The basement of my house is tragically out of date. The downstairs was all yellow tile and cream knockdown textured walls when we bought it, and while we've drastically improved the floor situation, the walls still have me in somewhat of a pickle.

I'm NOT a fan of the texture at all (pic included of random internet wall texture which is as close as I can find), but I'd rather not shell out to have it replaced with all new drywall, and while I know we could probably skim coat it ourselves, we just did that with all the ceilings upstairs, and it's A LOT.

I've fallen in love with the look of dark walls with bright white wainscoting underneath. I think it looks incredibly clean and visually flashy. Is there any hope of doing this with textured walls? Has anyone had a textured wall above with wainscoting (beadboard, board and batten, traditional) underneath and had it not look frenetic before?

Similar texture:

Ideal and Unachievable Goal: