Colleague DIY – wood panelling

Thanks to Instagram and other social media platforms, it's easy to look for ways to improve our homes with DIY projects.

This is exactly what Helen Chan, CRM Campaign Advisor at Co-op Insurance did. She decided to transform her bedroom with panelling, which is a popular decorative treatment of walls.

After months of scrolling through home accounts and admiring the results, Helen set about installing the wooden panels in her own house.

Gather the tools

Before starting on the project, Helen grabbed the tools and materials she would need to create the panelling. These included a measuring tape, MDF wood, panel pins and strong adhesive, as well as a spirit level, sandpaper and dust sheets. She also picked up some decorators caulk, primer and brown paint.

Decide on a look

Helen spent hours online looking at different styles, from the shaker style to the Jacobean-style grid and fielded. She went for the shaker style, often known as batten and board. This features 6 columns made from 7 battens, plus a batten for the top and bottom frame.

Measure the panels

Once Helen had decided on a style, she figured out how much MDF she would need.

To do this, Helen measured the width and height of the area that was being panelled. As she wanted 6 columns, she then needed to decide how wide the battens would be. She went for 11cm wide battens and 38cm spaces between.

Helen also needed a batten for the top and the bottom, so got 2 at 305cm long and 11cm wide. The formula she used was:

Total width of all 7 battens (7x11cm = 77cm) – width of wall (305cm) = remaining width (228cm).

Remaining width (228cm) ÷ 6 = space between each batten (38cm).

The length of these vertical battens was calculated by the total width of the top and bottom battens, minus the height of the wall covered: 186cm – (2x11cm) = 164cm.

The thickness of the wood depended on whether the panelling was going above the skirting board and/or level with a door or window frame. Helen went with 6mm. She also got a couple of 38cm battens to use as spacers.

Fix to the wall

Helen started by laying the first bottom batten horizontally above the skirting board, tacking it to the wall with panel pins. She didn’t knock it all the way through as she wanted to be able to remove it.

Helen was also careful not to damage the walls, as well as any electrics or water pipes that were behind them.

She continued adding battens vertically, checking they were straight with a spirit level and spacing them out evenly.

Once Helen had the vertical battens on, she added her top batten and drew around each batten with a pencil to giver her a guide of where to attach. After that, she removed the panel pins and fixed each batten to the wall with adhesive.

As her house has uneven walls, the battens didn’t sit flush so once the glue had dried, she filled in gaps with decorator’s caulk.

Paint the panels

Now that all of the battens were in place and she had filled in the gaps, it was time for Helen to prime and paint. She made sure she protected her furnishings and avoided any unwanted spillages using dust sheets.

If you’re house proud like Helen, don’t forget to cover your pride and joy with buildings and contents insurance.