Wall panelling was a very popular feature in bungalow styled homes built around the 1920’s. The most common timber used was Oregon ply often mistakenly referred to as Cedar. Under that dark coating resides some beautiful wood grain with a golden patina.

The old very dark varnish is shellac and is almost impossible to scrape or sand but here you will see just how easy it can be to restore. These test pieces were done using the Coopers Restoration System. Shellac dissolves instantly with the Stripping System. A wall with this much detail should take less than one hour per square metre to completely strip and then finish with the Coopers Moisturise-it Finishing System.

Note how perfectly the corners and edges strip. This test piece was not sanded or scraped.

In some homes, stain was applied direct to the wood before the shellac and in those cases the panelling will now strip as clean. Always do a test piece first.

Take a look at a video of this being stripped and finished. Video.