Wood Paneling to the Rescue!
Whether you have a small wall in your home that you are struggling to decorate or a large wall that looks too blah and blank, adding wood paneling can instantly transform the space while being budget friendly. So, what is wood paneling? Board and batten, wainscoting, shiplap, beadboard, picture framing are just a few terms that I am putting under the blanket of wood paneling. I have used it in several rooms throughout my home and it instantly made the space feel special and more “designed”.
This is my favorite wood paneling that we’ve done in our home to date, adding board and batten to our guest room made these standard 8 ft. ceilings feel loftier! There is actually no board in this board and batten. When the walls are smooth, you can just paint everything white and it delivers the same effect. We used 1x4s for the vertical and horizontal bars. How do you determine the spacing of the boxes? I took blue painter’s tape and laid out the design on the wall so that I could better visualize it. Once it looked right to me, I measured the space in between to provide a rough estimate of the distance I wanted between the bars. Of course, you then have to factor in the length of your wall and the length of each “batten” and adjust accordingly. Get ready to put those fifth-grade math skills to work!
Here is a rough list of the materials used for this board and batten. I purchased all the supplies and had someone else install (they had a heavy duty saw and nail gun and more patience than me!)
- Paint Color: BM Chantilly Lace
- MDF 1×4
- MDF 1×2
- Liquid Nails
- Dap Patch & Paint
- 3M Medium Grit Sanding Sheets
- DAP Alex Plus All Purpose Caulk
In our master bedroom, there was a closet door on one side of the bed and a wall that curved into the room’s door on the other side. So, a full wall of board and batten was not as practical. Instead, we opted for vertical panels three quarters of the way up the wall and created a little “header” by adding a decorative 1×2 directly on top of the 1×4 that ran across the top. We did not want to remove and replace the existing baseboards, so we installed a 1×2 to run along the length of the baseboard so that the vertical bars would sit flush and I am very happy with how this “trick” worked out. You can see a peek of it on the bottom left.
While remodeling our upstairs bathroom, the space was feeling lighter and brighter but it was also feeling a little empty. Adding bead boarding to the lower third of the wall pulled the whole space together and was an easy solution to decorating a bathroom. Can you picture the above bathroom without the beadboard? Not as cute, right?
When I had the opportunity to design my mother-in-law’s bathroom, I knew I wanted to add shiplap to one of the walls. Since it was such a small bathroom, I wanted to make high-impact decisions and went with a more dramatic, dark focal wall. Dark paint seems to be trendy but I think paired with the classic, coastal feeling of shiplap it was less of a design risk. Another bonus of adding the shiplap is that it covered up the outdated textured wall that was there. Win, win.
Here’s another example of how shiplap (combined with the power of white paint on those bricks!) transformed the fireplace place design I put together in my sister’s home. Gah! I love a good before and after.
You could also get as creative as your heart desires. I love how my friend Janelle of Lark Interiors installed this plaid inspired wall paneling in one of her designs. Talk about a WOW factor!
Or how my friend Jackie installed wallpaper above hers for a double whammy of design! It was also the perfect compliment when you want to go bold with a wallpaper but do not want to overwhelm the space with pattern.
I hope this has given you a couple of ideas on how to fill up those blank walls or spaces in your home that don’t feel quite finished yet!