We've shared some of the smaller elements of our planned master bathroom design over the year or so, all in anticipation of our eventual project. From the antique clawfoot tub that has patiently awaited its restoration for the last 10 years while lurking in our basement, to the antique buffet we picked up a while back with the hopes of watching it magically transform into our vanity, our choices are like a giant jigsaw puzzle pieces waiting to be fit nearly together to reveal a grand vision.

In any bathroom renovation where one works to ensure everything from the largest to the smallest detail is accounted for, it's important to take the time necessary to research and weigh your options before making any permanent leap you might regret. Sure, the decision between a gigantic and even more enormous rain shower head is an important one, but so is the toilet we'll buy, tile we'll use, light switch we'll install, style of light we prefer, and location of the all important toilet paper dispenser.

In the end, all of the decisions, both big and small, add up to a load of options and choices that ultimately combine to become our bathroom, for better or worse.

One decision we've been considering for quite some time is a decidedly decorative but major element in what the finished bathroom become. This major design element...wainscoting.

It's no secret that Wendy and I are both fans of wainscoting. We did our own custom raised panel wainscoting up the stairs...

...and carried that look into our guest bathroom since it sits immediately adjacent to the stairs.

On Pinterest Wendy pins bathroom after bathroom with either wood or tile wainscoting, and it seems like when visiting other old houses with period detail we're always saying to each other, "Did you see the wainscoting in that room?"

Photo Credit: for the love of a house

While we love our stairway and bathroom raised panel wainscoting for the design aspects, and the fact it provides a great form of wall protection in a high traffic area, the raised panel detail is not really authentic to the Victorian period of our home. We're actually okay with this, but we don't want to keep doing raised panel in every room where we want the detail. However, we absolutely want to do wainscoting of some type in our master bathroom.

The initial debate seemed simple on the surface is "wood vs tile," but in actuality it was quite far from a simple decision. In order to make this fight between dissimilar materials fair we went ahead and made a pros and cons argument for each.

Tile Pros: Wendy and I love a good subway tile wainscoting. It's classy, classic, and clean. Subway tile is prevalent in old homes for the last 150 years and has a look that will truly never go out of style (even if the grout color you choose will). It fits with our home and aesthetic, works with the intended look of the room, and becomes rather warm and inviting in the winter, and cool and calming in the summer.

Tile Cons: Tile can be a bear to install, especially over about 33' of horizontal surface. We almost killed each other over the three days it took to do our kitchen backsplash, so the epic bathroom might just do us in for real. We want to use a handmade tile in the shower, which would need I match the rest of the room, which would mean a somewhat to very expensive purchase (33' x 4' tall = 132 sqft of tile @ ~$20 per sqft...wowza). Tile requires grout, which requires sealing, which requires extra cleaning, which results in frustration in hard to reach places.

Wood Pros: Wood wainscoting is more forgiving than tile. It's straight forward to install, deals better with wavier walls of an old house, and doesn't require a million tile spacers that just keep falling out over and over and over. Of the various profile options, many are true to the period of our home, and simple tongue and groove boards are relatively quick and easy to install. It can be painted to whatever color you choose, so it never goes out of style, and it is less likely to end in a catastrophic divorce than tile. It also tends to be cheaper than tile, but I think the avoiding divorce part plays into that aspect quite a bit.

Wood Cons: There are a whole lot of profiles to choose from, so that's a whole different ball of wax. Installing it requires nailing strips and a bunch of additional prep work. Once installed you still need to paint it. And you have the risk of expansion/contraction and movement causing unsightly cracks that require maintenance. Surprisingly to many, wood isn't necessarily all that inexpensive, especially if you're using a nice and reliable clear paint wood species like poplar.

After much deliberation, we simply couldn't get over the level of effort required to install tile. And to be honest, the cost played a supporting role in our decision. We envisioned night after night of exhausted arguing and swearing, and the risk that wavy walls would ultimately undo any hard work and effort we'd ultimately invest. For this reason, and the fact that we liked many of the wood wainscoting profiles quite a bit, we opted to go with wood and begin selecting our favorite profile.

We decided to refer to the Mad River Woodworks catalog to determine the various profiles available. Obviously this isn't an encyclopedia of all wainscoting profiles, but I know their selection is good. We want to use a full 3/4" stock so our options came down to three different profiles which amounted to either a single bead (WC 101) or double bead (WC 100) with a wider looking board, or a small looking board with a single bead (WC 102).

At this point we're still debating which one to choose. We have our favorite and we're in the process of obtaining an estimate, but we'd love to hear your opinion before we place the final order. So which is it for you? 

• Wider single bead - WC 100
• Wider double bead - WC 101
• Narrow single bead - WC 202
• Scrap the whole wood idea, stop being lame about how "hard" it is, and just do tile.

We'd love your input on the subject. Unlike the debate about whether or not to paint our antique doorstop, I can't say that votes will necessarily sway Wendy one way or the other (just being honest here), but we'd love your input on the matter. I mean, it is kind of a big decision.