Wainscoting Designs, Layouts, and Materials

The Craftsman style, with its flat panels and vertical battens, emphasizes a Shaker-like simplicity. In the old days, the battens were used to conceal the seams between individual boards; today, they are typically installed over 4-foot-wide panels of hardwood-veneer plywood. Height for batten-style wainscoting can rise up to 6 feet or even higher. At the top, a wider plate rail often replaces the chair rail to provide a platform for decorative objects.