Wall panelling that looks built in, not stuck on

Where panelling earns its place

• Behind the television, where it hides the cable routes and gives the screen a frame. See TV units and living rooms.
• The wall behind the bed, as a headboard that runs the full width, often with reading lights set into it.
• The entrance and the dining wall, the first wall guests see and the backdrop to a crockery unit.
• Next to a wooden partition, so the slats on the divider and on the wall read as one design.

Fluted, flat or framed

• Fluted or slatted panels have vertical grooves that catch light and shadow. They look best with a strip light grazing them from above or from the side.
• Flat veneer or laminate panels give an even wood or stone look over a large area and are the easiest to wipe clean.
• Framed moulding — beading laid out as panels and painted — suits a classic room and is the cheapest to change colour later.

Two of these on one wall, such as a flat centre panel between two fluted strips, is common on TV walls. Three or more usually looks busy.

What it is fixed to decides how long it lasts

Panels glued straight onto plaster follow every wave in the wall and come away where the plaster is weak. A level framework fixed to the wall first gives a flat surface, a gap for wiring, and a way to take one panel off later without damaging the rest.

Check the wall for damp before anything goes on it. External walls in the monsoon and walls backing onto a bathroom are the usual suspects, and damp hidden behind panelling spreads unseen until a panel stains or swells.

Joints, edges and switches

• Plan where the joints fall so they line up with the room, not wherever a sheet happens to end.
• Finish exposed edges with a matching edge band or trim; a raw board edge is the first thing to chip.
• Mark every switch, socket and light point before the panels are cut, so the cut-outs are neat and nothing ends up half covered. The same first-fix thinking applies to false ceilings and lighting.