Along with shag carpets, many homes of the 60's and 70's featured 1/8" thick 4'x8' wide sheets of laminated wood nailed to the wall. This was the paneling that we grew up with.
Paneling can be found today in forms like nice wainscoting, thick solid wood wall covering that can rise twelve feet or more, and 3/4" thick sheets with two to four inch wide segments of polished hardwoods. But step back to a middle-class home circa 1970, and the walls are covered with the above-mentioned processed product composed of the thinnest shaved slices of grained wood you could imagine. And this was frequently the ONLY wall covering, with nothing but bare wood studs underneath.
But it was found in practically every home in the 60's that was either (a) new, or (b) recently remodeled.
Wood paneling had a lot going for it. It was cheap, it was forgiving of things like crooked walls, it was simple to install (you could buy nails that matched the wood color, so they would disappear), and it looked a lot better than cracked plaster board, which was often found in older homes whose foundations had settled with time.
Of course, it was also ugly, or so we perceive it today. But we didn't feel that way circa 1969.
I remember our modest Miami, Oklahoma tract home having its walls covered with paneling that was the color of maple. But it wasn't the house's original wall covering. The house was probably built about 1950. I have very distant memories of dad nailing the paneling up over whatever wall surface we had prior to that. We became a paneling-covered-wall family about 1966.
Years later, I became an apprentice electrician upon high school graduation in 1977. The tract homes I helped wire would have DARK 1/4" paneling installed in the living room, and we installed dark brown switches, receptacles and plates in the electrical boxes that were located in its expanse.
No wonder so many suicides took place in the disco era.
As I mentioned before, wood-lined walls remain intensely popular today. However, our old 1/8" thick paneling seems to have become a relic. Unlike things like Palisades Park, nickel candy bars, and Shasta sodas, we don't really miss it.
Comments (4)
Hey Ron, I think the suicides during the disco period was because of the disco music itself! Aggggghhhhh? Disco sucks as it was shouted out...Well, I admit it, I liked the disco, but long like rock and roll and the Floyd! We didn't have the wood paneling, but was and is still is in many beach houses along the shore! Especially the rental homes. But that wood panelling gave it a by the ocean charm I thought. Now if you don't mind, I am going to jump of a bridge! Just heard Gloria Gaynor I will survive!
Posted by Rivers End | June 12, 2009 2:06 PM
Posted on June 12, 2009 14:06
Paneling surely was big in 70s in Maine. Lots of cellars got redone so that they served more as recreation rooms than as utility rooms or workshops. It was a change in the way we used space. Driveways got bigger to house 2 cars, as both parents went to work. And then kids got cars to yet bigger driveways needed. Everyone began to install aluminum or vinyl siding. Yes, carpeting for some, hardwood for others. New fancy bathrooms and kitchens. Americans were really reaching out for luxury while probably spending less time in those kitchens. Microwaves in kitchens in 80s.
I recall in the 60s that we just lived in our apartments without much concern for looks. People took their kids on trips on weekends many times. Life was lived and no one worried too much about what they house might be worth if they resold it. People bought houses with the intention of being there for some time, likely while their kids were in school. IN the 80s, no one stayed in a house much more than a few years and often did not have kids.
Clothes lines disappeared as dryers were preferred for speed and convenience and they gave clothes a nice texture.
It was likely paneling that kicked it all off. Good observation!
Posted by Scott Irv | June 13, 2009 12:42 AM
Posted on June 13, 2009 00:42
Hey I am 25 years old I wish they still made the crappy paneling as an option for those of us who cant afford the Dry Wall, What this Country needs in a Recession(Depression) is a new less perfect way of thinking so we make it to good times again, We don't need nice pretty, over done, over priced Walls as long as the rain and snow stay outside and the heat stays in what more can one ask for. Don't get me started on Air Conditioners(Open a window) they didn't have em for years and never knew the better , damn we are spoiled that is why we are where we are in the economy right spoiled Americans, Labor Unions , over priced labor, the workers thinking they had the right live as good as there bosses, what BS.....
PS: And I am a worker who sure would love to work again.....
Posted by Timothy Reno(Broke in SD) | August 27, 2009 3:11 AM
Posted on August 27, 2009 03:11
Hey Timothy, there is plenty of tacky wood paneling around. They sell it at Home Depot or Menards.
Posted by Phil Johnson | September 16, 2009 8:59 PM
Posted on September 16, 2009 20:59