Cladding, feature-wall composition and the detailing that lifts a room.
Each decision below is shown three ways — what it changes in use, which way it moves the cost, and how it looks. Price direction only. The responsible supplier confirms the quotation after measurement and specification.
Specifiable · quotation requiredCoordinated by ELS · quoted after validation.
ELS specifies
A panel within the wallEssentialLow$
Bed- or sofa-width bandLow$
The full wall, corner to cornerSignatureModerate$$
Wrapping onto the return wall or ceilingBespokeHigher$$$
See what each option changes
A panel within the wall
In use
The smallest committed area — a defined panel with plain wall around it. The least material, the least cost, and the easiest to change later; but it needs a deliberate edge, or it reads as an unfinished patch.
Cost impact
Low
How it looks
Frames one thing — a bed head, a TV, a console — and leaves the rest of the wall quiet. The most restrained option.
Bed- or sofa-width band
In use
The panel matches the width of what stands against it, so the furniture and the wall read as one designed piece. It depends on the furniture staying that size — rearrange the room and the band is stranded.
Cost impact
Low
How it looks
Anchors the furniture visually and gives the room an obvious centre — the most common and most reliable composition.
The full wall, corner to corner
In use
Covering the whole wall removes the edge problem entirely — there is no join to detail, because the material stops where the room does. It also commits the room: this becomes the wall everything else is arranged around.
Cost impact
Moderate
How it looks
The strongest single gesture in the room — the wall becomes the room's material identity rather than a feature within it.
Wrapping onto the return wall or ceiling
In use
Turning the corner makes the material read as a volume rather than a surface. It is the most demanding to execute — the corner joint is fully exposed and nothing hides a discrepancy in it.
Cost impact
Higher
How it looks
Wraps the occupant rather than facing them — the most enveloping and the most architectural of the four.
Specifiable · quotation requiredCoordinated by ELS · quoted after validation.
ELS specifies
HPL laminate panelEssentialLow$
Timber veneer panelSignatureModerate$$
Fluted / slatted panelSignatureModerate$$
WPC composite claddingEssentialLow$
ACP / aluminium panelSignatureModerate$$
Stone / porcelain-look panelBespokeHigher$$$
See what each option changes
HPL laminate panel
In use
HPL laminate is a hard, wipeable surface bonded to board — scratch- and moisture-tolerant for interior feature walls and easy to clean of Sarawak's humidity grime; not for full exterior exposure.
Cost impact
Low
How it looks
A huge range of woodgrain, stone and solid-colour faces in matte or gloss — the most affordable way to dress a wall with a factory-clean, consistent surface.
Timber veneer panel
In use
A real wood-veneer face over a stable core brings genuine warmth to a feature wall; keep it to dry living and bedroom zones away from splashes, and it wants occasional care.
Cost impact
Moderate
How it looks
Real grain and depth no print matches — the warmest, most crafted feature wall; book-matched leaves make a statement.
Fluted / slatted panel
In use
Vertical fluting or slats add tactile rhythm and soften echo in open-plan rooms; the grooves catch a little dust but wipe down along the line.
Cost impact
Moderate
How it looks
Light rakes across the ribs and shifts through the day — a contemporary, textured feature wall with real depth.
WPC composite cladding
In use
Wood-plastic composite resists rain, rot and termites, so it clads both a feature wall and a sheltered facade in Sarawak's climate; low upkeep, no repainting.
Cost impact
Low
How it looks
Woodgrain warmth with crisp, uniform lines — a durable, contemporary cladding equally at home inside or on the facade.
ACP / aluminium panel
In use
Aluminium composite panel is light, flat — the dependable facade cladding and a sleek interior feature; wipes clean and holds colour under UV. Suitable for wet or exposed applications only when the specified ACP grade, frame, joints, cut edges, fixings and sealants are detailed for that exposure. Exterior use requires an approved exterior-grade system.
Cost impact
Moderate
How it looks
Flat, seamless expanses in solid colour, metallic or timber-look — the crispest, most modern facade or feature wall.
Stone / porcelain-look panel
In use
Large stone-look sintered or porcelain panels give a marble presence with far fewer joints, wiping clean where real stone would stain; heavy panels need skilled fixing.
Cost impact
Higher
How it looks
Near-seamless marble or stone across a whole wall — the most monolithic, most luxurious feature.
The panel finishes level with the surrounding plaster, so nothing catches dust on a ledge and nothing projects into the room — the right answer in a circulation route or a narrow room.
Cost impact
Low — No additional build-up behind the finish.
How it looks
Reads as a change of material rather than an added object — the quietest treatment, and the one that keeps the room's proportions unchanged.
Set back behind a shadow gap
In use
A deliberate recessed line separates the panel from the wall, so the two materials never have to meet cleanly — the detail absorbs the tolerance that a flush joint would expose. It does collect dust along the groove.
Cost impact
Moderate — A recessed detail formed behind the panel edge.
How it looks
A fine dark line outlines the panel and lifts it off the wall — the detail that most reliably makes a finish look specified rather than applied.
Projecting from the wall
In use
Building the panel forward gives it real thickness and a returned edge to catch light. The projection is also somewhere to conceal a cable route or a fixing rail that a flush panel has nowhere to put.
Cost impact
Moderate — A built-out substructure behind the finish.
How it looks
Casts its own shadow and changes through the day — more present in the room than a flush panel, and it narrows the space slightly.
Recessed niche
In use
Cutting into the wall gains usable depth without taking floor area — shelving, a display recess, or somewhere a television sits back rather than hanging forward. Only possible where the wall is not structural, which is confirmed on site.
Cost impact
Higher — Forming a recess and making good around it.
How it looks
The most integrated result — the object sits inside the wall rather than on it, and the wall face stays unbroken around it.
A real figure belongs only to what ALUMAX supplies; appointed-trade works — electrical, air-conditioning, ceiling, flooring, painting, data and security — are quoted by the trade, and loose items follow the purchasing arrangement in your appointment. ELS specifies and coordinates throughout. Cost is a relative direction only, never a price; maintenance is described in each option's “In use”.
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Not sure which product — or want the whole scope priced?