Erin Napier's interior design style is known to celebrate the original architectural features of a house, which most often means to keep woodwork intact. However, there are exceptions. In an episode of “Home Town”, neither the specialist for the renovation of the home nor her client wanted to do something with the dark, synthetic wood paneling, which the living room walls of a plot of 1962 disguised with three bedrooms.
Wood paneling may be stylish because designers and homeowners try to increase the cosiness and warmth of the interiors. It also helps to promote a connection to nature through such organic materials, but only if it does not lower the mood of the room. In this case, the cladding felt depressing and sucked the light from the room. Napier decided that it was best to get rid of it completely and replaced it perfectly reflected with lighter, air -rich drying wall, which was perfectly reflected by a soft, cream -white, the natural light that came from large windows on both sides of the newly refreshing open space.
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If it is best to get rid of wood paneling
Old classic wall with vintage brown beech wood panels – Denisik11/Shutterstock
Wood cladding can polarize. It was once so omnipresent that home buyers of the early 21st century did not want to have anything to do with it, and strive to distance themselves from any design style that reminds of the excessive houses in which they may have grew up. Lately, the trends of surviving lines and all-white interior have turned away. Instead, homeowners prefer historical or character -rich architectural details that feel living spaces such as wood paneling. If your fixer group has this characteristic function on the walls, how do you decide whether you want to keep or remove them?
After Erin Napier's lead, they let off the cladding when the room looks dark and scored. All-round wood paneling in rooms with reduced natural light can feel quite claustrophobic. They are better off to fade the wood or wash the wood to give it a lighter spot, paint a bright, elegant color or to remove it as a whole. For a more measured approach, dark wood cladding can be the outdated design trend, which is actually perfect for your accent wall. If you hold this decorative cladding in a delimited area like behind a fireplace to a minimum, you will honor the original architecture of your property, while the space is modernized for your taste.
Nevertheless, one of the best tips from Napier to keep a home historically accurate during a renovation is to maintain and restore all wall cladding that is made of solid wood or contains a complicated craftsmanship. This type of woodwork has become so rare in the real estate today that it should be preserved and should not be destroyed.
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