How to plan a panelled wall
Panelling a wall is mostly planning. Get the measuring and spacing right and the building is straightforward. This guide walks through it step by step — and the free planner does the fiddly maths for you.
Open the free planner →Runs in your browser. No sign-up, no download. Your first wall is free.
1. Measure the wall
Measure the width and height edge to edge, in whichever units you prefer — the planner handles millimetres, centimetres, inches and feet. Note anything the panels have to work around: doors, windows, light switches, sockets and the skirting. Walls are rarely perfectly square, so measure the width at the top and bottom and use the smaller figure.
2. Choose a style
Each style has its own typical spacing and height. Pick the look you're after, then use the matching calculator to see it on your wall:
- Picture frame molding — a grid of mitred boxes; calm and symmetrical.
- Board and batten — vertical battens or a full grid; the popular accent-wall look.
- Shaker panelling — flat, equal panels with matching rails and stiles.
- Wainscoting and dado — lower-wall panelling to a defined height.
- Slat wall — evenly spaced narrow strips.
- Staircase panelling — raked panels that follow the stair pitch.
3. Space the panels evenly
This is where most walls go wrong by hand. The trick is to treat the margins and the panels separately: decide your edge margins first, then divide the space that's left into equal panels with identical gaps between them. The panels — not the gaps — absorb any rounding, so the spacing stays visually even. A few rules of thumb:
- Keep every gap between panels the same.
- Make the bottom margin equal to or slightly larger than the top, so the layout looks centred to the eye.
- Line panel edges up with window and door reveals where you can.
In the planner you can drag any divider, lock a width you like, or type an exact size, and everything else reflows to stay even.
4. Work out the materials
Once the layout is set, the quantity falls out of it. The planner packs every piece onto your chosen stock length, accounting for the saw kerf (the width the blade removes) and the trim you take off each end, then adds a waste allowance for offcuts and mitres. It keeps each profile — battens, rails, panel moulding — separate and prices them individually in your currency, so the estimate you take to the shop is realistic rather than a rough guess.
5. Cut, fit and finish
Work from the cut list. It marks mitred corners and, on a stair wall, the raked cuts, so you can set your saw once per type. Fix the pieces with adhesive and pins, fill the nail holes, caulk the inside edges where they meet the wall, then prime and paint. Painting the whole wall and the panelling the same colour makes the relief read as one piece.
Plan your wall now →