Tongue and groove well done is one thing. In a limited way. Ship lap has been done until I doubt there is a board left on the planet............

I truly doubt you will get a fabulous interior result from a spec or semi custom builder. I'd be very careful no matter the are. Mud hall perhaps. Don't forget it's possible to do post build and close

We are doing a custom builder and I have great confidence in his people. So that shouldn't be an issue. Do you have any resources for good tongue and groove?

Please no shiplap and I agree with Jan just finish it in the finishes offered and if you think you need to add some wood do it later after you have lived in the house a while.The house is a nice “old” style and does not IMO require either of those materials to give you the feel you want.I agre with hubby on the porch ceiling will be enough.

Yes. Porch only.

If you have "great confidence" it seems hubby does not share yours? In any case, I would skip the done, done and done some more ship lap. Sit with designer and hubby and figure out WHERE you would like a bead board, or tongue and groove detail. Make certain you and the builder and the designer are 100% specific , meaning it is in writing, has been priced and contains every detail of the effect you desire to achieve and is fully spec'd. It is IN WRITING.

Thanks everyone! The main concern I have is up the stairs and in the foyer. See picture foyer done in shiplap. I have three young kids who will be going up and down those stairs all the time (I homeschool them, so being home all day adds lots of wear and tear that other homes escape) and now that I have been told I just can't touch up the dings in the paint because it will show, and on such a prominent space, with so much light, it will really show, I'm looking to put something at least on the wall by the stairs. Any suggestions? I would like to get this done during construction.

Husband doesn't have confidence in it being possible for anyone to do it correctly. :). Nothing against our builders guys.

Even paint on millwork gets "dinged" . I'd relax. It's paint and use the handrail please and SLOW DOWN : ) Or do as previously suggested. Get with designer, hubby, and builder and hammer out the details. Nobody here can navigate the hubby battle for you. Can they? If you love ship lap, have it. It will still get dinged........or fingerprints.......or something. That is life in a home with children. It's a home, and hard to maintain as a museum, no matter the selection for any surface, anywhere. If you love the photo above? have it. A custom builder has the source for any detail you desire, trust me on that.

To me, the above photo is overkill. It looks like the outside of your home. Just my first take.

I am sure you can explain this to your kids and ask them to walk up and down the steps carefully. But, if there is a mishap, I don't understand why the paint cannot be touched up.

If you are still concerned, you might consider doing beadboard or shiplap under the railing portion only. Then add it in a couple of other small areas to repeat the theme.

Thanks y'all. My thought about the paint touch up is that touching up wood is easier to hide than a on a big piece of Sheetrock. The house will definitely be lived in and loved, I'm just trying to plan ahead for durability. For example, we are using some already distressed wood floors so we don't have to worry about scratches. I don't love shiplap, but I do love beaded board. :)

Why not do a molding trim instead? Here's mine. Someone else just posted theirs and if you search here on houzz you can find lots of versions.

Indeed..........just remembered my clients a couple years ago : ) Nicely protective, and not busy busy

Before you shiplap your walls, consider what is traditional in your area. DH and I wanted an old house, too, but decided to build with a focus on more traditional finishes (quartersawn heartpine floors, large front porch, woodburning fireplace, no vinyl windows, etc.).

In my area of central NC, painted shiplap walls (or narrower tongue and groove) with a painted beadboard ceiling is very common in the older homes from the early 20th century. In most of the homes, they used the beadboard ceiling/shiplap wall combination - I can't think of any local homes where they used a beadboard ceiling and plaster walls. It wouldn't look out of place for our home style or area to use this, but I'm not sure it would traditionally correct to only do the ceiling (for MY area).

So, I think if you're going for a more traditional look and feel, make sure it matches the area in which your house is located.

I, too, love beadboard - the tongue and grove kind, not the kind that comes on a pre-formed sheet and is really paper. If I never again see a shiplap wall, I will feel blessed. SO overdone and rarely done well.

What you do need to realize is that finding beadboard that is clear and has NO knots, will be difficult and very expensive. And if it has ANY knots at all, it must have multiple coats of BINS (a shellac-based primer) put on it prior to painting it. If it doesn't, the knots will bleed through and make stains. With new wood, even with BINS, you may have the occasional pop-thorough of the sap in a knot.

I made this mistake on my sun room ceiling about a year ago. I had no idea the wood would not be clean and knot-free. Well, now I had nearly $500 worth of beadboard boards, which had been painted and which the sap was coming through rapidly! I should have made the contractor just "eat" this, but instead had him do multiple coats of BINS and then paint. I still have 2-3 spots on the ceiling that have come through over the past year.

So, when it was time to do the ceiling of my front porch, I bought Azek PVC beadboard and then had it painted. It looks very, very good, will need rot, and no problem with sap and knots. I would highly recommend using this for your porch roof.

Beadboard on an interior ceiling is often used in summer cottages from the early 1900's. It was left unpainted and also totally covered the walls. It was maintenance free in unheated summer houses where moisture would have caused paint to peel. It would cost a fortune to do today in clear wood. And it would look like a Michigan summer cottage.

Here's a picture of what Anglophilia is talking about with knots. This is the ceiling in the rental house we are currently in.

How exciting! The as-built photos of that house are charming.

Personally I think for the house as shown, beadboard would be a more appropriate interior treatment than either shiplap (too informal to my eye) or panel and batten (too formal to my eye). In the photo above with the horizontal t&g in the entry/stair I don't think the wall treatment looks quite right with the door casing and newel post.

We had a painted beadboard wainscot in parts of our house when the kids were toddlers and it held up great.

Good luck!

Leakage from the sap in knots in cedar/pine can be contained by priming with BIN(or similar shellac based primer. I have built shelving used in bathrooms from #3 pine(I call it Lotsa Knot Wood), used BIN and an alkyd paint(for the moisture)---20 years later they are still stain free.

I do not claim to know design, but, wainscoting is far more pleasant looking to me(and old fashioned) than shiplap or beadboard on walls. Beadboard(primed with BIN) and painted with a semigloss or gloss paint is fine for porch ceilings. Those paints do not allow mildew as easily as matte or similar paint surfaces(added mildewcide is a good idea).

I have an 1897 farm house that has tongue and groove beadboard on the walls and ceilings. The back "entry" is what used to be a covered back porch that has been enclosed and is ship lap. The ship lap is a dust collector in the grooves but the bead board isn't. When I get home, I will post some for you. Some of it still has the original stained finish and the prior owner, who fixed up the house in the 1980's from it's abandoned condition, painted the majority of it.

I guess I'm old, my parents said, "keep your hands off the walls", and we did, lol.

This photo is of the house in 1897, shortly after being built and they are hosting a house warming party. Exterior is tongue and groove Ship lap siding (this house is 50 miles from Waco, TX).

This is how the house was before restoration in 1983. The last son moved out and into town in his elder years, leaving the house vacant, about 40 years.

This is the house as it is today. Hardie siding has replaced a compressed fiber board in 2009 and that fiber board replaced the original exterior siding. A little of it remains in a back porch entry, that used to be a back covered porch of the breezeway, that runs the length of the house.

ARG! I can't find the folder I want on my external hard drive from a computer that is on the blink. I will try to get some off of it and upload. Sorry. This pic is the only one I have when we had a propane Dearborn heater emit a bunch of soot all over the house and it is undergoing restoration, cleaning, and some updating.

This is gorgeous! Even if the beadboard is in the process of renovation!

Thanks to everyone for the advice about painting beadboard. Will definitely discuss.

We are going for a sort of turn of the last century feel in the house. I'm attached to beadboard because my grandmother's summer bedroom had it all over. Her house began as a log cabin before the civil war and people added onto it. I love the craziness of her house but obviously that's not reasonable for new construction.

Oh and we are near Columbia, SC, on a road with lots of old farmhouses. I would love to take a peek inside, bet many of them have beadboard.

there's tons of ways to get your beadboad. how about a nice wainscot? you could do it in the dining room, or in a bathroom, in a hallway, or even up the staircase

here's the shiplap in a bathroom w/a refurbished vanity.

or do a mudroom or entryway w/the bead board and a little bench and hooks for the kids

Well...beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder, isn't it? To my eyes, bead board looks much more refined and finished, while both ship lap and tongue in groove look much more...well...simple and unthinking...even uncaring...just covering up! The photo above of a bathroom with shiplap (if that's what it is), is a perfect example. Be like Bob! Use bead board! :-)

I've just purchased a home that was built 10 years ago. It's not an Allison Ramsey, but it's a custom Mitchell Ginn. It's not plantation plain, but some sort of modern day Southern plantation interpretation. Shiplap is not my most favorite material, but it is interesting when done well. I think they did it mostly well in this house. In order to do it well, it will cost a lot of money. It's both labor intensive and material intensive. You are essentially installing two layers, drywall and panel. It weighs a lot. Your foundation and trim must account for the additional thickness.

Two things: Knot holes do bleed through paint. Paneled ceilings will sag slightly from the weight and passage of time if not very carefully installed and supported.

Here is a picture of a real paneled ceiling in our dining room:

You really can't see the shiplap wall in that picture. Here it is the front hall. It has both shiplap walls and a panel wood ceiling. You can see the bleed through in the staircase risers. I'm just going to have to live with that and call it character.

If you look carefully, you can see where the wall boards warp. It can't be helped. If you like this and can afford it, go for it. I will tell you that this house bankrupted the man who built it. I'm the second owner out of foreclosure.

You CANNOT put these finishes in wet areas, bathrooms and laundries. There is just too much moisture and humidity. Plan on dry wall in those areas.

I hope when I go to sell this house in 10 years that no one laughs at the finishes and says how quaint.

I agree with the word "overkill" to describe this picture:

I like the molding, but I think I'd want to use the area over the staircase for family photographs, and the molding would get in the way of that.

Yes, please! I like the photo below best. The beadboard is enough to add interest to the wall, and it's more washable than the drywall (and little fingers and chairs knocked against the wall are going to do their damage down low). Also, it allows for color up top.

This coat area is a hard working spot, and -- again -- the beadboard can be washed. Nice.

Well...beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder, isn't it? To my eyes, bead board looks much more refined and finished, while both ship lap and tongue in groove look much more...well...simple and unthinking...even uncaring...just covering up!

Well, we're sharing the same set of eyes. To add another thought, shiplap has a "15 minutes of fame" feel to it. In a couple years it'll look like a harvest gold range.

Look at the home images on this site for inspiration.

http://ourtownplans.com/

I wouldn't do shiplap, and beadboard has issues too. I would consider wall molding added to the drywall. I think the home could be charming. See images of examples below.

Walls can be painted or stained.

We have beadboard in our back entrance hall, the real wood kind. That stuff takes a beating by the kids and backpacks, holding up great with no permanent dings in the wood, I cannot say the same for the drywall in the hallway that goes to the kids rooms. It was totally worth it and the hassle of primer + painting it. We also have a similar treatment as CP in our 1/2 bath, for some reason this is my boys favorite place to destory. I think the beadboard has held up better because the surface has less height variation.

I am still looking for all of my recent pics of our farm house on my external drive. I can't imagine where they were saved by the computer store. Should have been all in one folder.

Here is a source where I have purchased some tongue and groove planks that had to be milled with an additional groove, as mine has two grooves per plant. http://www.vintagewoodworks.com/beadboard.html

After over 100 years, we do have some bending/warping in the walls, but then again, the studs behind the walls are all hand hewn studs out of cedar.

As soon as I can locate the pics, I will post them. There is some unfinished beadboard in the stairwell down into the basement. Still in excellent condition.

Edit to add pics:

Keep in mind, these pics are sooty, from a propane stove that malfunctioned and deposited soot everywhere.

This is the original exterior siding that was part of a covered porch/breezeway. The doorway was entrance from the porch/breezeway into what is now the kitchen and is a different entrance from the main one, which were double doors into the hallway/breezeway that ran the length of the house.

Here is the measurement of our tongue and groove bead board with double grooves.

This is the landing upstairs. The original wood floors are painted grey (not by us) and will eventually be sanded and

refinished..

Going down.

This room, is original stain on the bead board. It is a room accessed through another room (bedroom)

Unfinished bead board going down into the limestone basement

Original double door entry from back of house, into hall/breezeway. original header. White vinyl flooring coming up, as original wood floors underneath and will be refinished.

to the right, is the kitchen and single entry into now kitchen.

Question for those suggesting wall moldings rather than shiplap or beadboard...do you think moldings add a more formal feel to a space whereas shiplap or beadboard can feel more casual? If a homeowner felt like moldings were too formal or traditional for their personal aesthetic, but wanted something other than painted drywall, what would you suggest?

Here is an inexpensive option. More formal than shiplap and far less expensive than wide moldings. This can be accomplished with lathe or lattice strips or 1/2 Round moldings applied directly to the drywall either vertically or horizontally. Personally, I like it better than wallpaper even for powder rooms.

The vertical boards are much better suited to farm/ranch house. My old weekend country house above is in Bosque County, Tx. Love Bob's bathroom!

I like Bob’s bathroom, too! Thanks for sharing.

I can't figure out a way to respond to comments individually, but thank you all! I so appreciate the time you took to share the photos of your creations! The look I'm going for is traditional, hence the beadboard. We do have some vertical board and batten siding happening on the outside of the house, on the right side of the house, as per the specs, and the wide board with battens might fit right into that. We are in SC, not Texas, but we are in the country with cows as neighbors (and we have chickens and are thinking about getting pigs too). :)

Oh and I really Iike the horizontal board and batten too! That reminds me of my grandmother's house, and other old houses, where they enclosed a porch that was sided in clapboards. Apparently they needed a place to put a stove, so they just enclosed the porch and instant kitchen!

Here are a couple of pictures of the actual house we are building. Will be so glad when the windows come in!

Zookeeper- thanks for sharing your photos of your beautiful older home!

I enjoyed Bob’s pics too!

Skimmed through with interest. All I can say about the horizontal board and batten is: who's going to keep all those battens dust free? If you're a home schooling family with three kids and a farm, you have dust and dirt galore. Yuck.

I thought the same thing, Lindsey. I am a baseboard wiper. I notice other people's baseboards. I cannot imagine the dust collected on the horizontal boards. (((Shudder)))

Mary Ann, I love the looks of the house you are building. Bead board would fit in very well in your structure. Painted board ceilings would as well. My folks have a large living/dining room with painted tongue and groove board ceiling (the walls are paneling from 1980 though so cut some slack ;). The ceiling is timeless. I will take a pic of it today and upload it.

Thank you Providencesparrow. These are very dirty pics. We had a propane heater deposit soot everywhere and a restoration company come out to clean it twice. The blinds are pvc 2" wood look a like and are stained grey and have to be replaced. The clean up effort has made us decide to do some remodeling of the bathroom and the original wood floors, since the whole thing has to be repainted. Which made me want to strip and sand a lot of the trim because of prior sloppy work. It is taking some time, as we actually live 90 miles away.

Vacuum the floor and use an attachment to catch the wall trim once in a while.

There is actually something called a baseboard buddy? or something like that sold at BBB.

Im not giving deign advice but to clear some things up.

Most bead board or ship lap is made from cheap pine which is probably the lowest on the hardness scale in regards to wood In other words it dents and scratches very easily.

Sheetrock is very easily repaired so if damages are your worry I would pic sheetrock any day of the week. Repairing wood isn't as easily repaired.

Us a satin or above sheen such as SW Cashmere and it can be repaired or spotted in very easily. That said the higher the gloss as used on trim becomes harder to blend in.

You can use every product on the planet if you use wood you will get bleed through and it might show up a year later.

I am a wood worker and love working with wood and also like seeing the defects as that is the look i prefer. That said if you do not like that look use MDF. It is more stable and you won't get all the shrinking in between the boards and no bleeding through.

Do not let anyone caulk in between the boards. This will make shrinkage show 10xs as much when the caulk fails.

Anything used in moderation is acceptable. Pic an accent wall or two and use either. They have both been around for a 100 years. The problem comes when you have headboard in every room or shiplap everywhere.

Pick and accent wall and in three years you will be glad you did!!!

Thank you all! Good point on the dirt. We saw some extensive shiplap in a home done with horizontal boards and gaps between the boards about 1/4 inch wide. It was lovely but my first thought was all the spiders and dust that soon move in. And the grease from cooking in the kitchen.

We used this sheet beadboard in our home, you can get it in different thicknesses and different widths. It looks very real but doesn't have the problems of pine Nantucket bead board I notice they are now offering shiplap

Yes, please! I like this bathroom. Simple, calm colors, like the vertical stripes.

I'm a beadboard fan. Used it in my former kitchen, dining room and den. In my present house, just put it in the new bathroom. This is New England.

Den with white beadboard
Dining room and kitchen with stained beadboard.

Just finished this bathroom in our B&B this past week!

After re-reading this post, I'm confused. The OP's initial posting mentions beadboard or shiplap for ceilings...then the OP posted a stair with full height shiplap and said she (?) is concerned with damage to the walls by the children.

Which is it--ceiling or walls? Or both? Or neither...? So confused.

Google wainscot for an alternative for wall protection and visual enhancement, particularly on stairs.

@MaryAnn. We are thinking about building one of the Palmetto plans from Allison Ramsey. Would love to see your finished product. Where are you located?