DIY Geometric Panelling

Panelling has made a huge comeback in the last couple of years, and not just traditional square board and batten. I’d been wanting to create a contemporary geometric panelled design in my home and thought that the main wall in our kitchen-diner would be the perfect place for a feature. Being a new-build house, everything is a blank, white canvas and initially panelling seemed like a huge, complicated job. However, with the right tools and preparation, a panelling project can be really straightforward, even for amateur DIYers (like me!). In this post I am going to list all the quantities and prices of materials I used, and give you some top tips on how to create geometric panelling.

Above are all the materials I needed for the actual panelling. On top of that, I bought one 2.5l tin of Decorating Centre Online’s Colour Match Hardwearing Matt paint, in Farrow & Ball’s Sulking Room Pink, already owned a Combination Square ,and was gifted a 1800w Table Saw and 800w Paint Sprayer by the home of homeware, VonHaus. More on that later!

First Step - Measuring Up

The most important step for us was properly planning out our design and drawing it out on the wall before purchasing the materials. This meant we made multiple trips to the shops, but it was worth it as actually placing the panels was much easier. Firstly, we bought one piece of stripwood and cut the end to the 45 degree angle we were basing the design off of (you can increase or decrease the angle depending on how steep you want your panel lines to be, but all 45 degree angles is the most straightforward way to do it!). We used that piece of wood to draw the outline of the pattern we wanted. My husband then measured all the bits we had drawn to figure out how much stripwood we would need to buy.

Next Up - Angle Cuts

I approached VonHaus to see if they wanted to collaborate with me on this project, as I was determined to up my DIY game and get to grips with some serious power tools. I am so grateful to them for sending me the table saw, which made cutting the 45 degree angles we needed into a quick, painless and actually fun task! Now, if you don’t have an electric saw, you can use a combination square to measure and mark the angle, then cut using a hand saw – it will take longer but will achieve the same result. I still used the combination square to measure and draw the angle on my pieces of wood, so that when I was cutting with the saw I had a line to follow.

The Time Consuming Part – Attaching the Stripwood

On the recommendation of @insidehouse100 (stunning Interior Instagram account, go check them out!), I decided to use Unibond No Nails to stick the stripwood to the wall, rather than use a nailgun to attatch. This was half driven by laziness (I didn’t want to have to fill in the nail head holes before painting) and half by a desire to keep costs down. We applied the glue to the back of the wood using the Cartridge Gun, and laid it over the top of our stencilled lines. This is where we realised that our new-build house did not have flat walls. We have already discovered that none of our floors or ceilings are straight, however the convex nature of the wall meant that we had a few moments of blind panic seeing the stripwood just ping back off instantly when we tried to let go of it. I sent out an SOS to @insidehouse100, and he reassured me that the glue would work, you just had to push the panelling very firmly against the wall for up to ten minutes. That was when I went off to make lunch and left my husband to it!

Caulk, Baby Caulk

I’d never heard of this word before I embarked on this project, and I can’t get enough of it! The purpose of caulking is to fill and smooth any gaps between the stripwood and the wall, to give that properly built-in, finished look. Pop the caulk tube into the cartridge gun, and pump the trigger until the caulk begins to come out. Every time you stop pumping, you need to depress the pressure-relief trigger and wipe the tip. The best way to caulk with a smooth line is to start at the top and move the gun towards you, without hesitation, to avoid getting blobs. Again, remember to depress the pressure-relief, and wipe the tip! Use your finger to lightly run down the line of caulk you have just created, creating a concave surface.

Painting – The Home Stretch!

The final part of creating a beautiful geometric panel feature wall is to paint the entire thing! Before it is painted, it’s really hard to visualise what the wall will look like, and I did find myself fearing I’d created some mock-Tudor monstrosity. However, once the paint is on, the magic happens and the stripwood completely blends into the walls, making it hard to tell what is attatched to where. To again make the project even easier, I used a paint sprayer, but first I went around the edges with a brush so that I didn’t have to spray too close to adjacent walls or the ceiling. My one word of warning if that you have to cover EVERYTHING. Turn your room into a Dexter-style kill room (I joke, I joke…really hope you all get that reference and don’t think I’m a psychopath!). We didn’t quite get this right on first use and I was frantically wiping the skirting board with a wet wipe and had to repaint a bit of the ceiling afterwards! Using the sprayer was THE most satisfying part of the project – the paint seemed to melt onto the wall and it gave perfectly even coverage. The sprayer I used is only £34.99 from VonHaus (it was gifted to me, but I would 100% have bought it), and was also incredibly easy to clean afterwards, which I was dreading slightly.

There you have it! A step-by-step guide to creating this geometric panelled feature wall. I’m already thinking about my next panelling project, as they add texture, detail and depth to the room in a way that wallpaper or paint alone just can’t.

I have to mention that before undertaking this, I was hugely inspired by @angelarosehome and the feature wall she created for her son’s bedroom, as well as all the tips on her Instagram stories. I’ve complied her and other geometric panelled wall images on my Pinterest Board here. For many more videos and ‘behind-the’scenes’ of our DIY panelling project, please follow me on @lydias_layton_life . I would LOVE to be tagged in any of your own panelling projects, if I’ve inspired you!