Wainscoting Designs

Long pieces of plywood, solid surfacing, or MDF cover walls quickly, with few or no gaps. Designs routed into thick sheets of MDF (see inset) are deep and convincing; thinner sheets yield shallower and less realistic details.

A. Raised-panel MDF: 5/8" thick x 36" high x 12' long, about $16.75 per sq. ft. with cap, IntriG

B. Beadboard solid surfacing: ¼" thick x 36" high x 8' long, starting at $39 per sq. ft., Swan Corp.

C. Beadboard MDF: ¼" thick x 48" high x 8' long, starting at 65 cents per sq. ft., States Industries