How to Install a Beadboard Kitchen Backsplash (2024)

How to install a beadboard kitchen backsplash yourself and save money! Our DIY beadboard backsplash tutorial.

When we moved into our current home over seven years ago, the kitchen was painted a brick red.

At the time, I was into a rustic, country look, and I was thrilled with our new kitchen.

But this little country kitchen has only one window (the one over the sink), and then a little bit of light comes in from the back door, which also has a window.

The main thing I started to really dislike about our kitchen back then was that it was dark. Very dark.

And if there’s one thing I love, it’s lots of natural light.

You can get a glimpse of what our kitchen looked like before in this post.

Since we couldn’t afford a complete kitchen remodel to add more windows, I decided to paint everything white to try to lighten it up.

Even though I had planned to paint a long time ago, we didn’t get to it until June 2016 (you can see the before and after pictures here).

Tin Backsplash

When we moved in, the previous owners had installed a new tin backsplash. It was very “country,” and I loved it.

But with time and child dishwashers, the tin started to rust, despite the fact that we regularly sprayed it with a protectant spray.

I considered painting the tin white, but the area around the sink had started to wear away entirely, and it was crumbling off the wall. The only thing to do was remove it.

Before we started painting the kitchen, we pulled off part of the tin backsplash because it was covering a part of the wall I wanted to paint.

You can see the photos of the tin backsplash being removed here.

One Year Later

Life was busy and it took us a whole year to finish the job of removing and replacing the tin backsplash. But it was finally gone.

We painted the kitchen in June 2016, and we didn’t get a chance to work on it again (because of time and money constraints) until last summer (August 2017).

When we finally got it all removed, this is what it looked like:

How to Install a Beadboard Kitchen Backsplash

Supplies Used:

One sheet of wood beadboard $19.99
Dremel tool
Electric Brad Nailer
Brad Nails
Quarter Round Trim
Caulk
Screwdriver
Measuring Tape
Spackle
Paint

What We Did:

1. First, we measured the area to figure out how much beadboard we would need.

2. Then, we went to Home Depot to buy the beadboard. We asked them to cut it to size for us, but they refused, saying they didn’t make individual cuts. In the end, the only thing we could get them to do was cut it in half for us so that it would fit in our vehicle (we had a minivan full of 7 people, and we had driven an hour and a half just to get there).

3. Several days later, my husband began cutting the beadboard into the pieces he would need. He used a jigsaw and thedremel for this.

Painting Beadboard

Our beadboard backsplash stayed partially finished until last week, when I decided it was finally time to paint it!

So, from the time we started this simple project, it’s now been about a year and a half! That’s crazy! 🙂

I used this Behr Premium Plus Ultra semi-gloss paint with the hope that it would be very durable and washable.

Finally Done!

For most people, this project could be completed in a weekend, but we’ve had so many circ*mstances preventing us from finishing.

We’re all so relieved that it’s finally done!

We still have a few other simple projects for the kitchen that we’d like to do.

If you look closely at the photo above,you’ll see that we also need to paint the bottom of the cabinets (where they join the floor). Another thing on my to-do list for this spring/summer!

Also, the grill came off the front of the microwave (which was here when we moved in). And the handle came off the door some time ago. I keep hoping we can just get rid of the microwave and put a shelf in its place.

Although now that we’ve finished the beadboard, I’m not going to be too quick to tear anything out anytime soon!

You can see in these photos that I’m still using my homemade soy candles (find the instructions for how to make soy candles in this post).

I have always loved farmhouse style, and I was so thankful that our kitchen already had white cabinets and cute drawer pulls when we moved in.

Seven years ago, when we moved here, I wasn’t sure how well the white cabinets would hold up to five children, but they’ve been surprisingly durable. I kind of love them now.