My 3 Monsters: {31 Days to a Brand New Room}Day 4: Faux Plank Accent Wall Treatment

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10.04.2012

{31 Days to a Brand New Room}
Day 4: Faux Plank Accent Wall Treatment

If you're joining us for the first time today, this is day 4 of a 31 day series about how to give a room in your home a brand new look, from top to bottom, completely DIY.  


You'll find links to all the other posts in the series here, if you're interested.

Planked walls and ceilings are all the rage these days, especially among home dec and craft bloggers.  Just search "planked wall" on Pinterest and you'll see.  It's a trend that I'm not ashamed to latch onto, mainly because it perfectly suits the cottage-y feeling we are going for in our entire house and will give this boring, boxy room a TON of personality.   I'm working on a budget here, so bang-for-the-buck is the order of the day.

I know what you're thinking -- "planked walls aren't that cheap, crazy lady" -- and you're right.  Kind of.  There are as many different ways to do them as there are people doing them.  I knew I couldn't afford the authentic reclaimed wood that I would have loved to do.  I couldn't even afford real wood planks on the budget I'm trying to stick to.  Luckily in my "research" {ahem, time-wasting on Pinterest} I came across this awesome project from Miss Mustard Seed.  She's a genius -- one of my decorating heroes, really.  She used hardboard cut into 4" strips and nailed to her wall to mimic the effect of an exposed board wall.  The pictures of her room are stunning and I was immediately sold!  Hardboard is only about $8 for a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet at my local home-improvement store and I figured I would need 3 sheets.  $24 was do-able on my budget.

Miss Mustard Seed's tutorial is pretty great so I'll just add a few of my own notes.

1.  Your local home improvement store will cut the boards for you.  The trick is to find an employee who is willing to take the time to do it for you.  They will try to talk you out of it.  They will tell you that the saw will "eat up" the hardboard.  They will tell you that they have to charge you for each cut.  Just smile and assure them that this is really what you want, you don't mind if the edges are a bit rough, and that you are happy to pay for the cuts.  {Or you can take it home and cut it yourself if you have the tools for that.  We don't.}  They can cut all three sheets at once on their big saw and each cut costs 25 cents.  I had them cut it into strips 6-inches wide by 4-feet long, so there were 15 cuts to be made.  That's less than $4 for the cutting if you do the math.  Totally worth it.

2.  If your house is on a very small lot and you have a crazy neighbor who thinks someone is pranking her by knocking on her door and hiding over and over again, you will get a visit from a police officer whilst nailing your boards to the wall.  Just smile and assure him that you are working on a home-improvement project and not messing with your neighbor.  He will be very kind and you will share a laugh.

3.  If I were to do this project again, I would take the time to slap a coat of the new paint color on the wall I was nailing the planks to before attaching them.  I would also paint the long edges of my planks before attaching them to the wall.  That would have saved me oodles of time in the long run. Once the planks are on the wall, it is pretty tedious to get the paint into the teeny gaps between rows of planks.


4.  Don't forget to stagger the joints in your planks from row to row for a cooler, more authentic look.  You probably didn't need that reminder, but I thought I'd say it just in case.

Here's what it looks like when it's all done and painted:


{Don't peek at those striped curtains -- those are Day 8!}  I'm telling you, that faux plank wall was worth every penny of the $28 it cost me.  And if I ever get to meet Miss Mustard Seed I'ma give her a big ole hug.  This wall is the star of this room makeover.  Check in tomorrow to see what we are doing with the other three walls.

Lil\'Luna

7 comments:

  1. I really love how it turned out.

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  2. Wow - it looks awesome. And kind of funny about your neighbor :)

    xoxo

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  3. I can't believe you did that for $28. It looks AMAZING! Your tips are great, and I was cracking up at the neighbor story. Funny funny. Great job and thanks for sharing!
    Debbie

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  4. Thanks ladies! Our neighbor is loony sometimes -- Never mind that her dogs are out in the yard barking ALL NIGHT LONG every night. Just don't try to nail anything up in your own house or she'll call the cops. Maybe it's time to invest in a nail gun . . . I love a good home improvement project story anyway!

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  5. omw i just luv it all - please come to texas and redo some of my rooms!!!.....pretty please......

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  6. Hi.....can you tell me if the vinyl planks left an awful chemical smell? some people are saying that on the home depot blog. Thanks! It looks amazing~

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