Raleigh New Home Trends: Beadboard Ceiling Treatments

What Are Beadboard Ceiling Treatments?

Check out these Raleigh custom homes with beadboard ceiling treatments. Beadboard treatments are a classic feature - and they are being added to more transitional (not just traditional) style new homes.

Front Porch Beadboard Ceiling Treatment

What is a Beadboard treatment?

Beadboard, also referred to as "tongue and groove," is a treatment (usually a ceiling treatment) that gives a routed design to previously flat panels or flat wood coverings.

Beadboard treatments give the home a traditional, classic look.

A Beadboard design is incorporated into this covered front porch.

What is Beadboard made out of?

Screen Porch Beadboard Ceiling

A Beadboard Treatment can be created using individual wooden planks (commonly pine, cedar, or even plywood), beadboard panels, or even vinyl.

Generally, individual tongue and groove boards will be more costly than full panels, and stain grade beadboard will be more costly than paint grade beadboard.

Beadboard can be either painted or stained, depending on the materials used. Beadboard is commonly painted white, stained a natural tone, or left in its natural wooden state.

Where can Beadboard be used in a home?

Beadboard is not limited to porch ceilings.

In fact, it can be used throughout the home, including on foyer and sunroom ceilings, on kitchen cabinet doors, and as on wainscoating for hallways, dining rooms, mudrooms, and bathrooms.

Barrel Vault Beadboard Foyer

Check out this Barrel Vault Foyer with natural wood Beadboard Ceiling.

This custom home foyer incorporates two elegant features into one area, creating a personal style and dramatic entranceway.

What's your goal?

Whether you are building a new home, or looking to make some changes to your current home, Beadboard ceiling treatments and wainscoating designs can be a unique addition to any room.

Want to read about other popular Custom Home Trends?

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Are Stainless Steel Appliances Going Out of Style

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Wrap Around Front Porches - Styles and Trends

What is a Barrel Vault Foyer? Pictures of Barrel Vault Foyers by Custom Home Builders

Concrete or Wood Front Porches | Which is Better?

"Chapel Hill home builders seem to install both concrete and wood front porches and decks. Which is better?"

As a Chapel Hill area custom home builder, we are asked many different questions, like this one: "Should we ask our new home builder for concrete or wood front porches and decks?"

See which you like better in these photos of porches, decks, and screen rooms.

Chapel Hill home builders, like others in the Raleigh-Durham region, use a variety of materials for front porches and decks. Chapel Hill Home Builders | Concrete Front Porch

Most entry level homes are built with slab foundations and ground level concrete porchs.

Mid-level homes are usually built with a crawl space foundation in place of a slab, with the entry to the home several steps up.

Some have concrete porches with brick steps (pictured here), and some have deck porches with wood steps.

What’s the best approach?

When you ask a Chapel Hill home builder to create your new home, they will usually leave those kinds of choices up to you. What do you think looks and feels best? That’s what you should go with – as long as the terrain and home design accommodate your choice.

Here are some things to consider:

Concrete Front Porches

- Don't need to be repainted

- Don't peel

- Don't lose water protection over time

- Are easy to clean

- Hold up better under foot traffic from high heels, sports shoes, kids and pets

Wood (Deck) Front Porches

- Can be painted or stained with a variety of colors

- Need to be repainted or resealed over time

- Can collect debris in the cracks between boards, inhibiting water run-off.

- Require more upkeep

- Can be more costly, depending on the size and height

- Can add personality through color and accents

From an aesthetic point of view, wood or concrete is a matter of taste and preference. Both can be very appealing, and can really add to or change the look of a new home.

What’s the difference in cost?

Depending on height and ground conditions, the cost may be about the same for a treated wood front porch or a concrete front porch.

If the front porch is several steps above ground, a concrete porch may require at least some amount of backfill and compacting to support the concrete, which can add to the cost. Of course the cost for concrete can also increase if a "stamped" version is requested.

Ask your Chapel Hill home builder what type of front porch they build on standard homes. Let them know the lot and floor plan you're considering, and they should be able to tell you what your options are, based on porch size, type of foundation, slope of land – and, of course, your budget.

Learn More About Chapel Hill Home Builders and Building Your New Home in the Chapel Hill Area

Contact Stanton Homes at 919-278-8070 or see our online calendar for our next "Meet the Builder" event, and bring us all your custom home building questions.