Is panelling nice or just “Chavvy”?

[Diy322]

Just read a post online where someone said panelling is “chavvy”! I’m a little upset as I was planning to panel my hallway.

It’s a new build but I just feel the hallway needs something. Hallway is quite large. What do others think? Please be honest

Thank goodness we have gems like you on Mumsnet to steer us plebeians right 🥹 what pearls of wisdom. I am so grateful for your help….

I have this in my hallway, very low key panelling and probably easy to remove in the future should I decide. But my house is a 100 year old bungalow with large coving and skirting. I also have shutters and old style radiators all of which I think are in keeping with the proportions and time period. I feel these things look out of place in a new build but there are things I think look great in a new build that would look crap in my home - glass balustrades, tiled floors, led lighting and wall lights etc. Try Instagram accounts where people add character to a new build

I've got metro tiles in my bathroom and I love them even though I curse them every week when I have to scrub the grouting so I don't care who says they're chavvy.

I love wood panelling and am about to decorate bottom loo with it halfway up the wall. I don't follow trends, I just like it and don't particularly care if it goes in or out of fashion, I just like what I like.

I was going to panel but have just decided not to. It’s been so overdone it will look dated very soon

Go for what you like. I’ve done a limewash effect which most people seem to hate but I love it, it’s you that has to live with it

I have panelling in my edwardian home. Its not original. The previous owners put it in. We have lived here 18 years. It looks good and in keeping with the house. We get compliments on it. It's practical as the hallway takes a battering.

Go for it if you like it and think it suitable OP.
I'd say giving a fig what anyone things of your design choices for your own home is to be avoided (or at least not admitted to) 😀

Panelling up to halfway is a traditional feature that disguised rising damp in old houses. Full wall wooden panels were more common in grander houses and provided noise deadening and insulation as well as providing a background to art pieces. I think actual panelling is lovely but stick on squares, not so much. I'd put lovely artwork and a console table in your hall

chavvy is the wrong word I think - it will look inauthentic in a new build, but then all those 1930's bungalows which are now totally open plan with massive extensions are also inauthentic - doesn't mean they aren't nice.

The 'panelling lite' version which is basically trim tacked to the walls with pin nails is quick, cheap, easy and totally removable if you just want to add something. The more chunky panelling is going to cost more and probably be harder to remove, but I can't see its much more difficult than it would be to take a load of shelves down if you needed to (panel to a frame, not everything directly onto the wall!)

Panelling won't be a magic want anyway though - you will still need to think about furniture and appropriate flooring and pictures etc - personally i would focus on those first and then see if you still think the walls themselves need something additional - you can also buy panelled coat racks which might be a nice way to add some character but not actually

@VioletandMauve - that’s lovely! What a transformation. We have beige carpets and orangy oak doors as well (our house is relatively new and was very neutral when we bought) and are definitely looking to change it. Not sure I’d manage to persuade DH to paint the oak though.

It may potentially be something that is quite expensive to remove. In the 1980s Artex was really popular with some people opting for big swirling meringue like creations above their heads. Twenty years later, Estate Agents were advising people that they'd have to knock thousands of pounds off the sale price because of the ugly Artex. What were people thinking!

I also remember as a child the fashion of paper dado borders/bands around rooms, but these were relatively easy to remove.

I think panelling may look nice on older houses but would like incongruous on anything that was built after 1950, unless it is built in a reproduction style.

I remember when house buying seeing an 1920s Art Deco apartment block in North London where somebody had attached wood beams to the ceiling and tried to dress the interior like a Kentish cottage. It was very, very odd, especially as the building had these large curving windows in aluminium frames.

I agree with this poster.

You should do stuff to your house because you like it, and you should not do stuff to your house if you don't like it.

You need to spend time looking actual interior design ideas and realistic options, not just trends on social media, and see what resonates.

Some of the stuff I like would be seen as kitsch or cringe, but why would I care about what other people think? I'm the one in my home. The only things that matter to me is making things functional and making things look a way that appeals to me and my family.

If someone came around and said my little retro kitchen was chavvy, or twee, and just a trend, I wouldn't give a shit!

Wood panelling as in the type you find in stately homes is 'chavvy '?

Op, its your home. Decorate it to your taste. You need to love it because you're living in it. Don't give a fuck what randoms think of it.

I think this is lovely...not chavvy at all.

I dislike the chavvy word but new builds and panelling don't work imo.

If it’s a new build can you look at houses that are up for sale on the same estate or buy the same builder to see what other people have done.

I hate faux panels it’s naff.

What about a beautiful stair runner?

Thank you! Yes it did take some persuading, both with DH and with the decorator who kept asking me ‘are you sure??’ before he painted it! He now uses it to advertise himself 😂

I honestly think it’s best to avoid trends. They’ll date and there’ll be a strong reaction against them ( just as illogical and shallow, of course, as the original fashion for whatever it was).

Things like ruddy kitchen islands, everything painted battleship grey, crushed velvet sofas, decking (OK - that shows my age). If you like something, go for it. But if you’re insecure and care what others think, avoid trends because there’ll be a backlash.

@buffyreboot can i ask where your carpet is from?

The star print runner?

I can cope with panels however I cannot say the same for dado rails....

@buffyreboot no, underneath that

This is true, but in fairness in a new build anything could be labelled "faux."

I'm a great lover of old panelling in houses. But op can't make her house or panelling old.