How to create a knockout entryway
Q On Instagram, you posted a picture of a stunning blue wall in a hallway. I’d like for you to expand on how you made it.
A Happy you liked this photo of the hallway that leads to the front door. My team and I wanted to use architectural detailing to create a knock-your-socks-off entryway. The easiest way to do this was with panelling.
We removed the tiny 2 1/2-inch baseboards and added five-inch ones. The new baseboards have a bevel with the same depth as the flat stock panelling on the wall. The panelling is pre-primed MDF and the baseboards are solid wood.
Your panelled wall will look best if you have meaty baseboards. If you already have substantial baseboards in your home, you can save them by pulling them off temporarily, and tucking a piece of MDF or wood that’s the same thickness as your panelling behind your baseboards so they end up deeper than the panelling itself.
But before you start attaching anything to your walls, make sure you have a plan that takes into consideration how the panelling will look beside door frames and windows.
If you are confident that you can handle this project, start with a drawing — you can even draw the plan in pencil on your walls.
To make the project affordable, we kept the plan simple.
“The key to making a panelled wall look high-end,” contractor Colin Hunter of 919 Reno says, “is to fill in the gaps with paintable latex caulking.”