So, I thought I would put together a blog to show you all how I made my panelling for my office. I am in no way an expert, but I would say this is a easy, more affordable option to do yourself rather than hiring a company to do it. It was a lot easier than I had imagined and with just a few evenings spent, prepping, measuring, a bit of maths and then pencilling it out on the wall…It was ready by the weekend to start gluing and be painted.
What you will need
MDF wood
Painters Caulk
Wood filler
Spirit level
Grip Fill adhesive
Skeleton gun
Wood primer
Tape measure/pencil
Your chosen paint colour
Measure
Start by measuring the width/height of all the walls.
Draw each wall out on separate pieces of paper, include all windows, doors, plugs and switches etc. and write down your measurements.
Work out how wide and tall you would like each panel to be.
For example for mine, I wanted each piece of wood to be 10cm wide & in order for it to sit above the light switch, (which is just how I wanted it to look, otherwise you can have the panels go through them) the wood was 101cm in length.
That way, with 10cm top and bottom and 101cm vertical, the total height for the panels is 121cm (plus a dado).
Example
Please only use my measurements as an example.
You will need to tailor all your dimensions according to your wall sizes and to avoid plug sockets etc.
This is how I mapped out mine....
For my end wall (the main wall you see when you walk into the room) I knew I wanted one of the 10cm panels to sit exactly in the middle of the room.
My wall is 300cm wide, making my first 10cm panel sit exactly in the middle at 150cm (5cm either side). By eye I looked to see roughly how many 10cm panels would then fit either side. This was 3 each side, including the ones that sat right in the corners (making 7). Then all I needed to do was some simple maths…
300cm (width of the wall) minus 70cm (7 x 10cm wide panels, including the middle and corners) equals 230cm.
I had 230cm left to work out the space between each panel. 230cm divided by the 6 spaces between the panels is 38.3cm.
So now I know between each panel there should be 38cm.
Cut the wood
Get your panels cut to size at your nearest DIY store.
We had 2 pieces of 2440mm x 1220mm x 12mm of MDF and asked for as many pieces of 10cm x 101cm as they could to be cut out of it.
Draw around the wood panels in pencil onto the wall so you can see how it will look and adjust accordingly.
Start to glue
Using your pencil markings as a guide, start to glue your panels to the wall.
Glue all the bottom panels around the room on top of the skirting board first - cut any to size.
Using the skeleton gun, wiggle a line of adhesive down the middle of the panel and fix to the wall.
Level
As you apply each panel, you have time before the glue sets to move the panel around to make sure it is straight.
Use your level to make sure each vertical panel is straight before you move onto the next one.
Top panels
Once you have done all the vertical panels, you are then ready to glue the top panels, cut any to size to fit into corners.
To finish off the effect, you will need to add a dado to the top panels to give a clean, sharp look. You can choose any style you like, to go with your room. I chose a plain 1.8cm x 3cm for mine as I didn’t want anything ornate.
Paint
Use a wood/MDF primer to prime all the panels and allow to dry thoroughly.
Mix your paint and start by painting the edges of all the panels through out the room. We also painted the top half of the wall in white at the same time.
Roller your paint evenly throughout the room.
Don't forget to frog tape up the edges.
For dark colours like this, apply 3 coats allowing drying time in between.
After all the paint has dried, I then taped up the bottom of the panels to gloss the woodwork around the room.
You will now have a beautiful room ready to go to add furniture.
Finishing touches
For my look I've used crisp white bedding to pop out against the blue walls and styled with dark navy-blue velvet cushions and other cushions with pattern and texture.
A dark grey corner desk unit with an oak top and placed bespoke oak shelving above with curved feature brackets.
I have added life to the room by placing artwork onto the shelf on the back wall, a patterned rug and accessories.
Tip
You can do this to just one wall instead and add a bit more height to your panels to make a feature wall.
Why not try adding a shelf to your end wall like mine?
Instead of a dado, I've used a wider piece of wood for a shelf to the back wall. This allowed me to add artwork and accessories to make a feature out of the wall.
I have used a 10cm x 1.8cm piece of wood cut to the length of the wall, then fixed to the wall and the top panels in the same way as the panels.
I’m very happy with the end result. I can’t believe it is even the same room. The whole room has an instant calm vibe ready for creativity.
Please let me know below if you have tried it 😊