8 interior wall finishes compared side by side: which suit Thai homes?

How to choose an interior wall material: ask these five questions first

A wall stays with you for years. Choosing its material from pretty pictures alone is like choosing shoes from a photo without trying them on. Thai homes have particular conditions to think about first: high humidity almost all year, heavy rain, strong sun and, in some areas, termites.

Before you look at a catalogue, go and put your hand on the wall you want to work on. If it feels cold and damp, has water stains, or the paint is blistering or mouldy, fix the cause of the damp first. Any material you cover a damp wall with becomes a place for the problem to hide.

• Is this wall damp? Has it ever had water seeping in, mould or blistering paint?
• How hard is this room used? Are there children or pets, or is the wall touched often?
• How long do you want it to last, and will you want to change it often?
• How much weight can the wall take? In a condo, what does management allow you to drill or fix?
• What's the budget including installation and future upkeep, not just materials?

Wall paint and textured paint: the most flexible basics

Acrylic wall paint is the lowest-priced wall material per area. You can paint it yourself, the colour is easy to change, and it creates no gap behind the wall where damp can build up. If the wall develops a problem in future, you'll see it straight away. The limitation is that it's smooth: if you want depth, or the feel of a real material, flat paint alone won't give it.

Textured and plaster-effect paints, such as limewash or mineral paints, give a soft matt surface with shifting tones like stone or old plaster, while still being a paint job with no panels to fix on. They're mid-priced, need more skill than flat paint, and are popular for a single feature wall. Voqe Mineral Finish is a limewash-style mineral paint of this kind, for both interior and exterior walls.

• Wall paint: low price, low damp risk, easy upkeep, easy to touch up
• Textured or plaster-effect paint: mid price, adds depth, needs skill, harder to patch than flat paint
• Suits: every room, especially rooms where you like to change the mood often

Wallpaper and fabric wall panels: striking, but you need to talk about damp

Wallpaper gives you patterns paint can't: florals, line work or fabric-like surfaces. It's mid-priced, depending on type and pattern. But in a Thai home you have to watch out for damp. If the wall behind is damp or backs onto a bathroom, moisture can get trapped between the wall and the paper, leading to mould and peeling edges. Stripping wallpaper later takes real effort, and the wall surface usually needs repairing before you can repaint.

Fabric wall panels, or fabric-covered acoustic panels, help with echo and add softness behind a bed or in a home cinema. They're mid to high priced, but fabric holds dust and moisture, so they suit a closed, air-conditioned room better than one with humid air blowing through all day.

• Wallpaper: mid price, high damp risk if the wall is damp, hard to strip
• Fabric panels: mid to high price, help with sound, collect dust, need regular vacuuming
• Avoid: walls backing onto a bathroom, exterior walls hit by rain, and walls that have had water seeping in

Interior wall panels, composite wood and wall slats

Wood panels and slats give a warmth paint can't. They suit TV walls, bedheads and entrance halls. The main options are solid wood, veneered plywood or MDF, and WPC composite wood, which mixes wood fibre with plastic. Composite wood is popular in Thai homes because it stands up to humidity better than solid wood and MDF, and termites rarely eat it, but some ranges still look like plastic up close.

The thing to watch with panels and slats is the gap behind them. If they're fixed to a damp wall, or there's no space for air to pass, moisture builds up behind them where you can't see it. Solid wood and MDF may swell or go mouldy, and become a hiding place for termites. Fix any damp in the wall first, use a moisture-resistant frame, and in a condo check the rules on drilling and fixing first.

Wall slats are a good middle way. You get the lines of wood, use less material than covering the whole wall, and if you paint the wall behind a dark colour, the slats stand out much more.

• Solid wood: high price, the warmest, at risk from termites and damp, needs upkeep
• MDF or veneered plywood: mid price, smooth and good-looking, not water-resistant
• WPC composite wood: mid price, better with damp, termites rarely eat it, some ranges look like plastic
• Wall slats: mid price, less material, pair well with a dark wall behind

Faux stone, faux brick and tiles: durable, but heavy and hard to change

Faux stone and faux brick panels give a solid-looking wall in a loft or country-house style. They're mid to high priced and durable, and less bothered by damp than wallpaper, but they're heavy, need a wall that can take the load, and are hard to remove. If you're tired of them in five years, changing them means chiselling the wall.

Tiles are the easiest wall material to look after in wet areas: kitchens, bathrooms and behind the sink. They're mid to high priced depending on the range. The downsides are grout lines that get dirty, and they're hard to change once installed. If old tiles are still firmly fixed but you don't like how they look, coating over the existing tiles is an option that doesn't involve ripping them out.

• Faux stone or brick: mid to high price, damp-resistant, heavy, hard to remove
• Tiles: mid to high price, the most water-resistant, grout lines need upkeep
• Suits: kitchens, bathrooms, feature walls in halls and walls that get wet often

Interior wall materials, room by room

No material is best for every wall, but there is a best material for each wall. The simple rule: the higher the damp risk, the more you should choose a material that doesn't seal damp in; the more often you want to change, the more you should choose a material that's easy to change.

Many of the best-looking homes mix just two or three materials: paint on most walls, one feature wall in a plaster texture or wood slats, and tiles only in wet areas. The result is a home with depth but no clutter.

• Bedroom: paint, or plaster-effect paint behind the bed; fabric if it's a closed air-conditioned room
• Living room: paint, with slats or a plaster texture on the TV wall
• Kitchen: wipeable paint, tiles behind the counter
• Bathroom: tiles in the wet zone, paint outside it
• Halls and stairs: a darker lower half in paint, or a plaster texture that hides handprints
• Condo: paint, and materials that don't need much drilling