DIY Tongue & Groove Cladding
Updated: Apr 21
This is the hardest project that I have accomplished to date and I am so proud of myself. I had never done anything so ambitious before, other than sanding & painting my staircase, and there was no way to know if it would come together. 6 months in and it still looks just as good as when I finished, so I must’ve done something right! #diy #diycladding #tongueandgroovecladding
First things first, think about the room
This room gets virtually zero natural sunlight. It is west facing, which usually means that you get a bit of sunshine in the afternoons. Not this room. You see, by the time that the sunshine reaches this side of the house, it’s blocked from view by the huge hill that we live on. This means that this room is in perpetual shade.
And what’s the best way to deal with that? Distract from the fact.
"I decided that I wanted a feature wall to draw the eye to stop you from realising that the room is dark."
It was easy to decide which wall should be the feature wall. The larger wall which you see as soon as you open the door.
What Type of Feature Wall?
I’ve always loved panelling but I wanted something that would suit the feel of my home. Board and Batten panelling is very popular at the moment and it looks great, but I thought that it would make this room look a bit too much like a hotel room. I wanted a cosy homely space.
Given that our home is in the middle of the English countryside, I realised something a bit more rustic and imperfect might work best.
Tongue & Groove Cladding
You might think that this is the easy bit. Just stick up some panels and you’re done. Nope!
I knew that I wanted the panelling to go high up the wall. I didn’t want it to take up the whole wall as I wanted a bit of a contrast at the top for a nice paint colour and I knew that I wanted to hang some lights above. But finding the cladding was actually really difficult.
"Trouble is, I couldn’t find any ready prepared cladding in the correct size"
All the DIY videos that I watched on YouTube suggest buying ready prepped wood. Great idea and I would definitely recommend this if you can. Trouble is, I couldn’t find any ready prepared cladding in the correct size. I suppose that there isn’t much demand for it.
"I had to prepare the wood"
The only Tongue and Groove Cladding that I could find in the right size was from B&Q. It wasn’t sealed or primed and reading the reviews I knew that I needed to get some spares. I’m so pleased that I did as some boards were warped, broken or had holes. Fair enough, it is wood and very thin wood at that and it wasn’t sealed or primed, so I knew that it wasn’t perfect.
This meant that I had to prepare the wood.
Preparing the Wood
If your wood needs prepping, then the first thing is to make sure that you seal the knots with knotting solution. This prevents the natural sap of the wood from seeping out and ruining the paint.
"I applied a mist coat... 30% water to 70% paint"
Next up, I applied a mist coat of paint as per the instructions from the paint brand that I was using. This was 30% water to 70% paint, the idea being that the wood will absorb the paint and not be such a waste of paint. Normally, I would have applied a primer, which of course you can do, but I decided to simply go with the mist coat because that was what the brand had suggested. So far so good, my panelling still looks exactly the same as when I finished it six months ago.
My way vs others
You may or may not know, but I’ve had quite a lot of videos go viral on multiple social media platforms. And without fail I will be told by many men, I don’t know why it is always men, that I have done everything wrong. I am certain that there are far better ways to do a project like this, which would be why you would hire a professional. But I am not a professional and I do not have all of the equipment readily available and I do not know where to source the best materials.
What I do know, however, is that I did this project in the best way that I could manage all by myself whilst navigating various limitations. Let me outline a few of them for you here.
"Do whatever suits you best, so make sure you plan it through to the finer details."
Wonky Walls
As I’ve never done a project like this before, I did not appreciate how walls are not straight, despite what they may seem. This means that you need to make sure that you use a spirit level in order to keep your wood panels straight.
Lack of Space
Had I possessed a larger home, with a workshop, a large garage, or simply a large space where I could lay out 45 wooden panels, each of which 2m in length, then perhaps I would have prepped the wood before securing to the wall.
As it happens, if I had a large enough house to do that, chances are that I would be pretty wealthy and therefore I would pay someone to do this project for me. If you are panelling a small wall, however, you might be able to prepare the wood before attaching to the wall. I personally am not sure if this is the best way, a better way, or a more logical way than securing straight to the wall first. Given that I had no idea how many coats of paint I would need, and ending up with five coats in total including the mist coat, I found it easier to manage having the wood attached to the wall.
"be the judge of your own workload"
Plus the final panel always needs to be cut to the correct width, unless you’re super lucky to have a wall that happens to be the exact width of 40 boards!
Oh, and you don’t even end up using all the boards as some are warped or damaged so it seems a waste of time to paint them all only to find you can’t use some. You can be the judge of your own workload here. Do whatever suits you best, so make sure you plan it through to the finer details.
The fun bit
The fun bit of any project is always the painting. The prep work is always the least fun but is usually the most important so please do not skip any of the prep work and make sure that you thoroughly research what you need to do for the materials that you are using for your project. That means follow brand instructions as well as researching.
I ended up with painting four coats of paint on top of the mist coat. At least, I think I did from memory, it was a while ago now. One thing I am certain of is that it took me a very long time, used an awful lot of energy and I ended up with my whole body feeling very tired and achy after I had finished this project.
"follow brand instructions as well as researching"
The finishing touches
My original plan was to add a peg rail on top so that I could then have a little shelf for propping up things like pictures and hanging plants. In the end, I realised that if I added shelving on top it might feel like the room was a little bit boxed off and the ceiling was perhaps a bit lower than it actually is. So I decided to just add decorative beading which I already happened to have. This worked really well and I’m so happy with the final product because it also meant that it was easier for hanging up the pendant lights on either side of the bed.
The absolute main thing to remember with this or any DIY project is to do thorough research, including researching the actual products and materials that you will be using as some instructions will relate to completely different products and you may have to treat different materials and products differently. And don’t skimp on the prep work!