How to Panel Multiple Walls in a Room: Complete Planning and Installation Guide
Panelling multiple walls in a room transforms an ordinary space into something truly special. Rather than the piecemeal look of single accent walls, multi-wall panelling creates a cohesive, luxury finish that adds significant value to your home. With multiple walls panelled, you can create striking visual effects like feature corners, wrap-around designs, or cohesive colour schemes that tie the entire space together. However, achieving that seamless, professional appearance requires careful planning, particularly around measurements, ordering, and ensuring consistent alignment where walls meet.
Here is a guide outlining key considerations to keep in mind before placing an order. It covers measuring, ordering, fitting, and managing dado rails.
Considerations Before You Start
The Two Main Approaches
Option 1: Individual Wall Kits - Order a separate kit for each wall. This is simpler to plan and install but may result in slightly different spacing between walls, creating minor visual discontinuities at corners or between column spacing.
For example: If one wall is 2400mm wide and another is 2200mm wide, shaker columns may not line up exactly across the corner, and both walls would have slightly different column spacing to each other.
Option 2: Combined Kit - Order one large kit sized for the total width of all walls combined. This ensures perfect spacing consistency but requires you to cut the panelling down for each wall and precise planning.
| Option | Pros | Cons |
| 1. Kit Per Wall | Simpler to order, pre-sized | Groove/batten spacing may not align across corners |
| 2. Combined Total Kit | Consistent spacing across walls | Needs cutting down, more measuring up front |
The choice between these approaches depends on your skill level, available time, and how critical perfect alignment is to your desired outcome.
Why Multi-Wall Panelling Needs Planning
- Groove alignment or shaker spacing across adjoining walls
- Wall thickness impact at corners
- Ordering panels to fit either individual walls or full room dimensions
Measuring Your Room Correctly
- Measure each wall from corner to corner
- Account for skirting boards or dado rails already in place
- Check both wall width and height for accuracy
Internal Corner Adjustments
Deduct panel thickness (e.g., 9–12mm) from adjoining walls when measuring. For example: If one wall has shaker panelling at 12mm thick, subtract that from the width of the adjoining wall.
External Corner Adjustments
Add batten thickness to walls wrapping around an external corner.
Shaker Panelling
Shaker panelling creates a timeless grid-like pattern using vertical battens (columns) and horizontal rails. The key to professional-looking results across multiple walls is achieving consistent spacing between vertical battens, especially where walls meet at corners.
The Core Issue:
Each wall's batten spacing is determined by dividing the available wall width by the number of battens. When walls have different widths, this creates different spacing between battens, leading to visual discontinuity at corners.
Example of the Problem:
Wall A (2400mm): 4 battens = 465mm spacing
Wall B (2200mm): 4 battens = 425mm spacing
40mm difference in width creates different panel spacing on each wall.
Option 1: Individual Wall Kits
How it works: Order separate kits sized for each wall's adjusted width.
Pros:
- Simpler to plan and order
- You can tackle one wall at a time
- Easier to manage storage and delivery
Cons:
- If each wall is a different width, there is potential for different batten spacing on each wall.
Option 2: Combined Kit
How it works: Order one kit sized for the total combined width of all walls.
Combined width = Sum of all adjusted wall widths
Example: 3000mm + 2482mm + 1982mm = 7464mm
Order one kit for 7464mm total width
Pros:
- Perfect spacing consistency across all walls
- Continuous visual flow around corners
Cons:
- You will need to cut the horizontal battens to size for each wall
Corner Considerations
When panelling multiple walls:
- Always measure wall widths from corner to corner.
- If two walls meet, the panelling on one wall will reduce the starting point of the next wall by the panelling’s thickness.
For example:
If Wall A is 1000mm wide and your battens are 9mm thick, once Wall A is panelled, Wall B now has 9mm less width starting from that corner. So you would record Wall B’s width as 991mm instead of 1000mm.
V-Groove Panelling
If you are planning to panel more than one wall using V-Groove panelling kits, there are some key layout and visual considerations that can affect how seamless your installation looks.
1. How V-Groove Kits Are Supplied
- V-Groove panelling is cut into boards no wider than 600mm each for easier handling and delivery.
- If your wall width isn’t an exact multiple of your chosen groove spacing (80mm, 120mm, 180mm, or 220mm), the two end boards—on the left and right—may be narrower than the other boards.
- Groove Spacing Impact:
- Groove layout is always centre-aligned. This means grooves are balanced around the centre of your wall, not simply repeated from left to right.
- End segments may therefore be smaller to maintain that balance.
2. How Panels Are Cut for Joining
It is likely that you will have multiple boards making up the width of one wall. They are cut so they can be joined along a groove. This creates a seamless finish - grooves appear continuous with no visible flat panel joins between boards.
Left and Right End Panels:
- The panels at the very left and right of a kit are cut at a straight 90-degree angle - not along a groove so that they sit flush against the wall.
- These panels may have a narrower width than the standard groove spacing due to centre alignment.
3. What This Means for Panelling Multiple Walls
If you order a separate kit for each wall, each wall’s groove layout is calculated independently.
This means:
- Groove spacing may not match perfectly where two walls meet - especially if the end panels on both walls are narrower than the main groove spacing.
- At the corner join, you may see two smaller groove segments next to each other rather than a continuous groove pattern.
If you order one combined-width kit for all the walls together you can maintain consistent groove spacing across multiple walls, however you will need to cut panels yourself to fit each wall.
4. Handling Dado Rails
Shaker panelling often finishes with a dado rail on top:
- For internal corners, you must mitre cut the dado at a 45-degree angle so it meets neatly.
- For external corners, order additional length of dado and cut mitre joints outward.
➡️ Best Practice:
Order dado separately rather than as part of your main kit, especially for multiple walls. This allows extra flexibility and helps ensure you have enough for corner cuts.
