If your home as a child had walls adorned with wood paneling, you were one of the lucky few and witnessed one of the defining characteristics of American home style for 1960s to the early 80s. Those wood walls were more than just an aesthetic choice, they formed the backdrop of early childhood and family memories. This is what growing up surrounded with wood paneling evokes.
Table of Contents
- 1 1. The Great Wallpaper Debate
- 2 2. Finding the Hidden Nails
- 3 3. The Built-In Sound Effects
- 4 4. The Perfect Backdrop for Family Photos
- 5 5. The Mysterious Stain Patterns
- 6 6. The Basement Game Room Vibe
- 7 7. The Great Static Electricity Conductor
- 8 8. The Temperature Gauge
- 9 9. The DIY Challenge
- 10 10. The Secret Messages
- 11 11. The Living Room Divide
- 12 12. The Cleaning Ritual
- 13 13. The TV Mounting Challenge
- 14 14. The Inevitable Patches
1. The Great Wallpaper Debate
In most families, the eternal struggle of mom deciding to keep the wood paneling, or covering it with wallpaper was a common struggle. Dad said the wood was ”just fine” while mom was usually looking through wallpaper samples. The wood paneling would usually win, as it accumulated character as the years went on.
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2. Finding the Hidden Nails
Those walls with those tiny, straight, evenly spaced, nail holes became the site of games and the center of our imagination and day dreaming. During long, boring conversations and phone calls, we created our own invisible constellation patterns between the holes. Some kids even had the creativity to use them as goalposts for paper football games.
3. The Built-In Sound Effects
The sound of knocking on wood paneling was a signature sound. It made great secret knocking code sounds between siblings and provided a great way to tell ghost stories. It turned the imaginative play of kids into instruments to add to the fun.
4. The Perfect Backdrop for Family Photos
Wood walls were almost the signature style of family photos for that era. From school photos to birthday parties and Christmas morning, all of those family memories were captured with the same backdrop, paneling. The hairstyles and wood paneling in the photos helped us identify how old the images really were.
5. The Mysterious Stain Patterns
While dad was working, we would spend hours looking for shapes and faces in the wood paneling, like searching for cloud shapes in the sky. Each pattern was it’s own story and we would name the characters we saw in the swirls, knots and designs. Family friends became our buddies. Every wall was a different story and we would get upset when they covered our friends by hanging pictures or placed things on the wall that would block the view.
6. The Basement Game Room Vibe
We all loved the basement rec room and pool table area. It felt cool and cozy at the same time. It was the perfect spot for hanging out, playing ping pong, and watching TV with friends when your parents were upstairs. The wood paneling definitely made it feel more fun and inviting.
7. The Great Static Electricity Conductor
In the winter, you could build up static electricity as your fingers dragged across the carpet then touch the wall. Charged walls, carpets and people led to a lot of pranks and unplanned lesson about static electricity.
8. The Temperature Gauge
Those panels were built in thermometers. Each wall would get cold in the winter and warm in the summer. The outer walls would chill up first so we learned which walls faced outside. The smarter kids pushed their beds against inside walls.
9. The DIY Challenge
We needed strong nails to hang pictures on the walls and strategically plan the placement with the groove of the paneling so everything would hang straight and not crooked. Decorating our rooms taught many of us basic carpentry.
10. The Secret Messages
Now and then, when we re-decorated a room, we found our old pencil graffiti in places like behind posters or pieces of furniture. These pencil markings had secret messages, dates, and estimations of height, much like a time capsule.
11. The Living Room Divide
Most houses have at least two living rooms. One was informal and played the role of the family room. It was also the paneled formal room that got saved for special company and became a place to create a new, unspoken order in the home. Those rooms felt a bit superior, even if the paneling was informal.
12. The Cleaning Ritual
Once spring cleaning rolled around, the panels would get an annual coat of Murphy Oil Soap. The visible shine on the wood paneling signaled all of the serious cleaning that happened, and the smell would fill the house like a furniture store.
13. The TV Mounting Challenge
When it became time to mount the new wall TV, Dad would take to the panels like a madman to figure out where the wood studs were. Everyone felt a sense of relief when the TV was finally mounted and Dad didn’t have to live down the horror of the TV crashing through the wood paneling.
14. The Inevitable Patches
Every home with wood paneling has imperfect patches and repairs from scratched furniture, hurt kids, bad DIY’s, and moved furniture. These patches become part of the homes character, telling stories about everything that happened in that house like a family photo album.
