Mad About … Panelled Walls

I do love a panelled wall. I know we can’t all live in Georgian mansions but a little panelling, even a little tongue and groove is a great decorative feature. I used it in a bathroom where it’s much warmer than tiles and, while I wouldn’t advocate it in a completely modern house, if you choose wisely it can work in most period properties.

Have a look at the following and see what you think. I love the simple wooden panelled walls in this Danish cottage. Mind you, a vintage red Tolix chair does help set it all off perfectly.

The panelling has been continued onto the ceiling here too. Often it’s a way of covering up some dodgy plasterwork although I suspect this is a wooden building.

In my last house, there was wooden panelling up the stairs which we rather loved and spent many an hour rubbing down and trying to remove the orange varnish. However, our builder pointed out that it probably wasn’t original and had no doubt been put there to cover up some dodgy plaster. And, as the house, had been treated for subsidence, I have to admit that he was probably right. Still, it looked great.

Look closely at the room above because if it was left in its original wood colour, you would all be screaming alpine chalet, but the addition of a few coats of white paint and suddenly it’s a different thing altogether.

Using white panelling walls gives another layer of texture to this otherwise plain white room.

In the image above it has been left in its raw natural state and does look fantastic although at the first sign of orange, I’d have the paint brush out.

As I mentioned earlier, using tongue and groove in a bathroom gives a much warmer look than tiles. The room below belongs to Anwen Pegrum, who runs the vintage furniture store Peastyle . Her gorgeous house was featured in Style at Home .

She said: “We opted for panelling here in the bathroom mainly to hide all of the plumbing and the tongue and groove particularly suited the traditional bathroom suite that we had chosen.

“We wanted a colour scheme that was soft and muted so went for a timeless greyish green which is really easy on the eye.”

It’s House of Colour by Homebase – Silver mist in a quick drying satin – for anyone who’s interested.

This rather large, high-ceilinged room looks great with the panelling on one wall. It’s a much more elegant look than tongue and groove.

It looks like the fitted wardrobes have been hidden behind panelled doors which is a great idea as I have never yet seen a fitted wardrobe that I could live with.

And finally, if you don’t want to spend lots of money on panelling then there’s always the wallpaper option as illustrated brilliant by Young & Battaglia.