slatwall paneling

[suzy]

Hi..I'm looking for the best price on slatwall paneling, can anyone help??? Also, what is obeche moulding?? thx. s.

[Mitch]

suzy
I would suggest that you look for a local company under store fixtures in your Yellow Pages. I found a great price for slatwall from a company in Kansas City by searching for store fixtures on the internet. Please realize that the great price comes with a great freight bill. The stuff is heavy, buy locally and pay the price.

[John Ranes II, CPF, GCF]

If you've got a company that is within an hour's drive AND you have a vehicle that can accomodate a full 4x8 foot sheet, AND you have a few people to lift the stuff, you might save some money! But honestly, most "Store Display" companies will quote you a price delivered or you'll have it palleted and delivered via common carrier. It's worth it!

We added a "limited" amount of slatwall about 3 years ago to our shop (about 40 running feet, floor to ceiling.) and what I learned is that you've got some options to consider...........

1) Slatwall tends to come availble raw (you paint it), painted, or laminated. For the price difference, we chose the laminated version.

2) Laminated slatwall can be ordered in stock colors or custom colors. We chose custom to help this blend into the shop decor more uniformly.

3) Slatwall can also be ordered with the "channels" painted (helps hide the "stripy" look), or reinforced with aluminum channels. (Not necessary unless, you're hanging really heavy stuff!)

I would recommend, custom colored, laminated, painted channel every day of the week. Hey, it's Presentation / Image and that's the business we're in.

Regards,

John

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The Frame Workshop of Appleton, Inc.
www.theframeworkshop.com (http://www.theframeworkshop.com)
Appleton, Wisconsin
jerserwi@aol.com
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[TRACY ART & FRAME]

We ordered some in direct from the manufacture Windmill woodworking ?

There are many options but the one that got me excited was a brick pattern slatwall.

We ordered it unpainted, then painted it in a brick color. We added sand to the paint to give it a rough texture. The slats were left in the natural MDF color as mortar lines. A little dry brushing of a lighter tone finished up the project.

The cost diff between my local supplier and buying direct more than paid for the shipping on 10 panels.


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Diver Dave

[Lance E]

Slatwall is best left in the past as a historical artefact to ugliness and horrible showroom looks.

[tgfu408]

With all due respect to our New Zealand friend Lance:

Our entire gallery is a light oak slatwall, real wood, and the builder was a former contractor for Red Lobster so he knew how to do it.

We constantly get comments on how gorgeous our walls look.

Plus--no nail holes and, because the slats are 4" wide, we can hang artwork of various sizes and look attractive.

Twice a year we wax them and polish with a power buffer so they have a nice sheen to them, which shows up nicely under the halogens.

Perhaps Lance doesn't have access to the woods we have here? I cnanot imagine slat wall being ugly.

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Michael LeCompte CPF

[TRACY ART & FRAME]

I can understand what Lance is meaning. Plain old slatwall can look very common and the horizontal lines can be distracting on gallery walls. That said, we are creative folk and slatwall should be considered as a base to let our creativity shine.

P.S. I've been in galleries recently that are still using peg board.

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Diver Dave

[tgfu408]

what "horizontal lines?

I'd agree they'd be uglyt, but my walls are covered with art, so the horizontalness (is that a word?) is well broken up by all the framed art on the walls.

I still love it. BUT, and this is the big BUT, mine are natural wood.

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Michael LeCompte CPF

[John Gornall CPF]

Michael, any chance of posting a picture?

[John Gornall CPF]

Lance, What do you have on your walls?

[MerpsMom]

Mike, there is a dispensation granted to those who wish to use descriptive words which aren't they, but should be, as long as the latter are clearly understandable and save additional elaboration in the telling. You are dispensed.

[emibub]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Lance E:
Slatwall is best left in the past as a historical artefact to ugliness and horrible showroom looks.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I'm totally with Lance on this one. I just bought a shop and took all the slat walls down. I felt it was very distracting. I wanted a clean sharp look. I will eventually put in hanging rails. I did however reuse the slats around my counter to update it. I gave the rest away, it was probably horribly expensive but I had no way to haul it anywhere to sell.

[Lance E]

Why do I hate slatwall so much? No matter the shop size or shape the slatwall creates a rushed feeling towards the back of the showroom, it leads to the back of the shop and then straight back out (the highway effect). While I agree that this may not as much of a concern when framing is the only business your showroom sells, it is definitly not a good idea for general retail.
John, our walls are set with 1 metre wide mirrors all the way around and between these are chrome tracks, only a small portion of these mirrors remain (we're painting them out section by section) and with the vertical lines from the chrome we can create specific areas and define them clearly.

I must add though, slatwall can be very effectively used in small amounts such as pillars, counters and small corners.

[This message has been edited by Lance E (edited December 04, 2001).]

[Reynard]

Don`t have a clue about slatwall panelling.Obeche moulding is similar in look to Ramin but is a lot softer and is fairly resistant to warping.Most of the wide profiles I use are made of it.It is good for gilding on and takes a stain very well.Can be a bit blue streaked at times but that only matters if you are leaving it natural or are doing a pale finish on it.Easy to sand and easy to work with.It is an African wood(I think) and is resin free.

I buy most of these profiles from Rose And Hollis in London who supply virtually all of my plainwood range.Its cheap too!