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jeri

Back wall of shelves Beadboard?

jeri
14 years ago

IÂm wondering if the back wall of shelves in the following 2 examples should be beadboard. IÂm further wondering about painting the beadboard. The shelves and trim in both cases will be white.

When do folks use beadboard and when do they not? I personally like the look, but IÂm wondering if there is some "rule-of-thumb"? Is painting beadboard difficult? How about Re-Painting it?

1) We expanded the width of laundry room so we can have 16" deep, floor to ceiling shelves running the length (10 feet). This room is between the garage and kitchen. The shelves will be used for pantry goods and cubbies for family stuff. IÂm thinking of painting the beadboard "Disney Sea Song". IÂm not sure why  but that color jumped out at me. IÂm hoping it will be "fun" and put a smile on my face.

2) We are turning our foyer into a library  lots of book shelves. The shelves will be white, but I was thinking of going with a sort of brick red for the beadboard. There will be one main  large wall. Perhaps just the red on this one wall  making it an accent wall???

Comments (7)

  • oceangirlme
    14 years ago

    I was just finished painting some beadboard. For the first time I used a 4" foam roller. I dipped the tip in the paint and "brushed" the tip along the grooves. I then used the roller as it was intended and spread the overflow of paint onto the rest of the beadboard. I'm never using a brush on beadboard again. Good luck!

  • boysrus2
    14 years ago

    I had beadboard put in the open area of my kitchen hutch. They sprayed the beadboard with three coats of BM Satin Impervo, and it covered beautifully. This was the basic unprimed beadboard from Lowe's. The primed stuff had a fake look to it that I didn't like.

  • jeri
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thanks for the info on painting. IÂm not too worried about the initial coat as I can do that before it is hung. But, after it is hung, and the shelves are installed, IÂm guessing it must be a bear to re-paint.

    Still hoping for input on using beadboard in these 2 areas. :-)

  • tracey_b
    14 years ago

    While we were house-hunting, there was one home that had lovely built-ins in the greatroom and in the upstairs hall, visible from the foyer. The shelving/cabinets were light cream (as was all the trim in the house), and the beadboard was painted the same as the room's wall color--which, in their case, was a SW Blonde-like color. I LOVED it. We didn't buy the house for other reasons, but I've sure kept that look in mind.

    Another house (a Parade home) had cream cabinets/shelves in the hearth room, but this time the backs of the shelves were painted a dark charcoal color (don't think it was beadboard, though). I guess it's to help the TV not stand out so much? It looked good too. Kind of dramatic. Not something I would've chosen sight-unseen, though.

  • karinl
    14 years ago

    I don't understand why you would want to use beadboard if you can just hang the shelves against the wall. To repaint, can't the shelves be removed?

    I'm not sure if I'm understanding your question correctly, but it reads to me as "to put a backing on the shelves or not?" I'd vote for "not" for reasons of both looks and repainting. If you've chosen a wall colour you like for the room, why hide so much of it?

    Plus, once stuff is on the shelves, it'll hardly show after all that work.

    KarinL

  • RoseAbbey
    14 years ago

    I like the look of beadboard backing on a shelf especially if the shelving is painted. If the shelving is wood you can at least see the wood grain which adds some interest. Even when you have things on the shelf you can still see the detail of the beadboard. We added beadboard to the back of our open shelves on this hutch. Not a great picture, but you get the point.

    {{!gwi}}

  • jeri
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Tracey_b  Thanks for the input. :-)

    KarenL  you bring up a good question  which is why IÂm trying to make this decision. ItÂs just that when I see pictures of the beadboard backing  it looks really nice. Thre is a current thread called Before and After pics of the family room. that show the beadboard backing on the shelves.

    Roseabbey  you posted after I wrote the above, so IÂll just leave it as another example. Your hutch looks GREAT! The other option is to paint the beadboard to match the shelves and trim  such as yours.

    How to make a decision???