I was asked a while back on Houzz.com about how I transition from beadboard wainscoting to tile.  This came up at recent project in Bloomington, IN and I thought I’d show how I did it.

I’m sure there are various ways to approach this transition.  One of the key factors when tiling up to any adjacent surface is the height difference.  If the surfaces are flush, you can probably just caulk the seam.  You can also use an appropriate metal trim, but I might still caulk between the trim and whatever is next.

For this particular shower I installed a thin piece of trim vertically at the termination of the beadboard.  I left a small gap (around 1/8″) between this and the tile.  This gap was caulked using the siliconized caulk of the color that matches the grout.  (I use the same caulk for the shower corners and where the tub meets the floor, etc.)

It turned out great.

If your surfaces are not flush, I would use an appropriate piece of trim or perhaps a bullnose tile to make a nice transition.  There are also specific metal trim pieces for making a rounded or slanted change in surfaces as well.    I talked more about that in this article.

Here’s my secret tip for amazing caulking:  use painters tape to mask off both sides of the caulk line.  This may take you longer to accomplish, but when you pull off the tape and you are left with a perfect caulk line you won’t ever go back!