Panelling a Wall: How to Panel a Wall in Five Steps

When working on a home renovation project, you may be considering making your home interior look more interesting. Panelling a wall can help transform your home’s interior if your modern or period property needs a refresh.

Installing wall panels adds character and personality to a room. It’s important to pick the right wall panelling style that will best suit the room you are attaching the panels to, whether that’s Tongue and Groove, Jacobean or Shaker Style.  

If you have never installed wall panels onto a wall before, we’ve got a five-step guide on how to panel a wall.

What equipment do you need before panelling a wall?

Before going ahead with attaching panels to the wall, there is some equipment you’ll need to make installing the panelling much easier. Moisture resistant MDF wall panels are essential as they’ll play a key role in making your panelled wall look incredible, as is a sander and glue to attach them onto the wall.

Other tools that are required include a tape measure, sealant, fillers, a pencil, hammer and pins and a spirit level. If you want a painted finish to your wall panels, it’s worth getting yourself paint, a paint brush and roller. Having all this equipment will make the DIY wall panelling process a lot easier for you.

Step 1: Measure the wall 

Getting the measurements of the wall you are panelling in one of your home’s rooms is key to creating the interior you’ve dreamed of. 

That’s where a tape measure and pencil can come in handy as it enables you to know how many pieces of MDF panelling you’ll need. It’s important that you don’t rush this step so you can have a nice, even finish to your panelled wall. We recommend measuring the room you are panelling at least three times so that you know that you have enough panels to attach on the wall.

You could sketch out a design of how you want your wall panels to look to help you stay on track. Whether you are creating a feature wall for your bedroom or attaching them across the entire living room wall, it will help bring your original design you’ve drawn on paper to life. 

Step 2:  Prepare your wall for panelling

Once you have measured the walls, the next step is to prepare your wall so that you can make attaching the panels a seamless process. What you want is a smooth wall where you can easily attach the panels. If there are any issues with your wall, you’ll need to fix them before going ahead with installing your panelling.

Any plaster or paint that’s peeling off the wall will need to be sanded and smoothed down with an electric sander. This will remove any lumps and bumps that would otherwise show through. By doing this, the sanded wall will make the glue or adhesive stick better.

Step 3: Attach the panels to the wall 

After you’ve prepared the room for panelling, it’s time to attach the panelling. Starting off with the base rail, use strong glue to stick each panel directly onto the wall. You should make sure that you press down onto the panelling for a more secure fit. Once you’ve done this, leave the panelling to dry.

The next step is to begin attaching the top rail. This is where a spirit level can be useful as it can help make sure that the top rail and base level are level with each other. Make sure that you apply strong glue to the top rail, press down firmly and give them sufficient time to dry before putting the remaining panels in.

Continue to add the panelling one at a time and then finish them off with adding horizontal rails between them. If there are any gaps in the panels you’ve installed, go over them with decorators caulk to patch up any gaps, holes or cracks in your wall. Once you’ve filled in the gaps, leave it to dry, before going onto priming the panels.

Step 4: Prime the wall panels  

You’ve attached the wall panelling to the wall, now it’s time to prime the panels. 

At Skirting 4 U, we use an oil-based primer to prime the panelling. If the panels have not been primed, then we recommend priming them yourself with an oil-based primer. After you’ve primed the panels, leave them to dry for a considerable amount of time. By doing this, the panelling will be ready for painting.

Step 5: Paint the MDF wood panelling

After the primer has dried on the panels, it’s time for the fun part, painting the wall panels. It can be difficult deciding on a colour that you want to paint the panelling as you want to make sure it blends in well with your entire home interior. When it comes to painting the wall panels, it’s worth picking either a neutral colour such as white or a bold colour, such as pink or blue.

Once you’ve decided on a colour, you can start to paint the panels. You should begin adding the first coat of paint to the panelling and make sure that you paint it in strips to avoid having a patchy finish to your wall panels. Leave the panels to dry for a couple of hours and then apply your second coat of paint to the panelling. 

Leave the painted panelling to dry and have a look at your handiwork.

We hope this step-by-step guide has made the process of panelling a wall easier to do yourself. For any questions around wall panelling styles, you can contact one of our expert sales team members today.