While finishing our basement. I wanted to spice it up a bit with an accent wall. Something differ and unique. Something to “warm” up the room in terms of looks. I just did not want to paint a wall. I had the idea of using old wood with varying shades, colors and stains. It had to be unique and cheap. Like really cheap.
So I decided to grab a lot of old and newer pallets from work and use the slats. I use my reciprocating saw to cut the back sides of the nails to remove the slats. I purposely left the nail heads in them for improved looks but also to give the impression that they are nailed in. I gave all the slats an easy power washing on both sides to get the dirt and dust off but without removing any unique stains, aging and what ever other colors the wood had. My wife applied a single coat of clear gloss polyurethane. That really made all the difference. The poly really gave each piece of wood it’s own identity in a way. A lot of cool color variations and such. We applied a single coat of dark brown paint as a back drop so you would not see a white wall in between any gaps. Then I simply used liquid nails and finishing nails into the studs to secure them to the wall. I think I used about 25 pallets. Cleaned and coated every piece. I did not use all the slats. But I wanted to see what each piece looked like. Having that many pieces gave me a lot of choices on what to use on the wall. Came out really awesome.
Anyways. Hope you like it and perhaps gave you an idea for your home.
So I decided to grab a lot of old and newer pallets from work and use the slats. I use my reciprocating saw to cut the back sides of the nails to remove the slats. I purposely left the nail heads in them for improved looks but also to give the impression that they are nailed in. I gave all the slats an easy power washing on both sides to get the dirt and dust off but without removing any unique stains, aging and what ever other colors the wood had. My wife applied a single coat of clear gloss polyurethane. That really made all the difference. The poly really gave each piece of wood it’s own identity in a way. A lot of cool color variations and such. We applied a single coat of dark brown paint as a back drop so you would not see a white wall in between any gaps. Then I simply used liquid nails and finishing nails into the studs to secure them to the wall. I think I used about 25 pallets. Cleaned and coated every piece. I did not use all the slats. But I wanted to see what each piece looked like. Having that many pieces gave me a lot of choices on what to use on the wall. Came out really awesome.
Anyways. Hope you like it and perhaps gave you an idea for your home.