WOOD PANEL PLANNING

‘Can’t we cheat and buy one of those off-the-shelf panelling kits?’ moans the other half at the thought that my latest and greatest home improvement idea might involve the dreaded ‘C’ word.

Panel kits?  Not at those prices

‘C’ for cutting or carpentry – either way, he hates it almost as much as he hates people walking down a street clutching a cup of coffee or wearing overly large cans (headphones) both of which have him spitting feathers in seconds. ‘Bloody morons should learn to live in the real world’ he’d shout out if he could but in today’s permanently outraged, wokey, cancelled-at-the-drop-of-a-hat society, best you can do is stick on a poker face and say nothing.

Don’t you worry your pretty little head, darling. Minimal cutting required. Off you pop and play with your racing cars. I’ll call you when you’re needed. Men!!!

The beauty of working part-time is you can devote an entire afternoon to simply measuring up walls because as I’ve discovered with these panelling projects, it’s all down to accurately working out what sizes to cut your timber.

To this end, I’ve broken the corridor down into 7 separate sections; one for each panel square to be constructed. From an aerial view, the area we’re working on looks something like this – one long straight run, three sections round the kinky bit, two surrounding the toilet door and a final bit leading to the understairs cupboard.

Two of the various sections to panel

Bugger! Each section consists of completely different sizes; no two areas are alike. I like symmetry for this type of job but unless you create each section with verticals of different widths then it’s not going to be possible to make identical rectangles or squares. I’m just going to have to live with the fact that no two panelled areas are going to look the same. OK I can live with that (just).

The long straight radiator wall

To keep things simple, panels will be fashioned from 9mm thick MDF and sit on top of the existing skirting board. Using similar measurements to the panelled section we made in our bedroom, all horizontals will be 14 cm wide and all verticals 12 cm wide.  A picture moulding will be used inside each frame and a dado rail to cap the top of each panel section.

Decide on the height of your panels.  Most people go with a third of the total wall height but really this is a matter of personal choice.  Whatever height you choose, ensure that this is in keeping with the overall proportions of the wall and panelling style.

Shaker style panels look better as tall, slim segments whereas for  Victorian/Edwardian styles I would use larger square or rectangular segments.

Draw a pencil line on the wall to mark the height of the panels (less dado rail).  To determine the height of each vertical piece, deduct both the widths (2 x 14 cm) from the total height.  

Example:  My panels are 94 cm total height.  94 cm less 28 cm = 66 cms.  Each vertical piece will measure 66 cms long x 12 cm wide.  

Your horizontal panel pieces will be the linear measurement of each individual section being panelled x 14 cm wide. 

Remember – measure twice, cut once. The all-important mantra of any home improvement project.

Now that I’ve got my MDF shopping list scribbled onto the bag of my cereal packet, I’m off to chat up the chaps in the timber mill once more.