I never thought that bead board made a room look smaller. I think your original plan of bead board on the bottom and wallpaper on top would be totally charming. Sometimes I think details like that detract from the fact that a room is small.

Did you know that you can buy wallpaper that looks like beadboard?

Check out Home Depot online, search for beadboard paintable wallpaper.

I just went thru the same decision process - we elected to beadboard to give the room some architectural weight. We went with a lighter paint color to make sure it wasn't too overwhelming once you got in there and shut the door. Here are a few photos - but our powder room is so small - pics are hard to take! :-)

{{gwi:1480177}}

I say go for the beadboard but I'm prejudiced because I LOVE beadboard. We put it in our small bathroom and it looks absolutely fantastic! I really wanted to use real wood but in the end we opted for the white vinyl beadboard. What a great decision as far as cleaning goes. It's so smooth and easy to wipe down. We went with a pale lavender color on top but paint or wallpaper will look charming. I think the white beadboard makes our small bathroom look much bigger, too!

I think it works esp because it is a small room. You will love it ;)

Voting for beadboard.

I have a narrow public half-bath on our first floor. It's only 33" wide, maybe 7'2" long.

While I had always planned some sort of wainscot, at first all we did was paint the walls.

A few months after we were settled, I added wainscot. While the rest of the rooms in my house have variations of true raised panel wainscot, I wanted to minimize any more encroachment on the already narrow width of the half-bath.

I added embossed panel-type beadboard like laurainlincoln's. I always thought it'd be sort of temporary and I'd replace it with something better, but here I am, a decade and a half later, and it's still there. And there it shall stay.

The addition of another color and texture on the lower part of the wall adds interest and the room.

I do recommend a light color down low, and a light or slightly darker color up top.

Beadboarding covered with a good paint is very easy to keep clean. We used Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo in white and up top we went with BM Rumba Orange... white ceiling and crown moulding (installed upside down). The room is 5 1/2 by little over 5 but it doesn't really feel cramped when you're in there. The 9 ft ceilings might help. We get comments about it being 'stimulating' but not a tight fit. :)

Not everyone's taste, of course, but we love it. Everything was planned around a poster from a concert my husband and I attended.. we had an empty frame made and inserted a mirror so both pieces match. Disregard the fixtures, those are being changed next month.

oooh Julie - I love that color and your room! That is fabulous. The ceiling height is amazing for sure. btw, I think we have the same sink and toilet :-)

I say go for it and keep other decorative elements simplified so as not to overwhelm room. We are also putting beadboard in a smalling b-room..or at least a v. narrow one! I love the look of it :).

laura-what paint color did you use, very pretty..

I LOVE this idea. I think the beadboard adds interest to the room. It works with dark colors AND light colors on the upper part of the wall!