I’m well past the point of no return with the wall plans for our bedroom, but I need to get this off my chest: after this week, I am seriously second-guessing my decision to install wainscoting in this room. And just to be clear, it’s not because I don’t love how it looks—I absolutely adore it. The foyer turned out beautifully, and I can’t wait to finish it with the grasscloth wallpaper. Wainscoting itself isn’t the issue. The problem is that I chose to put it in the single most unlevel, out-of-square, and wavy-walled room in our entire house.
I’ve never dealt with walls this challenging. Usually, a room might be a little off here or there, but I can disguise it so that imperfections aren’t noticeable once the trim is up. This room? It’s on a whole other level. Every wall seems to have its own personality, and not in a charming way. It’s like they were all built by different carpenters on different planets.
But here’s the thing—I’m not giving up. This has turned into my personal challenge, and there’s no way I’m letting this room defeat me. I will finish it, and when it’s done, it WILL look beautiful.
The one piece of good news? The long wall at the entrance went relatively smoothly. That wall is surprisingly flat and probably the most level and square in the entire room. I’m thankful for that because it’s the wall that will be most visible—it won’t have furniture or draperies covering it. I started here, and I felt confident. That confidence, however, didn’t last.
As I moved to the other walls, my confidence waned. Measuring became nearly impossible. I tried using the floor as a reference, but the floor is so uneven that it was a disaster. I tried measuring from the ceiling, but that was no better. Finally, I resorted to relying on levels—both a bubble level and a laser level. I thought that would solve my problems.
And yet, when I got to the last wall, where the bedroom chair rail meets the foyer chair rail, I was about an inch and a half off. I lost count of how many times I had to remove and reinstall the chair rail. I even considered throwing in the towel and devising a new plan—but my stubborn streak is stronger than my frustration.
Some walls look fine. The one with the bathroom door, for example, isn’t perfect, but it looks decent. The headboard wall is mostly okay, too, though I had to reinstall the trim countless times to get it roughly level. That wall will mostly be covered by draperies and the headboard, so imperfections there aren’t a huge concern.
Then there’s the corner. Oh, the corner. It’s so out of level that there’s no hiding it. Installing trim here was a nightmare, and I’m still not pleased with it. I’ll probably have to remove the baseboards, trim a little off the bottom, and reinstall them to better disguise the high points in the floor. Just by looking, you can see the baseboard rising toward the corner—it’s very obviously not aligned with the trim under the window. And of course, the window itself isn’t level, so there’s even more adjusting to be done.
And then we come to the waviest wall in the house. You can see it clearly in the shadows beneath the chair rail. There’s no way to disguise those waves. The baseboards look bad, and the chair rail looks worse. The gap under the chair rail is larger than it appears in photos. It’s far too much to fill with caulk.
One wall stands out as the worst: the floor dips in the middle, leaving a massive gap under the baseboards. On top of that, the flooring doesn’t reach the wall evenly because the room isn’t square. One board tapers awkwardly in the middle, leaving me scratching my head. And then there’s a perfectly square and level door set into a wall that’s anything but. Installing the chair rail around that was its own nightmare. I had to align the rail with the door frame on both sides, and with the uneven floor, it felt impossible at times.
This has been one of the most frustrating projects I’ve ever taken on. I can’t remember a single time when I had to remove and reinstall trim as many times as I have in this room. But I’ll get it done. It’s going to take patience, creativity, and a lot of stubbornness, but I refuse to let these walls win.
If you’re considering wainscoting in your home, here’s a word of advice: make sure your walls and floors are reasonably level first. If you have areas that are clearly uneven or out of square, consider a Plan B. Maybe leave the wainscoting for another room. Trust me—you’ll save yourself a lot of frustration.
Despite all the challenges, I know the finished product will be worth it. And as I take a step back and look at the work I’ve already done, I can see how far the room has come. It may be difficult now, but when it’s complete, it will be a space I’ll be proud of.