Method for producing a cladding element (10), e.g., a flooring panel, a wall cladding element, a furniture face element or the like, comprising a base board (12) that is provided on the visible face with a decorative paper ply (14, S2a), the decorative paper ply (14) comprising at least one resin-impregnated paper layer (14a, S1), and is characterized in that a visible surface of the decorative paper ply (14) is first subjected to a surface treatment (20, S3) and subsequently a varnish layer (14e, S4) is applied onto this at least one surface.