Wall Panelling for Hallways and Stairs

Introduction

How on earth do you design your hallways and stairs? It can be challenging enough to decide on the perfect Irish interior design for your bedroom,  kitchen or bathroom, but what about the spaces in between? We think we’ve found the answer in hallway and stairs panelling.

Decorating the parts of your home which connect different rooms with different styles to each other can be tricky.

Thankfully, there is one simple solution capable of significantly improving the aesthetics of your halls and stairs, in a way which naturally blends into your overarching style: wall panelling.

Wall panelling is Ireland’s hottest interior design trend, and in this article we’re here to show you how you can use wall panels to elevate the look and feel of those hard-to-renovate spaces. Let’s get started!

What Are Wall Panels?

Wall panels are panels—often made from MDF, wood-plastic composites, or sustainable plastics like PU—which resemble natural materials like wood, stone and marble, but cost just a fraction of the price.

Wall panels can be installed directly on top of existing indoor (and sometimes even outdoor!) walls to quickly transform a room by injecting new colours, textures and shapes.

Here at Tile Merchant, we stock a wide variety of different wall panels which you can use to reimagine the design of stairs and halls in your home, business, or worksite.

Let’s take a look at some of the wall panelling for hallways and hall stairs options you have to choose from.

Different Types of Wall Panelling For Hallways and Stairs

Wall panelling comes in lots of different shapes, sizes, materials and finishes. Here are 5 of the most popular in Ireland right now.

Wood Wall Panelling

Woodlux wall panelling is made from affordable yet supremely durable MDF, making it both a lightweight and budget-friendly panelling option. Woodlux panels are available in a variety of different traditional wood effects, from oak and walnut to ash and more, as well as in various modern and attractive colours, like rich navy blue and crisp light white.

Acoustic Wall Panels

You’re less likely to need soundproofing in your hallways and staircases, but for some households and businesses an extra level of sound-reduction might be exactly the ticket!

Acoustic slat panels look and act like wood-effect wall panelling, with one key added benefit. Acoustic panelling is designed with tall vertical ridges and foam inserts to dramatically reduce unwanted noise around the home.

Wood-Effect Slat Wall Panels

Here are some of our most affordable wall panelling for hallways and stairs. Wood-effect slat wall panelling is the most popular, most common, fundamental type of panelling from which all other panelling takes its cue.

Available in a huge selection of woods and natural wood tones, slatted panels are often the best choice for panelling your hall and stairwell.

UV Marble-Effect Cladding

A strikingly unique alternative to wood-effect panelling is UV marble sheets. Marble is one of the most recognisably luxuriant and elegant interior design materials, but costs a bomb and can be tricky to work with.

Marble-effect UV panelling combines a UV-resistant top coat with a composite polymer core to create a strong, lightweight, fade-resistant wall panel which replicates the look of marble for a fraction of the price.

PU Rock-Effect Panels/Sheets

Polyurethane is a plastic compound used to make hundreds of thousands of everyday objects, as well as these gorgeous natural stone and rock-effect wall panels. PU rock-effect sheets work like UV marble sheets, replicating the look and, most importantly, the feel of natural stone.

Available in a range of natural and modern colours, stone wall panelling could be the key to unlocking your dream hallway and stairs design!

DO YOU LIVE IN IRELAND? Order free samples of wall panels today!

Design Ideas For Stairs And Hallways With Panelling

Let's discuss about the various ways you can install wall panels in hallways and stairs.

There are lots of common styles of panelling installations—such as feature walls—which simply don’t work in hallways and on stairs.

That’s why we’ve compiled this list of 3 popular wall panel designs specific to the trickier parts of the home. Let’s take a look!

Half-height Panelling (AKA wainscotting)

Wainscotting is what we call it when you install wall panelling at about hip height along your halls or up your stairs. Half-height hallway and staircase panelling allows you to retain existing colours and wall decorations in these areas, whilst refreshing their look.

In fact, wainscotting is arguably the most traditional and common way to install panelling, especially on stairs. If you’re going to opt for a half-height installation, however, make sure you grab a matching dado rail to run along the top of your chosen wall panels.

Full-height Hallway Panelling

Floor to ceiling panelling hallway designs are also popular amongst Irish interior decorators. Suited to wider, airier and lighter halls and staircases, full-height wall panelling can create the illusion that your spaces are taller and more spacious than they actually are—thanks to the long vertical lines of the panels. It also offers a bolder redesign than wainscotting.

Under-stair Panelling

Specific to staircases, you can also use under-stair panelling to frame and elevate the look of your stairs. This wall panel design idea sees you installing panels beneath the stairs, rather than as wainscotting going upstairs.

How to Panel Your Hallways And Staircases

The beauty of wall panelling—from UV marble sheeting to acoustic and slat wall—is that it’s designed to be super simple to install. Most of our wood-effect wall panelling for hallways and stairs is built with a tongue-and-groove design that allows pieces to simply be clicked together.

To attach our panelling to your Irish indoor walls, all you would then need is a strong and reliable adhesive like Bostik Turbo Bond which you can use to glue your panels either:

• Directly onto the existing wall surface, or
• Onto a wooden frame for the panelling you’ve installed between wall and panel.

Once you’ve got the hang of installing wall panels in conventional spaces, panelling hallways and staircases is a total breeze!

The only thing you need to be extra careful with is measuring and cutting your panels to size. Because hallways and stairs can include sharp and irregular angles, you need to make sure you’ve cut each piece of panelling perfectly to size before you stick it to the existing surface.

5 Benefits of Hallways With Panelling and Panelling on Stairs Wall

Still not quite convinced? Let’s take a look at why installing wall panels in hallways or panels in your staircase area is a great idea!

• Protect your walls: Wall panelling protects the walls beneath from spills, stains, scrapes, scratches, and any other potential damage.

• Quick and affordable way to renovate: Far faster than painting and more affordable than real wood or marble interiors, wall panels offer Irish homeowners a cheap and straightforward way to renovate their halls and stairs.

• Lots of styles and finishes to choose from: Whatever your style, whatever your preferred palette, there will always be enough variety of panelling to choose from.

• Add flow and texture to plain spaces: Wall panels add instant texture, dynamic energy and flow to the spaces they’re installed in. For areas of the home you are constantly moving through or up—like the hallway and staircase—this sense of flow adds to the overall experience of being in those spaces.

• Connect disparate elements of your interior design together: Lastly, wall panelling can be used to connect contrasting or disparate elements of your interior design together.

Do your bedroom and kitchen have completely different styles? Connecting them with a uniform wood-effect wall panel installed throughout the halls of your home can help give your house an overall more rounded and homely atmosphere.

Which Panels Are Right For Your Hallway and Staircase

Choosing the perfect wall panel for your hallway or staircase panelling project can be challenging—not least because there are simply so many gorgeous panels to choose from!

Ultimately, the decision should come down to a few key considerations:

• Budget: How much are you looking to spend on the renovation? Are cheaper panels going to suit you best?
• Space: How complex is the space you wish to panel? For winding, angled staircases, you might want to work with something that’s easier to cut into awkward shapes, like UV Marble Sheeting.
• Style: Do you want a traditional wood-look style of panelling, or something more modern like marble? Is rock-effect cladding more your thing?
• Colour: What colours currently comprise your unique Irish interior design palette? Is your home full of bold colours which need something softer and more neutral to calm them down? Or is it the other way around? Remember, the colours you choose to decorate your home can actively affect your mood!
• Maintenance: How much maintenance are you willing to do to keep your wall panels looking brand new? The good news is that most of our panels are super low-maintenance, but some might still require more care than others.

Conclusion

Having made these considerations, you should have a clearer idea of the type of wall panelling best suited to your individual needs. Try to find panelling for your halls and stairs which either match or compliments existing colour schemes and décor.

DIY installation is fine if you’re confident in your abilities, but remember that hallways and stairs can be more complicated to panel than other areas of the home. As such, don’t feel ashamed about calling in the professionals if you’re feeling unsure about the process.

And finally, as always, the team here at Tile Merchant are available to answer any and all questions about our products.

Give us a call or visit us in store to learn more. Browse the full range of Tile Merchant panelling for stairs and panelling for hallways today. And don’t forget, we run a Fully-Free Sample Service on most of our panelling products, so you can try them at home before you commit to a bigger buy

Why Tile Merchant?

We offer extremely competitive pricing on our entire range of tiles and likewise. We stock a huge range of wall and floor tiles and our prices are competitive for retail and trade. Our stock is widely available in our tile stores in Dublin and Ashbourne (Co. Meath) which are open 7 days a week.

Alternatively, if you’d prefer to shop our tiles online, we can supply you with samples delivered for free.

---