Ah, our beloved hex wall. The project we’ve worked on for almost a year. One of the most long-lasting and arduous DIY journeys we’ve embarked upon – but it doesn’t have to be for you too. Matter of fact, the DIY itself is remarkably simple, but I’ll let you judge for yourself.
So here it is, the highly requested reveal of our hex wall; the home project that has given my husband the superhero nickname of “Hex Man” – why we chose this pattern, how we did it, the reason it took so long, and what we’d do differently if we were ever bonkers enough to do it again.
The Inspiration
This is the wall that started it all.
One particularly blustery day, we had found ourselves, like so many other weekends, wandering around an artisan market surrounding Manchester on the hunt for a locally sourced dinner and to help support independent makers. We stumbled across Lost and Found in Knutsford, Cheshire and were blown away, not just by the food, but the interior.
Eclectic all the way-through with dungeon-esque loos and patterned wallpaper to die for on the stairway, but the showstopper for us was the panelled walls.
“Do you reckon we could do something like that?” my husband asked me. “If you’re sure you want to give it a go, then let’s do it!”, I replied, excited at the prospect of our lounge transformation getting some full steam ahead. It took less than an hour after paying for our lunch for Joe to drop my daughter and I at home, and to buy some timber from B&Q.
What Materials Do You Need For Wooden Wall Panelling?
Below are the materials we used and why. Where relevant, we’ve tried to add in as many tips as possible.
- Smooth planed timber in 18mm thickness
- Gorilla Adhesive
- Wood filler – we used Polycell Polyfilla Wood filler
- Sanding block
- Wood primer – we used Valspar’s Wood Undercoat and Primer
- Paint – we used Valspar’s “Epic Adventure” to match the rest of the lounge walls
A few tips on the wood….
- If you’re thinking of buying kiln wood to save money, don’t. It’s typically rougher in texture and better for structure rather than display. If you have a large area to panel and want to reduce cost, try buying in bulk (B&Q sells lengths in packs of 6 for cheaper) or even better, an independent timber yard will typically offer a better deal.
- Most spaces will cope well with a thinner thickness of wood – In fact, 12mm should look lovely in most cases. For us, as we were adding panelling to a very dark room in a deep shade, we opted for 18mm to help the wood stand out more. Don’t go too thick though, as you don’t want the panelling to protrude over your skirting boards.
How to DIY Hex Wall Panels
Decide on a starting point
It’s the same principle as tiling a wall, you need to start somewhere in the middle for it to be straight and to avoid your wall looking ‘drunk’. For us, there was a wall light which we ‘framed’, making for a natural place to begin. However, if you have no features to use as a jumping off point, create one. Pencil a line on the wall for which you can use as a base. A tape measure and spirit level may come in handy here.
Prep your walls
The walls should be in good condition. Wall panelling isn’t a quick fix to hide flaws. If your surface is too rough, it could become difficult for adhesives to do their job. If your wall surface is less than ideal, consider giving it a light sand, or even apply a layer of watered down PVA glue. This applies like water, but gives a milky foam texture which will dry in a way that your wood can adhere much better to.
Create a prototype
This may not be essential if you’re doing straight forward grid-style panelling, but for a more complex shape, it’s a good idea to know what size and angle to cut before doing this en masse. You don’t want to waste too much wood after all. We decided to cut as many 30cm pieces out of the bought length of wood and create a sample hex shape. The size was good, but the angle was not, which I’ll explain in a minute.
Cut the pieces of wood
Angles are key on a project like this. Each piece we created needed to have a pointed tip at each end, cut at a degree of 30 degrees. This ensured that when 3 pieces of wood met together, the adjoining angles formed a honeycomb corner. You can see the shape on the many many pieces scattered across the floor, in the above image! So how do you cut the shapes? Well, we have a Ryobi mitre saw which is great, but if you’re on a budget or don’t want to invest in large tools just yet, a mitre box and regular saw is a far cheaper way of achieving the right angle.
Glue the pieces to the wall
Depending on the glue you choose along with the weight of the wood, you may find that the pieces need some encouragement to stick to the wall whilst it’s drying. You could very well use some tape temporarily, but as you can see from some of the early images, we opted to use some dry wall screws. This is because we used Gorilla wood glue which was a little too slippery due to the weight of the wood. We switched after the first test to using Gorilla Grab Adhesive which was a fantastic alternative – it ensured a suction between the wood and wall, meaning we no longer needed the screws for the rest of the project. Some DIY jobs, you learn as you go!
Fill in the gaps
Even if you cut all of your angles very precisely, chances are there will be imperfections in your wall meaning they don’t meet up exactly – creating the need for gaps to be filled. We found that Polycell Polyfilla wood filler was the easiest to work with (some fillers can be too dry, chalky, messy etc). Give the joinings a light sand once the filler is dried (we actually used an electric sander because we just happen to own one, plus it’s quicker). Repeat the process until you have a seamless, smooth, surface.
How to Paint The Hexagon Panelling
Prime
As with any wood painting projects, priming is recommended. What with all the filling and sanding, a primer can help to give the best possible surface for paint. Not to mention, if you slap paint straight onto panelling, you waste lots of it thanks to the absorbent nature of wood. We used Valspar’s wood undercoat and primer which worked a treat. It was thinner than we’d expected, but something that’s best for the first coat.
Paint
After about 2 coats of primer, we began with the paint. We decided to match these panels to the wall colour in our adjoining lounge to tie the two spaces together. The colour is ‘Epic Adventure’ from Valspar in their Premium Wall paint. You can use any emulsion really provided you have primed properly. If you want to go straight to the wood though, it’s best to use a specialist wood paint.
Delays & Lessons Learned
Flakey Filler
We started off using a make-your-own wood filler mix but this quickly proved incredibly difficult to work with. Mix-at-home formulas are far more likely to be inconsistent . For something like a hexagonal joint, you really want something a bit more malleable.
Wood calculations
We originally cut the wood pieces to an angle of 60 degrees, as we tried to create the prototype mentioned above. However, it quickly became apparent that creating loads of hexagon shapes and plonking them together would equal double walled hex shapes. Each piece of wood cut needed to be considered both the top of one hex and the bottom of another. It’s basic maths but sometimes, the simplest factors can be your biggest downfall in DIY.
The UK Heat Wave
In this household, we DIY when we can. An hour here. An hour there. Typically in the evening once our daughter is in bed. So after about 2 weeks following the first coat of blue paint, we checked in to add another. Enough time had passed between coats to know that it was so far, so good. It was starting to really come together, but just needed some extra coats to eradicate the brush strokes. Sadly, not long after, the UK heat wave hit and some aspects of the panelling turned a funny green almost-neon colour. There had been a reaction. We were able to rule out the products reacting with each other due to the length of time in between steps without any hiccups. The most likely option is that the direct sunlight from the window, in abnormally high temperatures triggered a reaction with either the filler or the primer. As we couldn’t say for certain which one, this is why we changed the filler and re-primed completely. It was a big setback, but ultimately it worked.
The Finishing Touches
The wall now looks like one seamless wooden pattern and we are so very pleased with it! As you may be able to tell, we’ve also painted the radiators and nearby doors, added a new wall light, and have some more woodwork to touch up in the form of the skirting board and coving – but I’ll talk about those in more detail when I do a full reveal of this room’s transformation.
So what do you think? Is it something you’d try yourself? I’d absolutely love to hear your thoughts below.
