Share Why are Slatted Wood Acoustic Wall Panels the New Must-Have Home Decor Trend?
Wood slatted wall panelling has seen a significant up-tick in popularity recently. And with good reason. It offers the earthy attraction of natural wood and muted colour colours, adding texture and warmth to a room, as well as providing valuable acoustic and thermal insulation properties.
Topics
- What is Slatted Acoustic Wall Panelling?
- Why Choose Acoustic Slat Wall Panels?
- Contemporary Aesthetics
- Materials & Finishes
- Functional Benefits
- Improved Acoustics
- Thermal Insulation Properties
- Environmentally Friendly Materials
- Interior Design Styles
What is Slatted Acoustic Wall Panelling?
Simply, slatted acoustic wall panels are long, narrow strips of veneered wood or laminate material arranged in a linear, vertical pattern. The individual slats are often seen in finishes including natural oak or walnut, or in colours, popular in black, dark grey and light grey.
Individual panels are fitted along an interior wall in series to create a single larger panel. Slat panels are fixed on a black or grey felt backing, which helps with the panel’s acoustic and thermal insulation properties – more on that later.
Why Choose Acoustic Slat Wall Panels?
There are a number of reasons that slatted wall panels have become such a popular interior design element. They improve the acoustics of a space, help with thermal insulation, and can be environmentally friendly.
Contemporary Aesthetics
Acoustic wall panels add a warmth and natural texture to an interior space. Their organic, wood look introduces a sense of comfort and balance, offsetting bare walls and the colder feel of some modern materials such as glass and steel.
Materials & Finishes
Wood panels have a traditional look, highlighting the beauty and durability of timber. They bring a distinct grain and rich colour to a space.
Veneered panels are a popular choice, made using a high quality wood veneer layer over an MDF core, offering a premium timber look at a lower cost. Slat panels are also available in tough laminate form, which is a grained laminate layer also with an MDF core, giving the grained appearance of wood. Common veneer and laminate finishes include a oak and walnut.
As a feature wall segment, slat panelling gives minimalist spaces a note of texture, contrasting with neutral colour schemes. But slatted wall panels don't have to be about texture and contrast. They could have a more contemporary look. Painted or colour stained finishes offer a broad palette, giving the flexibility to harmonise with the actual colours in a room’s existing décor.
Functional Benefits
Slatted panel’s modularity means you can get creative with installation. They can cover entire walls, create a feature segment, and even include lighting fixtures and shelving for added utility.
A popular choice for slat wall panels is as a backing for a TV wall. This not only looks great, it's one of the ways those acoustic properties come into play.
Improved Acoustics
and acoustic wall panels can improve a room’s acoustics. Background noise, sound reflections such as reverberation, and unwanted bass resonance are common issues in many modern interiors, particularly those with open-plan designs or minimalist furnishings.
A Calmer Space
The natural performance of wood and the slats’ felt backing are great for sound absorption and for diffusing sound, creating a calmer and more pleasant ambience. This makes acoustic panels popular for spaces where sound quality is important, such as a TV or home cinema space.
On a larger scale, acoustic wall panelling, well-placed in open plan living spaces helps sonic calming and improves privacy, with fewer sound reflections to carry conversations and general crosstalk.
Thermal Insulation Properties
As well as improving the sound in a space, wood acoustic slat panels offer some heating benefits. The combination of wood slats and felt backing provide an additional thermal layer to a wall. This can help a room retain heat. So the more slat panels you have, the greater the effect, offering not only visual warmth, but warmth in the physical sense too.
This is especially so if you live in a modern, minimalist style home, where the walls are bare concrete, with hard floors and higher ceilings.
Environmentally Friendly Materials
When considering acoustic wall panels for your home, look out for environmentally friendly materials.
Responsibly Sourced Wood
For veneered slats, check if the wood used is FSC certified. In the UK, FSC wood is sourced from a forest certified by an environmental organisation called the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The FSC champions responsible forest management that’s friendly to the environment and socially beneficial.
Recycled Acoustic Felt Backing
Choosing recycled felt or polyester fibre acoustic backing as well will ensure that your slat wall panels are fully environmentally friendly.
Interior Design Styles
Let's look at some examples of slat wall panelling incorporated into three popular interior design styles, beginning with Scandinavian.
Scandinavian
Wood slat panels work well with Scandinavian style decor. It's essentially a minimalist look with a focus on clean lines and simple silhouettes. But it blends that simple modernist look with natural materials, such as wood, linen, and leather, keeping a connection to nature that softens and punctuates the sparseness of pure minimalism.
So a wood slat wall panel or two in a minimalist space immediately gives Scandinavian design vibes.
Japandi
Japandi interior design is a combination of traditional Japanese design aesthetics and Scandinavian, but it does vary slightly – although many similarities there are some key differences. Perhaps a main difference is colour palette. Scandinavian style favours lighter, neutral colours, while Japandi incorporates darker, earthier tones.
The general ambience of Japandi differs from Scandinavian too. Scandinavian interiors are more about a unified look whereas Japandi is bolder, contrasting light and dark.
With both styles favouring natural materials such as wood, acoustic wall panels fit both styles. Light wood tones for Scandinavian and darker woods for a more Japandi look.
Organic Modern
Natural wood slat wall panelling also fits with the organic modern style. Organic modern shares many similarities with Scandinavian and Japandi, but importantly it includes mid-century modern style elements.
Slatted wall panels are sometimes a feature of mid-century modern interiors. They fit well with the period philosophy of clean lines, minimalism, natural looking materials, open floor plans and statement pieces, such as lamps and light fittings, door handles, and of course slat wall feature segments.
Final Thoughts
As we've explored in this article, acoustic slat wall panelling has a lot to offer your interior spaces, in terms of its looks, acoustic properties, and insulation performance. Whether you want panels for a TV wall or you've got bigger plans for renovating your home, slat panels offer a great look with very practical benefits for your spaces.
To find out more about acoustic slat wall panel finishes, options and pricing, and for a huge range of premium internal doors, door handles, metal electrical switches and sockets, visit Hiatt Hardware.
