DA DO DAH DADO

Like the leaning tower of Pisa, after a week our cladding panels are still standing.  That miraculous Sticks Like Shit glue worked a treat.  In the Chi Carpentry School register all pieces have been marked present and correct.  What a relief!

 

It's still on the wall!

To top the cladding panels, we’ve fashioned our own dado rail from two different strips of pine moulding (Wickes) to glue into position along the top edge as most of the rebated dado rails for sale on the internet did not drop sufficiently at the front to cover all our mismatched cuts.

 

Use different pine mouldings to top your cladding

If you are on a super scrimper DIY budget like we are, using a combination of different ornate pine mouldings can be a cheaper way of achieving a dado look to finish off panelling.  These smaller sized mouldings are easy to cut and glue into position.  To give you an idea of what you could save - a deep rebated dado rail from the Victorian Emporium would have cost £30 for a 2.4 m length alone whereas £35 in Wickes paid for 6 x 2.4 m lengths of pine moulding.

 

Great but a bit over our budget

That said, I would highly recommend the Victorian Emporium as their products are of a very high quality and they are one of the few places I know that can supply edging/beading in pretty much any length you want. 

Dado fixed, I’ve sealed the cladding with two coats of undercoat and have chosen to paint them in a Dulux colour called Celtic Forest 3 which is a pistachio toned green darker than the existing wall colour to add a bit of contrast.

 

Undercoated and ready to paint

So far, so good.  The cladding has added a nice homely feel to an otherwise stark staircase and it’s great to see that a lot of home renovators are now using wood cladding in their room designs.  Although it can be a bit old fashioned, I’ve always liked the overall look of it along a wall, adding character to rooms such as bathrooms plus it can be used to hide a lot of unsightly bodges or uneven walls.

First coat of paint applied to staircase cladding