting,
- flat-panel wainscoting,
- board-and-batten wainscoting, and
- beadboard wainscoting.
Adding wainscoting, an old and classic look, will never go out of style. Growing up in New England I saw many homes decorated with clean white wainscoting and have enjoyed seeing it in homes over the years of running my Interior Redesign business. It is a classic design element that will never go out of style!
If you have any of these types of questions, send me an email, and I’ll see if I can answer them in a decorating article. For all your redesign, home staging, and training needs contact Debbie 610.955.8202 or email.
By Debbie Correale, founder and owner of Redesign Right, LLC. You can learn more about her at www.RedesignRight.com. Find her on Facebook.com/RedesignRight, Twitter @RedesignRight, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Houzz and Google+. Photo purchased from Shutterstock.