Decorating with Panels: A World of Possibilities
Decorating with panels opens up more possibilities than you might think. They’re the perfect way to fill your home with charm, transform your doors, or even create a headboard for your bed. If they’re made of glass, they can also allow you to maximize the amount of natural light in your home. Did you think they were only good for classical decor? Think again.
What are panels?
Panels usually feature elegant moldings and are used to decorate doors, walls, ceilings, and windows. Decorating with panels is typical of French Beaux-Arts architecture, instantly transporting us back to the romantic Parisian salons of the 19th Century.
Materials and trends of the past are now more fashionable than ever before. Reinvented and modernized, they’re ready to transform our homes, filling them with great warmth and intricate detailing.
How are panels made?
If you want to line your walls with decorative baseboards, you can often have pressed wood or polymer panels made to order. Either a professional carpenter or a plasterer will be able to help you install them, depending on your chosen material.
The next thing you need to think about is which color you’d like, and which will have the greatest visual impact. And remember, they don’t just have to be white. There’s a whole world of colors at your disposal.
Where can you use panels?
Doors
Doors and panels go hand-in-hand, whether it be main doors or closet doors. Panels with decorative moldings create relief patterns that will give your home a more interesting feature. In fact, they can even help rooms look visually bigger.
Using large, rectangular panels is a great way to make your home look more spacious. The same goes for glass panels, which will give your rooms a more modern feel, and allow light to flow freely into your home.
Glass panels with white frames will give your home a more classical look, while also allowing you to combine different types of doors to create an aesthetically rich environment. These are a great option if you’re looking to create lighter decor, that still has those wonderful charming details.
Windows also work well with panels, whether they’re made of wood or metal. You’ll quickly come to realize that the material you use will have a huge impact on the overall look. If you want to create a more rustic style, wood is undoubtedly the material for you. However, if you want to go for something more modern, metal is great for creating a fresh, stylish look.
Walls
If you want to liven up a plain, boring wall, adding panels with decorative moldings and painting them a more interesting color is a great solution. You could choose intricate, twisting moldings or simple, straight lines. Adding features such as rosettes is a great way to give your home that touch of luxury.
Glass walls with metal frames are another great alternative. They’ll give your rooms a more industrial feel, and even a touch of the Nordic style.
This is a really interesting option if you’re looking for a way to divide your rooms, without blocking out the light with a solid wall. If you’re thinking about creating an open-plan kitchen, glass walls are a great option.
Decorative objects
Another option is to use panels as the basis for DIY projects. If you have some old wooden panels, you can use them to make frames for photos or paintings. You could even make a mirror for your entrance hall, which would be the perfect way to greet your guests.
Use the frames from old windows and doors to hang plants and flowers, make a handy coat stand for when you get in from work or anything else you can think of.
Paneled furniture
Finally, we want to take a quick look at paneled furniture. Incorporating wooden panels into a dresser, nightstand or even the headboard of your bed is a great way to give your furniture a vintage touch.
As you can see, there’s so much more to decorating with panels than you first thought. Now that you know some of the different ways you can use them in your home, you can really make the most of them.