Faux Tudor Panel. for Those Who Love It But Can’t Afford It.

So you like Tudor paneling but can’t afford it? Here is the solution: just fake it!

Step 1: You Will Need

You will
need:

A wall.

Measure tape.

Kraft paper.

Water based wallpaper glue.

Acrylic or latex paint, mahogany color.

Alcohol based dyes for wood in two different colors, one dark and one lighter (but darker than the mahogany paint).

Water based varnish.

‘No more nails’ adhesive, or nails if you can’t buy the adhesive in your country.

MDF 6 mm (1/4 in) thick, cut in 10cm (4 in) wide strips.

A piece of wood moulding (optional)

Pencil and paper for designing your panel.

Box cuter.

Hammer (for the nails).

Four brushes: a big house painting brush, two medium size brushes one soft and one rough and a small brush.

Newspaper to reduce the mess.

Step 2: Design.

Measure the wall you plan to transform.

Decide the type of panel you’d like for your, to be, lavish space.

I chose the simplest type, but with a little more materials you can make every type you like. The size of the panels ranges between 9 to 18 inches wide and 12 to 20 inches tall.

Make a graphic of the wall and the panel, so you know how much material you need for your wall.

Images from this pages :

http://www.tudorartisans.com/panelingpage.htm

http://royalfurniture.org/img/ef_43.jpg

To do this the easy way, divide the length and height your wall between the number of panels you want to have. Draw the divisions in a piece of paper, then draw the width of the MDF strips on top of the divisions. If it’s not exact then you can modify the size of the panels or the width of the strips.

I kept the width of the strips constant and modified the size of the panels. My rectangular panel measurements finally ended up to be 30 cm (12 in) x 45 cm (17 ¾ in).

I bought a full sheet of 6 mm (1/4 in) MDF and pay the cutting of the hole thing in strips of 10 cm (4 in) in the store. Some of the strips are for the vertical pieces of the panel and some for the horizontal pieces of the panel.

Keep the strips for the horizontal pieces without cutting them to size until you have to use them, in case there is something wrong with your plans.

Step 3: Glue Kraft Paper to the Wall.

Make the
wallpaper glue as the instructions in the packet indicate.

Put some on the back of the kraft paper with the big brush and glue it to the wall. Put some glue on the front of the paper too, this makes the gluing process easier. This paper in the wall is the base of your mock Tudor panel on the budget.

Try not to leave any bubbles in the paper. If there are any, cut the paper with the box cuter on top of the bubble, apply new glue and stick it to the wall again.

Let the paper dry completely.

Then transfer the measurements on your design to the paper on the wall.

I just put some marks in the paper and installed the MDF strips to the wall with the nails. If you have the adhesive, you can use it to glue the strips in place.

Step 4: Install Strips of MDF.

Install the first and last strips of MDF first. Just use the ‘No more nails’ glue or nail them to the wall.

Then put the rest of the strips in place without fixing then to the wall. Verify if every thing looks right: remember is more important that the wall look right than the panel is in perfect measure.

If everything looks good, fix the rest of the strips to the wall.

Now cut the horizontal strips to size.

Fix the horizontal pieces to the wall.

Now you most have a grid of MDF on your wall.

Step 5: Paint the Panel.

Use the big brush with the mahogany color paint to paint the panel following the strips.

If you make a perfect job the result will be less attractive, so leave some parts with a thinner coat of paint and other parts with a thicker coat of paint, and some dark spots too.

Use the small brush to make long thin lines, and to paint the sides of the MDF strips.

Use the rough medium size brush to apply the lighter alcohol based dye for wood. Make this in long prolonged strokes. This will leave wood color lines like wood veins, uneven strokes are the better. Following the strips, make the strokes vertical or horizontal. I prefer to paint the inside panel in vertical strokes.

When finish, apply the darker shadow of alcohol based dye for wood in the same fashion.

Every time you paint over the last coat the color will be darker, try not to make it too dark.

Finish the sides of the MDF with the dark dye to give it a deep color.

Now the color is rich and the faux veins are nice and wood like.

Note: I'll soon make an instructable for the faux wood paint.