Nursery News – Accent Wall
Last time we talked about the nursery, you were left with this:
and this:
and a promise that the accent wall for our baby boy’s room would be (and I quote) “rockin” and “boyish” and “hug-worthy”. Let me just give myself a huge pat on the back…because it is. It really is. The accent wall is everything I hoped for and more.
I know…you are just wishing you could reach through your computer monitor and slap me right now…kinda like when that girl crawled outta the television in the movie The Ring…but a lot less creepy and more out of anticipation than the desire to take my soul into Hades. But just be warned, I am an avid movie watcher and I know how to defeat evil spirits. Plus, I got Jesus on my side…and well, frankly, he would totally backhand any evil-spirited chick if they came close. We are tight like that.
Back to the point. We created a very masculine accent wall for our nursery & can’t wait to share it. But first, let’s introduce you to our inspiration:
That’s right. They are shipping pallets. And there is such a thing in the world as Pallet-Craft. I know. I googled it. Pallet-craft is reusing the wood that makes up shipping crates or pallets to make something else….like a chair or a deck or in our case, an accent wall. And since we wanted a very cabin-inspired-look-meets-contemporary-aesthetic in our nursery, we thought there was no better (or cheaper) way to get the great woods indoors…than to put wood indoors.
After a WHOLE lotta googling about the safety of using the Grade III wood that makes up pallets, we learned that some pallets are treated with pesticides & fungicides (NOT GOOD) but that you can find vendors that use untreated lumber (GOOD). If you or your vendor doesn’t know if the pallets are treated, there are certain precautions to follow when using the treated lumber. In our nursery, we followed those precautions even though we knew the lumber was not treated. Afterall, you can’t be too safe with a baby.
First, (after researching & calling local home improvement store managers to find a place that would give us free pallets of untreated wood), Jeremy picked up about two dozen pallets. Then he took his sawsall to them, cutting through the nails and giving us disassembled wood planks.
Then, he used an electric sander to remove any splinters and also to loosen any dirt or debris.
After sanding, he thoroughly cleaned each plank & removed any loose nail heads before taking them into the nursery. This is when we made our first mistake: we sorted the wood by color. It’s much faster to sort the wood by width…if you are planning on doing this at home.
After you sort it by width, then sort it by condition…like put all the wood of the same width with large cracks together. It helps. Believe me.
Ok. So now that the wood is prepped for installation (and you didn’t inhale any pesticides because you sanded & cleaned everything in a well ventilated area while wearing a mask! Good for you…you will not die. Not right now. Not from pesticides anyway.), now is the time to come up with your plan of attack. We didn’t. Mistake #2.
We knew that we would attach the planks with an air compressor and a brad nail gun…
(here’s our setting for you pallet-crafters),
but we didn’t know much else.
In fact, we started with these nails (3/4″)…
mistake #3.
And ended up using these (1″):
Afterall, nobody wants a plank to come down on Baby Will.
So we just started in one corner and nailed in a plank along the bottom of the plywood. When we got to the corner, we just measured and cut an ugly plank to fill in the gap. Rows 1 & 2 were pretty fast. But then we got to the outlet. At first, we thought we would just cut a piece to fit around it. Then my boyfriend suggested a door.
I know. It sounded crazy to me too.
But then he explained. He could cut out a piece of wood & attach it with a mini piano hinge to the nearby planks so that the outlet would be out of sight…and out of the reach of mini baby Bower fingers. Plus, it could blend into the wall instead of having a bright white outlet plate showing.
It’s not done yet, but that is what the plan is. So for now, we cut the pieces to go right to the edge of the outlet plate sides.
Then we did the same thing with the next row.
That’s when mistake #4 occured. When we installed the row #3, we didn’t make sure that the tops of the planks lined up evenly. So row #4 didn’t line up. We had to figure out a way to put a solid piece across the top without having huge gaps.
Again…boyfriend to the rescue. He just took his circular saw and cut the top of the higher plank so that it would line up with the one on the other side of the outlet.
Setting the saw to the depth of the wood plank ensured that he wouldn’t cut through the plywood underneath…just the taller plank.
Can I just say that boyfriends with accent wall solutions are hot?
Because they totally are.
In the end, it lined up perfectly and we forged ahead.
When it came to the window sill, we just cut the end of the plank to fit perfect around it.
We did avoid mistake #5 by remembering to vary the widths of the planks. Since we wanted this wall to look random (but not too random), we knew that it would be important to use the wider planks in a row every once in a while. You can see we put about seven thinner rows between our thicker rows. I think it helps create a very random (but not too random) look.
Oh – and if you are doing pallet-craft, it is important to take breaks. We took the mandatory Smoothie-King break half-way through.
After said break was over, we got back to work.
Or Jeremy got back to work and I got back to sitting down with my camera…
That’s when mistake #6 hit. This time it had to do with levelness again. When we built up either side of the window, the sides were slightly off. The left side was slightly lower than the right side.
So we decided that the best fix would be to notch out the plank directly above the window so that it could fill in the cracks. You can see here how the right hand arrow is showing you were we ‘notched’ the wood out. The left arrow shows how we had to improvise with the wood planks (using various widths) to make it even.
We did this once before on a lower piece but that time it was because we ran outta the same width planks. I don’t think it looks bad…in fact I love the imperfections of a wood wall.
My favorite imperfections are the cracks and the knots and the nail holes. They seem so manly to me. Which is good…because this is gonna be a little man’s room.
So ready for the finished wall?
Are you really really ready?
Ok…stop trying to strangle me through your computer screen…
here it is:
Pretty hot huh?
And because I am a dork, I mocked up some curtains on there so see if I liked it.
Ok. Now for all you folks out there who aren’t completely satisfied with our pallet-wood safety precautions, it doesn’t stop there.
oh no.
Now comes the nitty-gritty.
After we finished installing the wood, Jeremy whipped out the vacuum.
He made sure each little dust particle was off this bad boy.
And then we applied satin polyurethane. We decided to go with the spray type in a satin finish. This way if the plank-people-lied and we had treated wood, it would literally have to rain outside, seep through our exterior, our drywall, our plywood and our pallet wood, and then Will would have to pick away the polyurethane and suck on the seepage to be affected by the pesticides.
We felt pretty solid about the chances of that not happening. And if it does…well, Will can have a kick-diaper story about the way he avoided death when he goes to pre-K.
So that’s it folks. One very accented wall…for the grand total cost of $15. Since the pallet wood was free and we had a giftcard for the polyurethane, the 2.3 pieces of plywood & a half a pack of nails was our only cost. Not too bad, huh? I think it looks a heck of a lot costlier than that…plus we figure since it isn’t a baby-style wall, it can grow with Will as he develops into a young man.
What do you think? Does it look like a textural masterpiece to anyone else? Because it totally tells me to hug it with it’s boyish good looks. And does anyone else out there have a penchant for pallet-crafting? Or maybe you had a cheap alternative to an accent wall yourself? Was it painted on or was it a wall decal or what? C’mon. Tell me about it…nothing is hotter than an accent….wall 
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hello! i just wanted to thank you for posting this along with the tutorial! if you have time…check out my blog and our wall we did for my son’s room! thanks again! your room is awesome!!
here is the link…
http://nicholsfamilyoffour.blogspot.com/2011/12/out-with-pink-and-in-with-blue.html
Looks great…but he is wearing a red sox hat in one pic and a yankees hat in another pic!!!!!
I love this idea and we’re planning on installing this on the TV wall in our basement. Do you happen to know how wide and tall the wall was that you installed these pallets on? I’m just wondering in order to estimate the amount of pallets we will need. Thanks in advance!!
I wish I knew…I never measured!
xo – kb
Thanks for sharing…you did a wonderful job! Love the random, rich look.
So how does your husband feel about being an internet/pinterest celebrity. Also, couldn’t help but notice, is he a NY Yankees AND Red Sox fan? Confused?
He is a fan of hats. It’s a thing. I don’t question it any more…like he’s a fan of certain players on both teams (ancient players and new ones)…and so he doesn’t pick sides. Funny, huh?
xo – kb
I love this look and want to try it myself!!
Awesome idea…I always knew something could be done with pallets–besides burning!
I’d love to try this as my laundry room floor but I have a few questions… After sanding, did you powerwash boards or use a standard hose, were any washing products used and were you ever concerned with bugs appearing? Thanks for sharing
We didn’t pressure wash them – just use a standard hose…and these particular boards didn’t show evidence of any bugs (like areas where they would have tunneled or eaten) so it was like a board you would get at a home improvement store…
xo – kb
I love this! I am totally going to copy you and put this in my master bedroom. I have been looking for some kind of an idea to do an accent wall that would be appealing to my husband and I both, and this is it!
I recently did an accent wall in my craft room with scrapbook paper. I really love how scrapbook paper books have a variety of colors, patterns and textures and thought it would be a great idea to use it as wallpaper. It was applied with regular wallpaper paste and done in a patchwork-type pattern.
Wow! This is incredible, I am going to attempt it in my new houses kitchen wall. Thank you for forging the path ypu are truly an innovator.
I absolutely love this. I actually found this by looking up ways to do this very thing. We have a room above our garage that Im doing cabin style and am currently in the process of sheetrocking the stairwell that leads to it. This is where I plan on putting the pallet wall. I love seeing it actually done instead of just in my head. Will def. be pallet hunting now!
Love this wall!!! Looks great and best of all it was cheap.
Unbelievably awesome, I absolutely LOVE this! What a great idea… Thanks for sharing and all the information!
considering this idea for a kitchen acent wall, love this!
I LOVE IT ~
AMAZING!
I love the rustic, rugged look of the this wall. Amazing job with the details, it looks fantastic!
I love this! Someday when I have a house I’m going to totally do this but I think I’d want it for my office. Rustic yet sophisticated! Great job
this is fantabulous!!! Gonna have to figure out which wall i’d like to treat that way! we already have a barn door for a wall-so it will fit in pretty good:) (in another room)
I have already commented about doing my computer/ husbands hunting trophy room( one wall) on your engagement blog. I just wanted to thank you for all the info and pictures so that we have something to go off of.
I read that you said that you have moved from the house that you did that wall in, are you doing any interesting things in the new house?
I think so
If you subscribe to the blog, you can get daily updates on what we are up to 
xo – kb
Thank you
LOVE IT! I’m gonna attempt to do this my self. Appreciate the share
is anyone else not able to see the pictures. Ive been doing alot of research into doing this in my living room. So far this is really the only step by step instructions i can find and of course the pics wont come up, but im sure it looks bada$$.
All the photos are hosted on photobucket so sometimes a firewall blocks the pics! Maybe check your security settings to allow photobucket?
xo kb
I LOVE this! I’m thinking about doing it in my kitchen as a backsplash. I love your humor in your blog too. Thanks for the idea!
You are amazing! I must try this some day. This is such a great idea for a baby boy’s nursery.. much more interesting than the typical wall colors.
THANK YOU!!!! I was looking for an idea to do a small bathroom and was wanting a rustic look and this is so GREAT! Plus the pallets wont cost a thing because i can get them free at our local newspaper. I’m really excited about this!
I am wondering if i could white wash these and make them look like bead board and put it on the ceiling. I have to redo my daughters room where the tiles are coming down. this would be cool. maybe i could do like a pink and white wash. oh no the ideas are starting to flow.
I think you could white wash them but I doubt they would look like beadboard – which is really tailored and clean – I think it might end up looking more like painted wood flooring (except on the ceiling).
xo – kb
Just wondering how thick the ply-board was. My almost13 year old daughter and I are converting her room into a recycled pallets room.. she loves the whole concept or pallet art. – we will be making a built in wall with shelving and a desk for school work so wondering how think I should do the backing ply board.
Thanks.
It’s just the cheap thin stuff…I think it’s pretty standard – maybe 3/8″?
xo – kb
Lovely!!!! I loved it. Wood is so beautiful.
This ROCKS! Your VF/baby papa ROCKS and I totally dig the design. Unfortunately our old house with plaster walls would mean NOPE that would not work.
CRAP.
Meanwhile I sit in drooly awe and admire your handiwork. ROCK ON!!!
Not to long ago I saw someone post pictures of a similar project they did, they used tile slates that looked like wood as a backdrop for a kitchen. I loved the look and immediately wanted to put one in my future kitchen, but wanted to use real wood. Thank you for showing me that my idea was not crazy, and better yet giving me step by step instructions to do it!!
I am so doing this! I have one question (well hubs does) what was the purpose of putting up the pallets first? Why not just nail to the wall?
If you nail directly to the wall you could end up with boards attached only to drywall…which would be less sturdy than attaching them to something that is solid (like plywood) that is attached to the studs. It’s more of a ‘sturdy’ issue than anything else.
xo – kb
do you have any suggestions on doing this with sheet rock? my fiance suggested getting a really good adhesive but i am a little hesitant!
Thanks
Ours was done with sheet rock. We simply screwed the plywood into the studs first and then used a nail gun to attach the pallet boards to the plywood. Super simple and still really sturdy.
xo – kb
Looks like a lot of work but I LOVE IT!!
What precautions would you need take with the wood if it was treated?
Well, I think that it would need to be sealed extra well so that no moisture would be exposed to the wood to allow for chemical seepage.
xo – kb
This is a great idea, I would love to do this for a kitchen floor. Wonder if it would work. I can think of many walls I’d love to do this on also. The search is on for pallets!!
very excellent-will do it too, wondered about cutting the pallets apart but I will find the answer.
Thanks for such clear instructions!
Fantastic work – looks great and the information is excellent. Thank you so much for generously sharing the project!!!
Love it! Y’all did such a good job!
Did you stain any of the boards?
Nope…they were all weathered differently so they ended up different colors which we loved.
xo – kb
You did a fantastic job! I’m linking to this from my blog so my readers can come enjoy your very detailed tutorial. Thank you so much, it looks amazing!
Nicely done. Next, have him make a “pallirondack” chair from pallet wood.