Covering the Paneling to Obscure It
Line the walls with bookshelves to hide most of the wood. Wood paneling serves as an excellent background for standard bookshelves—especially if they're made out of a solid color. The wood grain will surround the solid bookshelves and make them pop visually without making the walls feel empty. If you want to incorporate the wood itself, find wall shelves with a similar grain and install them along the wood-paneled walls. If you don't have enough books to cover the shelves, you can use records, trinkets, or candles to fill in the empty spaces.
Hang curtain rods along each wall to cover them with colorful drapes. Measure each wall with a measuring tape and install curtain rods to fit every wall in the wood-paneled room. Install your rods and hang distinct and colorful drapes along each wall. This way you can change the overall impression of a room without using any furniture. You can even change out the drapes when you get bored of a pattern or color! This is a particularly good choice for rooms with windows where the drapes won't really seem out of place in normal light conditions. Use a variety of different colors and patterns to add variety to the fabric.
Create a gallery wall to completely obscure the paneling in art. A gallery wall refers to a wall that is completely covered in art, with only 1–2 inches (2.5–5.1 cm) of space between pieces. Create a gallery wall by lining up a bunch of art on your floor in a pattern that reflects the size of your wall. Hang each piece using nails and a hammer. A gallery wall is an excellent choice if you have a ton of art that you can hang and need to cover a few accent walls. Gallery walls are a great way to hang personal photos as well. If you have a bunch of older photographs, a gallery wall is the perfect way to incorporate them in your decorations without making the rest of the art in your home feel out of place.
Use paneling as the background for large textiles or antique art. Wood paneling can serve as a good, subtle background for minimalistic flags, elaborate tapestries, or antique art with a large frame. The paneling won't stand out as much in contrast to the impressive, massive piece hanging on your wall. The contrast between the wood grain and your larger piece can also bring the colors out to make it seem more vibrant. Hang your larger piece in the center of wood-paneled wall to put more emphasis on it. For added effect, place some uplights under the piece. Plug in some low-power LED bulbs 1–2 feet (30–61 cm) on the floor on either side of your art or textile.
Mount unique and strange art to draw the eye away from the wood. If you have any extremely strange or unique art, a room with wood paneling can emphasize the uniqueness of your art. Anything made in a textured medium, like yarn or stucco, will seem appropriate in a room with wood paneling. Paintings with odd colors, strong patterns, or strange subject matters can strike the viewer as uniquely powerful in a room with distinct walls.Tip: Wood paneling is a great fit for taxidermized animals or European mounts as well. This will give your room a country look like it's right out of the American West.
Decorating Around the Wood Paneling
Stick to solid, earth colors to streamline the look of your room. Stick to solid, earth-colored furniture and fixtures to create the impression that the wood is a backdrop for the dominant colors in your furniture. Go with forest green, rust red, or other natural colors to complement the wood color. Stay away from antique or ornamental lamps or fixtures.
Use a lot of plants to create a rustic or natural look. You can play up the wood paneling by adding a lot of plants to create a naturalistic look. Fill the room with hanging and floor plants to create an earthy vibe. The wood paneling will match the rest of the room and will feel totally appropriate for the style. Mix and match a variety of flowering plants and leafy greens to achieve a color palette that you enjoy.Warning: If the room doesn't have any windows, it may be extremely difficult to keep plants alive if they aren't plastic. This choice is probably best for entryways or living rooms. Succulents and cactus plants are easy-to-grow houseplants you could try.
Stick to distinct, bright rugs to keep the focus off of the paneling. Solid-colored rugs will not deemphasize the pattern or texture of wood walls. To draw the eye away from the paneling, opt for patterned rugs with strong color schemes. Fake zebra, distressed Persian, and optical patterns can all make excellent choices in a room with wood paneling.
Keep one wall with wood paneling as an accent wall. If you want to use wood paneling but are comfortable with removing some of it, choose one wall to keep as an accent wall. Having a single wall with wood paneling will make your paneling stand out as a striking design choice. Select a wall with a window or door on it to make it feel like it isn't just tacked on to your room as an afterthought. An accent wall refers to any single wall that is painted or designed to be different than the other walls in your room.
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