WOODEN INTERIOR ACCENTS
Wooden slats: designer faux pas or a wonder for walls?
When we think about decorating walls, we usually gravitate to one of two options: paint or wallpaper. There is, however, a third option that is persistently chronicled in high end interior design tomes and that’s panelling.
Square panelling – the type usually stained dark brown, adorned with decorative mouldings and seen in stately homes - is a timeless classic but it’s very hard to transport this style from its period echelon to a 21st century home. Unless it’s original, the advice is to love square panelling from afar.
There is a wooden alternative that can have an immense impact in the modern home and that’s wooden slats. A quick internet search will show how property styling has embraced the slat over the years – and lessons can be learned.
Thin but wide slats affixed to walls were commonplace in the 1960s and 1970s. If you need a visual guide, Google Don Draper’s office and check out what a mid-century designer interior looked like. The sets from the hit TV show Mad Men replicated the chestnut brown wood panelling that was very ‘of the era’. Nostalgic? Maybe. Dated? Definitely.
The 1980s saw the wide adoption of tongue and groove wood panelling. Walls were fitted with pine planks that were fitted together with no gaps and often left in their natural state. The end result? Rooms that resembled Swedish saunas with a rather orange glow.
Today, interior designers prefer narrow, timber slats. Individual battens or panels with pre-fixed slats can create an amazing wall statement. Today’s preference is for slats to be set with a slight gap in between, which creates a more contemporary look. The choice of wood is also broader, with slats available in larch, walnut and ash. Oak is still around too but in smoked, washed and grey finishes.
Wooden slat considerations:
For a sophisticated drop-shadow effect, paint the wall the wooden slats will sit on in black or dark grey or green
Allow roughly a 1cm gap between each slat
Consider LED illumination, which can sit between, above or below the slats
Colour-match your slats to the rest of the room’s décor by painting them
To avoid overkill, confine slats to just one wall or just the bottom half of a room
Affix the slats vertically, unless your aim is to create the illusion of a lower ceiling
If you need help choosing the right wooden detail for your walls, please contact Rudolph Diesel Interiors for guidance.