Pick my new walls!

[melannen]

So as I think I maybe mentioned here a few times that we are currently re-doing the basement apartment, after a ten-year tenant moved out, in hopes that I can move down there (more-or-less) and have my own place while still not leaving Mom alone.

Mom was hoping for a quick redo, but the tenant had planned to only be there six months or so while they arranged permanent housing, so we had left a lot of things that already needed fixed undone to get them moved in fast, and the things that needed fixed were then ten years further on, plus the tenant had never been a tenant before and hadn't really gotten the hang of "tell the homeowner if something needs fixed, don't just jerry-rig and make do" so among other things there were several long-standing water leaks we didn't find out about that had messed up some of the walls and flooring.

Anyway, that is lead-up to: I need to buy new wall paneling for three walls: two short walls in the kitchen, and one short wall in the main room. The rest of the place is 70s fake-wood paneling directly over studs/furring. The ceilings are old off-white suspended panels. I want to get the new paneling the same for all three walls.

It needs to be;
4x8 foot panels;
heavy-duty enough to go directly over studs without drywall or other solid underlayer.

This already limits our options a lot, because neither of those things are the currently trendy kind of paneling.

I would prefer:
mildew-resistant;
light enough in color to not further darken a basement apartment;
not heavily textured in a way that will attract grime and be uncleanable;
not terribly clashing with the current 70s-tastic decor, and also not almost-but-not-quite-a-match;
I can go down to the shop and pick it up curbside.

It would be nice if:
I like it;
It wouldn't be dated immediately;
It would go reasonably well with my general bog witch/mad scientist/tiny used bookshop decor theme.

Here's a collage of the best options I saw, that at least fit "needs" and most of "prefers":

Poll #25220 Paneling

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 54

View Respondents

What kind of paneling should I get:

View Answers

1. Beaded white wainscoting (but full-height)
17 (31.5%)

2. "Canyon stone"
12 (22.2%)

3. Just plain white
8 (14.8%)

4. Gray "Homesteader" faux faded wood planks
12 (22.2%)

5. Fake aged brick
4 (7.4%)

6. Fake brown wood that's very close to current style but maybe more golden?
4 (7.4%)

7. Natural-finish "real" ash
19 (35.2%)

8. Beaded wood-finish wainscoting (but full-height)
2 (3.7%)

9. "Chalked hickory" white washed fake wood
28 (51.9%)

New tan rubber flooring in living room

Large gray stonework fireplace in living room

Cabinet doors in kitchen and brown wood paneling on all other walls

Old brick vinyl flooring in kitchen (probably staying, unless rest of kitchen fixes utterly destroy it.)

The molding is all going to be white because that's the only option for pvc and given the recurrent water problems and general damp I wanted pvc.


My thoughts:

1. Won't clash; classic; will definitely brighten space; will show marks really easily; just enough texture to collect grime, not enough to hide it.
2. Pretty; enough texture & pattern to hide grime and marks; might be almost-but-not-quite a match to the fireplace in a bad way; enough texture to be hard to clean.
3. Won't clash; classic; will brighten space; easy to clean or paint; will show marks really easily; boring.
4. Light, but enough color to not show marks; not heavily textured; very different style of wood than the other paneling - is that good or bad?; gray weathered wood is super trendy right now but I'm not that fond
5. House exterior and basement window wells are brick; some of the paneling that's coming down is a dark brick, so this would lighten up a little without a huge change; will hide marks easily; might be just too similar to the brick vinyl flooring; textured enough to be hard to clean
6. Looks pretty similar to current paneling, which has been very durable and livable. Might be just different enough to look weird in comparison. Not actually super fond of current paneling.
7. Less textured than current paneling; like it more; not really any lighter; is real wood, might be harder to install, or might make other paneling look extra cheap/bad/old
8. Classic, but might clash with current wood; will hide marks more than white but be less bright; same texture question
9. Will brighten up space, but not flat glaring white; similar to current paneling in texture but a different color - might pass as a different finish over the same paneling? Would that work?

I'm actually kind of leaning toward 9 right now but I'm changing my mind every ten minutes. (And of course it would be nice to be able to go to the store and look in person, but, you know, plague.)

Comments

[pyraxis]

Disclaimer: I abhor this kind of cheap 70's paneling, and I'm in the process of expunging it from my place one room at a time. In every circumstance I prefer drywall, or natural materials like actual stained pine or cedar, or reclaimed wood paneling, that unless you know someone with an old barn, are probably more expensive than you want for a basement rental apartment.

That said, I think 1 and 9 are the least offensive and most likely to go with the other textures in the apartment. 1 may show grime but would be easy to repaint.

[melannen]

It's not my favorite aesthetically speaking, but on practical grounds it takes an astonishing amount of punishment, for what it is, and is relatively easy to tear down and reinstall, which given the reasonable chance of future leak problems is not a zero percent risk. Give it another couple decades, if the current leak fixes hold and global trade routes are still going, I'll probably do a real reno and replace it all with something else.

Besides in five years it probably won't be visible for the shelving anyway *sweatdrop*

That said, people like you are why I had so few choices. :P It's all shiplap and barn wood these days apparently. You did vote the same way as me though so you're forgiven.

[pyraxis]

Haha, I won't pretend I'm not an artistic elitist, and I apologize that my first comment on your blog was something so adversarial. Feel free to ignore my personal taste entirely.

I actually didn't know they still sold this kind of paneling in a variety of options. I've only ever seen what seems like the same few patterns (essentially 1, 6 and 8). But I'm also in Canada, where we tend to get fewer commercial choices than the USA.

That's a fair point about the leaks. I have leaks in my own basement right now and a wall of drywall half torn out, and no plans to replace it at least until the spring.

[melannen]

Hey, no worries! Am always happy to talk to a new person, and I know the temptation to only speak up when you have something contrary to say. :D

Yeah, since the paneling is installed with just finishing nails into studs, and it's such big pieces and lightweight and reasonably flexible, it's super easy, especially compared with drywall or more complicated paneling. (Now, cutting the sheets to exactly the right size will be less fun.)

I was actually surprised there was so little choice - somehow I figured there would be, like there are for most consumer things in late capitalism, a dizzying array of options in every possible color scheme, and the 70s are coming back anyway, but nope. We're putting in wall-to-wall heavy-duty rubber flooring (for similar practical, it's-a-60-year-old-concrete-basement reasons) and I was expecting very limited options there, but I think there were actually more for the flooring. I never did find the paneling equivalent of the get-your-rubber-flooring-here website I used for the floor tiles.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Is Masonite board rated for the damp of the situation? Don't know if you can still get that, but it used to come in your white and flecks, various backgrounds and foil, and then your more basic clipboard dark.

Too bad pressed 'tin' got so trendy.

Flooring is more plentiful because that started as commercial/industrial.

[marginaliana]

I think 1 and 9 are probably the best. The wood-toned and fake brick options will be too dark and also not-quite-matching with the existing wood. Whereas white wainscoting is classic enough to fade into the background, mentally. And the whitewashed fake wood would add a touch of style.

I think if you're envisioning a comprehensive do-over in a short amount of time then maybe go for 1 because it's so classic that you can remodel around it. Whereas if this is going to be a five year + project then you might want to go for 9.

[melannen]

The plan is to do a quick get-it-livable and fix-the-long-running-problems redo right now, basically, but if it ain't broke don't fix it.

(And that's a lot - leak fixes, all new floors, probably nearly complete bathroom redo, redo of kitchen sink and cabinets, new windows, all new molding, major fireplace repair, new baseboard heaters, these walls, probably mostly new doors. And then whatever surface fixes like lighting fixtures and things I still have the energy for after all that.)

My guess is unless there's another huge water problem or something, we won't do anything else as major as this for decades at least, though.

[lannamichaels]

I'm into 4 and 9, probably more 9 than 4. I like that they are textured, not just one color but kind of heathered. 4 is different enough that you could do some patterning in it if you wanted, 9 seems more regular. I like that shade and you can do more things with stuff on the walls if you wanted and have that as a generic background, and it's not overwhelming.

[melannen]

I think I lean toward 9 over 4 because it's a closer match in general texture philosophy to what's there, and also I think I prefer the gray coming from a wash rather than from weathering, because tbh if your wood has weathered to that color indoors you have some pretty major problems! The trendy stuff in paneling (and fake wood flooring) at the moment is to look like it's been outside in the sun for a hundred years, which is cool for exteriors, but a basement?? How did it fade??? I know what hundred year interior old wood panel looks like, it's what's in my uncle's house and it's not that. I feel like that's one of the trends people will be regretting in twenty years, like the 70s brown we have now. /aesthetic rant over

But it's really hard to tell what the real different between them is just from online pictures, tbh.

[lannamichaels]

Yep. :( In general I like to go with lighter colors, however, there is someone who lives near $relative and every time I go into her kitchen, I remark on how amazing the use of color there is. She's got bold orange and blues and idk, she's an interior decorator and you can absolutely tell. It's just a fantastic use of color. Meanwhile, the one time I got to pick a paint color, I went with light purple (and did not regret it). But unending "brown wood" brown wood paneling screams hunting lodge to me and I would rather have light-pastels/neutral walls than that. And I love brick a lot on the outside, but not so much on the inside.

[melannen]

Yeah, honestly I was hoping there would be options for paneling that wasn't trying to look like something else? Like, idk, give me some bright Futurist patterns* or something. Lean into the possiblity of your material! But the closest to that was whiteboard or pegboard, and - no. So instead my options are look like drywall, look like stucco, look like wood, look like masonry.

But I will inevitably make the space look chaotic and cramped with all the books and junk anyway, so whatever. And I have good emotional associations with the decorating choices of my very early childhood, so there's that.

*we haven't got around to new bathroom paneling yet, but you get a different grade for bathrooms. My bathroom decorating theme is "Astromech units" so we'll see where that goes for panelling.

[lannamichaels]

Is wallpaper an option, even strategically placed?

[melannen]

Maybe, but I have not historically had good experiences with wallpaper + damp, and I am doing all the planning around this with an assumption of continued damp, in the hopes that will mean we don't have any.

[lannamichaels]

That is very sensible.

[melannen]

The plain white is supposed to take either wallpaper or paint even better than drywall, so there's that, and I do have some experience from theater crew of painting patterns onto wall panel. :D

That is why I wish there were more baked-on pattern options though.

[lannamichaels]

So the plain white is the most customizable?

[melannen]

Probably! It's least good if I never get around to the customizing, though.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Celestial intervening is a leading cause of basement bleach.

Just don't risk fauxing it.

Scary are the individual plastic tiles.

[out_there]

The wainscoting (1) looks narrow on that shot, so I'm wondering if it would be a bit much on a full height wall.

For a lighter but similiar look, the whitewashed wood (9) looks like it would go fairly well and not clash too much.

Of course, being me, I actually prefer the plain white (3). I'm not a fan of wood or brick walls, so I'd be inclined to put up a plain white wall with plans to give it a coat of paint to soften it. (I like how easy it is to repaint if you want to change the look of a room, but I also have every internal wall in my place painted vanilla tan, a warm pale neutral that goes well with gloss white skirting boards and doors.)

[melannen]

I think it's standard for beadboard? So like, idk, 6-8 inches. You're right that it might be a bit much, especially with the other paneling (where it might just be a bit of interest if the other walls were just white drywall.

I like the plain white too! IDK if I will have the energy to paint though, is the downside.

[cuddyclothes]

New York City apartments are painted Yellow Tan, but in our case it's called Navajo White, which folks call Landlord White. I don't like it because of the yellow tone.

[vicki_rae]

I like #9. It's light but not stark, and the vertical groves and surface pattern are interesting and rustic / less formal.

#1 and #3 would show marks worse.

#2 and #4 and #5 have horizontal groves that would trap dirt and be harder to keep clean.

#6 and #7 and #8 are pretty dark for a space where light is an issue.

[melannen]

I agree!

Of course that's the one that's *not* available for curbside pickup anywhere...

[harpers_child]

If it were my space I'd make it plain white or something like #7 and get one of those murals that's a big sticker. Full disclosure: I've been looking at the big sticker murals for the cubby space my desk is in at my house.

This is the one I'm most tempted by at the moment: https://society6.com/product/cat-in-the-garden_wall-mural . There are some Morris prints and Van Gogh pieces also on that list.

[white_aster]

I will agree with #9. I am tempted to just embrace the non-matchyness and go with the faux brick, but it does look like it'll be a pain to clean and thus will be annoying, and above all, you don't want your walls to be ANNOYING. The standard white is also an option, but yeah, will be less durable/need painted, which again, might be annoying.

The browns I'm a little afraid will clash in person with the existing browns you have, as you note. If it's a paneled look, though, given the different color I'd go with something texturally similar, so yeah...#9.