Originally designed to protect walls from furniture and the general chaos of the house, panelling is enjoying a serious comeback in home interiors.
The earliest examples of panelling can be traced back to the 13th century. The Victorians were more recent fans, applying panels from the floor to the mid-wall and topping it off with a dado rail. Many Victorian homes in the UK still have this highly-coveted feature (along with elegant ceiling roses and elaborate cornices), leading those in newer homes to adopt the trend too.
I speak from experience. My home is a newly built flat but that hasn’t stopped me from adding panelling to the hallway. Rather than shrinking the space, as many claimed it would, it’s made the narrow dimensions feel more spacious and interesting.
Since I was working with awkward dimensions and lots of recesses and corners, I chose to DIY my own panels.
This involved picking wood trim at the DIY shop, ordering sandpaper and a mitre box to cut precise 45° angles and borrowing a handsaw from my neighbour.
I measured everything out and sketched where the panels would go on paper first, before placing decorator’s tape on the walls to make sure I liked the placing. Carefully, I cut the wood trim to size and sanded off the jagged ends to get a smooth edge, making sure each piece fit against the taped counterpart before applying zigzags of No More Nails to the back of the wood and holding it in place to the wall next to a small spirit level (to ensure it was straight) for a few seconds as the glue dried.
Once all the pieces were up, the next step was to caulk everything to seal the gap between the wall and the wood. Squeezed out from a skeleton gun along the edge, run a wet finger over the caulk afterwards to smooth everything out and create a perfect finish.
My final job? Painting the lot from the dado rail down to the skirting board.
As a novice, it took me a weekend but the job would be a lot quicker with a proper workstation and power tools. Once you get the hang of angles, it’s fairly easy.
The only thing easier? Having a ready-made wall panelling kit with all the measurements and timber pre-cut for you.
Such is the popularity of wall panelling in all its flavours - shaker, wainscotting, shiplap and wood slat to name a few - that many DIY companies have now launched all-in-one kits in response to the demand (and one assumes, to stop their timber cutting services from becoming overwhelmed).
These kits are perfect if you’re planning to panel a single straight wall or buy multiple kits to thread together around the room - although you’ll probably still need some tools to trim off potential excess wood. It’s an easy way to bring a timeless style into your home and is a DIY beginner-friendly project to try.
If you’ve spent evenings swooning over panelling, now’s the time to make your dreams a reality. We’ve rounded up panelling kits in the most popular styles to get you going.
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Blueprint Joinery Paint Ready Wall Panel Kit 3 Panels
The details: 6 x Decorative Mouldings (12 x 32 x 700mm) and 6 x Decorative Mouldings (12 x 32 x 420mm).
It's one thing gazing at Pinterest images of panelling, and another thing getting the right design for your space. Unless you're lucky enough to be fitting panels to the kit’s exact dimensions, most panelling will require some cutting or altering.
Blueprint Joinery understands this and has designed its wall panel kit to be mixed and matched with others in its range so you can create a bespoke look.
This kit contains three wall panels measuring 70 x 42cm, all pre-mitred to create perfectly sharp corners. There's no dado rail to top it off so you'll need to get your own or buy an additional kit with one. The plus? All timber has been given a generous coating of PaintReady primer so once it's on the wall, it's ready to paint.
Buy now £40.00, B&Q
Cheshire Mouldings Decorative Dado Wall Panel Kit - 2x 1m
The details: 1 x 2m decorative dado, 6 x 515mm decorative mouldings (pre-mitered), 6 x 690mm decorative mouldings (pre-mitered).
Squares and a dado rail - this is what most people picture when they think of wall panelling.
Cheshire Mouldings' kit has been cut on 45° angles, giving a professional finish that anyone can install. Buy multiple kits to cover larger stretches of wall or use one to create a feature out of an unloved area. The kiln-dried pine is smooth and ready for paint or wood stain. Simply measure, cut if needed and apply to the wall with adhesive or hardware.
Buy now £28.00, Wickes
EASIpanel Tongue and Groove MDF Standard Wall Panel - 915 x 516mm
The details: Thickness: 8mm (6mm thick with a 2mm adhesive foam tape to aid installation on the back of the panel).
Shiplap or tongue and groove-style panelling is arguably the most straightforward version to try and EASIpanel's kit makes the job so simple.
Perfect for high-traffic areas like the kitchen, hall or staircase, the pre-cut panels create a boarded look - which, incidentally, is great for covering up tired plaster - and once painted looks professionally done.
Each piece measures 915 x 516mm with grooves cut into it to make it look like slimmer individual panels. Buy as many as you need to cover your space and trim the excess before glueing or nailing to the wall. Barely any measuring or sawing, you won't believe DIY can be this easy.
The cherry on top? Next-day delivery is available.
Buy now £25.00, Homebase
Walls and Floors Trepanel® Autumn Brown Oak Acoustic Wood Wall Panels
The details: final measurements are 2400 x 600 x 21mm
Aside from protecting walls from everyday dings and dents, panelling can help absorb sound - especially the slat style. Most often seen on feature walls or behind home entertainment units, FSC wood veneer slats rest on strong felt backing to soak up noise, adding texture as well as insulation.
This kit can be installed solo, although it will be quicker and easier with two. It can be fixed to walls or ceilings with screws or a tube of Mapei Super Grip Panel Adhesive.
Buy now £89.96, Walls and Floors
Rasch UK Dimension Panel Off-white Wallpaper
Wainscoting: looks great but can be quite complicated to achieve. This wallpaper offers the cheat’s way to do it, with a large-scale pattern complete with drop shadows to give a 3D effect. It’s a classic look that won’t date and would look superb on a big expanse of wall.
Buy now £13.99, B&Q
Shaker-style wall panelling complete kit
The details: 5 x MDF strips (1000 x 100 x 9mm), 8 x MDF strips (500 X 100 X 9mm), one Instant nails adhesive cartridge that needs to be used with a skeleton gun.
Not only does this kit come with cut MDF pieces, but there's adhesive thrown into the bundle too. And the company claims you'll even get same day dispatch if you place your order before 2pm, meaning your wall panelling vision will come to life before you know it.
This kit will create a shaker style of panelling which looks great in every room of the house but especially the entryway or lounge. Each kit covers around 3m and can be easily painted to finish the job.
Buy now £28.65, Amazon
Wall Panels World MDF Wall Panelling Kit - 324 Panel Moulding, Primed
The details: MDF Dado Rail (60mm x 25mm x 3050mm), 3 x Square MDF Panelling (95mm x 9mm x 3050mm) and 4 x MDF Wall Panel Moulding (30mm x 16mm x 2440mm).
Who knew it was hip to be so square? Wall panel obsessives, that's who. Say hello to one of the most popular panelling styles around, as seen in luxury hotels throughout Western Europe.
The pre-primed MDF panels are designed to sit above an existing skirting board and be capped off with the dado rail. The square panels inside the design measure 600mm x 600mm in they are installed as suggested, but you can take things to a fancier level by adding your own corners like these.
Buy now £121.97, B&Q
Wall Panels World Vienna Classic MDF Half Wall Panelling Kit - Primed
The details: 1 x Ogee 2 MDF Dado Rail (70mm x 25mm x 2440mm), 8 x Vienna MDF Panel Moulding (72mm x 24mm x 1220mm) and 8 x Vienna MDF Panel Moulding (72mm x 24mm x 600mm).
Make like the Victorians and add panelling to the lower part of your room. Rather than making the space feel smaller, you'll be stunned at how the split widens the space in most cases.
This all-in-one kit includes a top dado rail (also known as a chair rail) and 16 pieces of square-cut moulding, all made from lightweight MDF to avoid overloading walls.
The pack covers around 2.88 square metres (H - 1.2m, W - 2.4m) if you use the kit as it is designed. The wood is primed, meaning it's ready for emulsion without needing to prep.
Buy now £136.55, B&Q
Homebase Shaker Wall Panelling
The details: (H)1220x(W)100x(D)9mm - 6 Panel Pack
Breathe life into a boring room with Homebase's pre-cut Shaker wall panelling pack. The six-panel kit adds texture to lounge and bedroom walls, making a blank canvas much more appealing and homely.
Cut from strips of FSC-approved MDF, the pieces have been left natural to make painting them in your shade of choice easier. If they're not exactly at the size you'd hoped, they're easy to trim to size. Fix using glue, nails or screws depending on the material of the wall beneath.
Buy now £18.00, Homebase
