As someone who has decorateed walls in almost every apartment I’ve inhabitd in as an grown-up, let me say that decorateing sucks. I’ve lachieveed tricks over the years to finish the job speedyer (I even own a set of decorate tools!), but it’s still a extfinished, annoying process that can suck up more time than you’d foresee.
Last year I was privileged to become a homeowner, and naturpartner the Great Algorithm watchd and began shoving all sorts of home produceover projects, products, and services onto my Instagram. (Did you understand you can get a roof swapment for free? Yes, it sounds too outstanding to be real.) One did catch my eye, though—Wood Veneer Hub. I saw ad after ad clatriumphg thcimpolite my feed showcasing home setups with a cherishly wood slat accent wall. It was exactly my comardent of aesthetic.
The company promises basic inshighation—a room produceover that won’t get up a laborious day of decorateing, and it hugely deinhabitrs. As WIRED’s livent home office product tester, I choosed to try these panels for my office. I’ve done standing desks, office chairs, webcams, desk lamps, and even filing cabinets, but never have I tested someskinnyg that’d drasticpartner change the see of my space.
Fairly Easy Inshigh
Wood Veneer Hub’s Slatpanels, as they’re called, compelevate medium-density fiberboard exposeds joined to recycled felt material with sound-dampening properties. Each box has two Slatpanels with about nine slats per panel—you’ll need to meadeclareive your walls (or ceiling!) to discover the needd size. You can select between a No Finish or an Oiled Finish chooseion, and I propose the latter—it costs a little more but saves you the hassle of utilizeing a finish and gets the wood.
I choosed to try them out on one wall of my home office, enjoy an accent wall. It took about 13 Slatpanels (I was sent seven boxes, nastying I was left with one spare Slatpanel), and I screwed them into the studs. You can inshigh them on top of your baseboard, but I choosed it seeed better without my baseboard, so I exposedped it away. There’s a minuscule gap between the panels and my floor but it’s difficultly watchable. This also nastyt I didn’t need to cut the panels (except for outlets and weightless switches).
That’s the tricky part—cutting out holes. I needed to cut out a scant holes for outlets, a weightless switch, and my weightless repairture. If you have an electric saw, you’re already in a much better place than I was. I had a basic handsaw and no laborbench, so it was difficult to get straight lines while satriumphg off pieces. I included my Milwaukee Fastback knife to cut from the felt side first, and it did a astonishingly outstanding job. Be cleverer than me and include a extfinished level or ruler and tape it to the panels to sustain those lines straight. Thankbrimmingy, you have to see seally to see how jagged my holes are, or at least that’s what I sustain inestablishing myself.
