Farmhouse kitchens are a wonderful place. In fact, all kitchens are pretty wonderful. For any family, the best memories, most laughs and happiest moments are generally spent gathered around a table together.

Inspiration: 

I spent some time looking on Pinterest for examples before I decided to go with white bead board. I kept seeing it over…

and over…

…and over again in other farmhouses. The example below doesn’t have bead board, but it is probably my all time favorite vintage kitchen. Just look at all the neat “junk” in there. Pitchers, a old shelf, a CHANDELIER, a skirt for the sink, plants everywhere. Love the chaos. Plus, it is white. So, close enough to bead board for me.

Paneling was also our only practical option because the wallpaper was in too poor of condition to re-wallpaper or to paint.

So, this was my decision making process. Then, I started gathering supplies. This took a while, because I had never paneled before, so I learned a few things along the way.

Supplies Needed:

• Paneling + a few sheets extra for mistakes
• T-Shaped Seaming
• Paneling Nails
• Fine Tooth Saw Blade
• Trim
• Hammer
• Sawhorses, level and cutting area

Things I learned along the way: 

Paneling is very easy to buy, but it comes in 8-foot sections so you are going to need a truck to pick it up. Be sure to bring along blankets to cover the bottom and edges. I suggest laying the pieces front to front, or white to white. I did not do that and the rubbing from the brown backside during the drive home put some brown spots on the white paneling. The T-shaped seaming was Ron’s find. I did not see this at Lowe’s. It is very, very handy. Makes the gaps between panels almost completely hidden. They also make special nails just for paneling. They have a very sharp and narrow point, so that it doesn’t cause damage to the paneling. Getting a fine-tooth saw blade is also important, because it will prevent the pretty bead board from splintering. Trim. I bought a wide trim so that Ron and John did not have to be as painstakingly accurate. The wider trim gave a larger margin of error than quarter round.

Time & Cost

From a cost perspective paneling is not too bad either, a 4-foot by 8-foot section is about $20. This project took about two weeks on and off to complete. TWO WEEKS. It took forever. Just to put how long that is into perspective – John & Ron built this shed in a day and a half! Building a whole shed took a day and a half and putting up 10 measly sheets of paneling took two weeks! Why did it take SO LONG? Well, during that time we got about 12-15 inches of snow. Obviously, on the snowy days they were not standing outside cutting the paneling. And, nothing was square. This was like cutting a gigsaw puzzle. Lots of measuring.

NOT DIY

Some of the posts in this series are DIY projects that I have done myself, or feel I could have done alone if needed. This is not one of them. This project definitely required skill in measuring and cutting that I don’t currently posses. So, I am very grateful for all the work from Ron & John. I was most definitely the helper and clean up crew on this project. Besides that, this trail mix was my best contribution.

10 Steps to Kitchen Paneling (DIY + A few people who know what they are doing!) 

1. Pick your paneling. There are lots of colors and options available. Gather supplies. Someday I am going to write about the being a woman and wondering around Lowe’s for two hours at a time asking zillions of questions.
2. Remove quarter round & clean up walls. We found some yellow fabric “insulation” between the door frame and the wall. Ron thought it was an old t-shirt. I feel warmer already. Oh, and a blue t-shirt. I hear those are extra warm. Lots of wall paper layers! Plaster + wallpaper + paneling = hiding all that! Sorta reminds me of France? Maybe. 
3. Measure, Measure, Measure. Our first wall felt like it took three days because nothing in the kitchen is square. Grrr. From one window to a wall there was a 15/16-inch drop! It took lots of measuring. They were very patient. 
4. Cut.
5. Nail Up.
6. Add seaming piece.
7. Repeat.It was a little chilly outside. 
8. Wipe down walls to clean off scuffmarks from the hammering.
9. Attach trim. More cutting and measuring.
10. Clean up!The End!

Before & After: The Best Part!!!! 

With this project done, the brunt of our DIY work is done. Praise the Lord! We just have one big project left and I am VERY excited about the last project. A little hint, it has to do with the sink area shown below.

I love the white walls but I am looking forward to filling this kitchen up with some more color. Curtains, dishes, pictures! I mean seriously. We registered for fiestaware. Look at all this color. Photographs by She Wears Many Hats a fellow fiestaware-loving-blogger like myself.

It took a ton of self-discipline for me to stick to white, blue and silver so far. Seriously, I love color. This was really, really challenging for me.