3D Wall Panels

What 3D wall panels are

A 3D wall panel is a square with a pattern raised in relief. Joined across a wall, the panels turn a flat surface into one with texture and depth, so the wall itself is the feature of the room. You may know them as textured wall panels, decorative wall panels or 3D wall tiles.

Ours are PVC wall panels, and most are made from a 1mm PVC sheet. Every panel is a 50 x 50cm square in white. As well as the pattern, the depth of the relief differs by design, from a shallow 5mm to a deep 10cm.

Picking a pattern and a depth of relief

Among the patterns in our range you will find geometric shapes and waves, along with a few brick, stone, fluted and diamond designs, and a few leaf, petal and floral motifs. A geometric or diamond design gives a wall order and rhythm, a wave or fluted one gives it movement, brick or stone gives it the texture of a masonry wall, and a leaf or floral design brings a softer note.

Because our panels are white, light and shadow draw the pattern, so we would start with how the wall is lit. Light falling across it from one side, from a window at right angles to it or a lamp close by, picks out even a shallow relief. Where the light meets the wall head-on, from a window facing it, a deeper relief gives the eye more to read.

Homes, offices, hotels and shops

Our panels are for interior walls, in homes, offices, hotels and shops. At home, choose the wall your eye goes to first: the one behind the sofa or the bed, at the end of a hallway, or facing you as you come into the room. One panelled wall usually does more than two, giving the room a clear focus.

In an office, try the wall behind the reception desk or one wall of a meeting room. For a hotel, think of a lobby, a corridor or a guest room, and in a shop, a panelled wall behind the counter or a display draws the eye to what sits in front of it.

Working out how many panels a wall takes

Measure the width and height of the wall in metres. At 50 x 50cm, a panel covers 0.25 square metres, so four cover one square metre. The easiest sum works in panels rather than area: double the width for the panels across, double the height for the rows, round up to whole panels and multiply. A wall 3m wide and 2.4m high is six panels across and five rows high, so 30 panels, with one row cut down to fit.

If you set out from the centre of the wall, so the cut pieces at the two ends match, add one to the panels across before you multiply. Where a window or door breaks the wall, take off only the panels that would sit wholly inside the opening, then add a spare or two for cutting mistakes.

Setting out and fitting the panels

Start with a wall that is clean, dry, firm and flat. Lay a few rows out on the floor first, to check the pattern runs on across the joins and to see which way up the panels go. Then draw a level line for the first row, mark the centre line of the wall and work outwards from it.

Our panels are fixed with adhesive spread on their backs and pressed onto the wall, and they cut to fit at the edges and around windows and doors. Let the adhesive set as its maker instructs, then fill the joins with filler and wipe them clean. None of it calls for special equipment.

Keeping the panels clean

PVC is waterproof, so our panels clean with a damp cloth: wipe over the pattern and leave it to dry. Dust gathers in the hollows of a deeper relief, so go over them with a soft, dry brush before you wipe. Beyond that there is little to do, which makes a panelled wall low maintenance.