vj – The Interiors Addict

But hang on, what is it?!

First off, what is VJ? A lot of people give me a blank look when I casually throw this term into conversation! VJ stands for vertical joints (also commonly known as tongue and groove), and it’s a kind of timber or MDF wall panelling with vertical panels, equally spaced. That said, some people use it horizontally too.

It has become very popular as a way to add character to bare walls (and ceilings!) and is also being used to pull together things such as a TV wall, bedhead or office nook. It can be used full height or half height (or anywhere in between!) as wainscoting, usually with some type of chair rail at the top and skirting at the bottom. Large boards of MDF VJ, such as Intrim’s VJ Boards Pro are quick, easy and affordable to install and suitable for most interior applications. In rooms where there is moisture however, like a bathroom, a timber lining board is more appropriate and practical.

One of my favourite things about VJ panels is you can paint them whatever colour you like and you can use a little or a lot, depending on the look you’re going for. Plus, when you’re after a new look, you can simply paint them a fresh colour! They also look great in traditional homes (of course you’ll find them everywhere in old Queenslanders!) and modern ones, with their clean lines.

Let’s look at some ways to use VJ that are a little less obvious…

TV wall

TV walls are notoriously hard to get right due to the mess of cables. And unless you have a Samsung Frame TV that looks like art when it’s not in use, those big black rectangles aren’t often our favourite feature in a room! Adding VJ behind your wall mounted TV and entertainment unit is a great way to pull the whole look together. You can even make your TV ‘disappear’ by painting a dark coloured VJ wall behind it. I recently used Intrim’s VJ Boards Pro behind our new built-in TV unit and it was the thing that brought the whole look together. I don’t think it would have been half as aesthetically pleasing had it been a bare painted wall instead.

The VJ Board Pro is an MDF sheet with the grooves cut into it, which comes pre-primed and ready to paint. So easy! My carpenter simply glued this onto the wall with a few nails for extra strength.

In a hallway/entry

Hallways and entries by their very nature get a lot of action and lining their walls with VJ can be a great way to make them a bit tougher against all the knocks and scuffs! Mounting wall hooks on top of VJ, like in this image below, is a great way to create a mudroom look without having an entire room dedicated to your coats and hats!

Image via https://www.instagram.com/this_old_house52

Lining your entry with VJ is a low cost way to really improve the first impression of your home and to get an idea if you like it before using it in larger areas.

In a bathroom

I love the look of VJ in bathrooms, a room where we often don’t think beyond tiles (which are gorgeous and waterproof but expensive, especially when you factor in the tiler). In my recent en suite reno I had the brainwave to cover over existing old (but solid) wall tiles with VJ panelling but the VJ Board Pro wouldn’t be the best choice here because MDF and moisture aren’t a good match. My dream wasn’t over however, as Intrim advised I could get the same look using their timber lining boards.

These are individual boards which simply click together and they’re available in a choice of MDF or FJ Pine, the latter being the best choice for a bathroom or laundry. Althought they take a bit longer to install because they don’t come in a sheet, the other benefit is that they’re flexible and can fit easier around tricky spots such as roof rafters.

Intrim’s timber lining boards were used in this gorgeous farmhouse project (below).

On ceilings

Don’t be afraid to think beyond walls! You can just as easily use VJ on your ceilings alone, or carry it on from your walls across your ceiling.

Around built-in joinery like a bench seat or cabinetry

Below, the VJ has been used on the whole of the wall in this gorgeous room, but it could just as easily be used to highlight the window seat only. If you’ve thought about creating banquette-type seating in a dining nook for example, VJ could be the perfect finishing touch.

Pic via https://www.instagram.com/this_old_house52

Inspired?

I hope this post has shown you there are so many ways you can use VJ, large or small, in your home. I warn you though: once you start, it’s hard to stop!

See more projects using VJ | Find out more about VJ Boards Pro

Keen to add more character to your walls but not a fan of VJ? Check out Intrim’s more traditional wainscoting.

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I am so excited to finally share my new kitchen with you today! Seeing these beautiful pictures makes the last two months of mess and chaos seem more than worth while!

They say the kitchen is the heart of the home and in this house, it really is. Not just because everyone hangs out in this room, but because it really is in the middle of our home. And the light here is the best in the house. It used to drive me nuts that people gravitated towards this room because of the light when it was unrenovated, as we had much nicer spaces to entertain in like the living room! Now I am no longer embarrassed of my kitchen, I am happy for people to congregate in here and admire it whenever they want!

This really is my dream kitchen. I’m going to blog about some of the finer details separately, but today’s post is just the first overview of what we chose, what we did and why. In terms of layout, this has not changed drastically, but we did get rid of the back door (see before pix at the end of this post) to allow the cabinetry to go right to the end of the kitchen. We were also able to move our fridge freezer into the kitchen (it’s the little things, right?!) because previously there was nowhere to fit it and it lived in the dining room!

The starting point for this room was the cabinetry from Freedom Kitchens. I always knew I wanted white shaker style doors so when I found out this was possible using their new, more affordable flatpack option, the Essential range, I was thrilled. I saw flatpack as an opportunity to make great savings, which would allow me to still have the other things I dreamed of like stone benchtops.

My good friend, TV interior designer James Treble, sketched me out a rough layout I loved over dinner one night and we were off! I then worked with Freedom Kitchens design consultant Nina Hughes to turn that sketch into a detailed plan, taking into consideration the flatpack options available. This in-home service is included for everyone buying from their flatpack range, as well as a site check to make sure nothing has slipped through the net, before your cabinets are made. This really made me feel confident. I think buying a kitchen off the shelf with no professional advice or checks would have made me worry myself sick!

The next thing I chose were the handles. Anyone who knows me or has been to my home knows I just love a brass accent! I was always going to have gold handles and I sourced these from Kethy (available through The Block Shop) after seeing similar in Julia and Sasha’s beautiful Block kitchen. It was a winning combo from the start. I didn’t look at another handle so this proved to be one of the easiest decisions!

Then benchtops: through my job, I know Caesarstone by reputation and I loved their designs. I had three samples on high rotation but I finally went for the most subtle, Noble Grey, for a few reasons. I liked the contrast of the grey with the white cabinetry, and while the Calacatta marble-look designs have been hugely popular recently, I wanted something a little different. Then I saw blogger Briar Stanley from Sunday Collector use Noble Grey in her amazing kitchen and that sealed the deal.

Of course, then I needed to decide on a complementary splashback. I absolutely love tiles but trying to choose some left me paralysed by indecision! There were just too many amazing choices. I could have opted for subways, and I am a fan, but again, I wanted something a little different. So I decide to carry the Caesarstone up the splash as well; a decision I have not regretted for one second! The splash behind the cooktop is really quite deep so it makes a real feature. When the light through the opposite window hits it, it really shows off the veins in it. I also think the streamlined look it has created has allowed me to add my other, more bling touches, without it feeling cluttered or over the top.

Speaking of bling, the gold tap is from Meir and I am so in love with it! Taps really are like jewellery in a kitchen. You can’t miss them so you might as well make a statement! Their new Tiger Bronze colour was released at just the right time a few months ago and I was lucky enough to be one of the first to get my hands on it! Would a gold sink as well prove too much? I must admit, I did really worry about my decision, but in the end, it all came together beautifully. And nobody can believe that sink came from Bunnings!

Of course, a kitchen can (and should!) look beautiful but it needs to function too! Having room for a fridge freezer was a great start! But I needed to think long and hard about the appliances, which I chose from Italian brand Ilve. I was really excited to get an integrated dishwasher from an aesthetic perspective but this one works brilliantly and even has a light inside, plus one which shines onto the floor so you know it’s on (being that it’s hidden behind a cabinet door). I just love how it seamlessly blends into the kitchen.

Choosing an oven was a lot harder than anticipated and something I’ve never done before. I eventually decided on a 90cm electric oven and having that extra space is already proving a Godsend when entertaining. I can’t wait to give it a really good workout on Christmas Day.

Then of course you have to match that with a 90cm cooktop even though I’m not sure I’ll ever use all six burners at the same time! We first wanted gas but had a delay finding out if we could get connected, which led us to opt for induction. I’m so glad we went this route because I bloody love it! I cannot believe how quick it is to heat up, it’s a dream to clean and, importantly, it’s safe, which when you have an adventurous climbing toddler around is one less thing to worry about. I’m also thrilled with our hidden rangehood which allows me to have an uninterrupted row of overhead cupboards.

So, we had the bones of a great kitchen, but there were two other things I needed to achieve: replacing the dated sliding door to the laundry, with a modern take on a barn door and black hardware was the first. I wanted the door to have VJ panelling so we did this by cutting Easycraft panels (I’m in love with this product) to size and fixing them to the front of a very cheap, plain door. We then decided what the hell, why not panel the entire wall and wow, wasn’t that the best call? This wall has become a real feature of the kitchen. We also did the back of our breakfast bar in the same paneling and colour.

Secondly, I wanted to tie in the dining area, which adjoins the kitchen and previously had a cork floor, much better. I did this by adding VJ wainscoting to this room and painting it in the same grey (the panelling is in Haymes Paint Chinchilla Fur and the walls are Haymes Paint Greyology 4). It has made a huge difference. Of course, having the same floor helped massively too.

The icing on the cake of all this was our new Quickstep Impressive Ultra laminate floor (more on that next week) which we have also laid in the living room, hallway and my home office. Once that went down, we were finally finished!

A few other things I’m really glad we did and are worth a mention were:

adding bulkheads for a more finished, streamlined look (and no dust or clutter accumulating on top of the overhead cupboards)
putting a power socket in the back of the pantry so I could hide the Nespresso machine and toaster away in there
making sure there was a space for the microwave under the breakfast bar out of sight, so it didn’t have to use precious benchtop space
making one of the five powerpoints (you can never have too many) a USB one (we use this every day to charge a phone or laptop and it has proven really handy)
opting for a pullout double bin under the sink so there’s no ugly bin on show or in the way (I obviously need to get out more but I really love this!).

I could rave about my new kitchen all day but I’ll focus on some other aspects in future blog posts.

Overall, I am thrilled with kitchen and that it is finished before Christmas! I’m just waiting on my blinds (Romans) and looking for the perfect new kettle! A huge thank you to our friends at Integriti Bathrooms who helped project manage this reno.

Now, we could finish this without taking a look back at the before photos!