After taking all of November and most of December off from house remodeling projects, I’ve been itching to start making more progress on our to-do list, and the next room on the list has been our bedroom. It’s still in the beginning stages, but we’re making some progress. The walls in the room were originally just thin paneling. The corner seams were never finished, and there was no trim around the ceiling, so I couldn’t wait to make it disappear. Rather than tear the paneling out, we decided to cover it up by installing a wood plank wall. I knew a plank wall would be a perfect fit for my farmhouse style. This is what the walls looked like before we started on the project.
When we put a plank wall in our shed-turned guest room, we used interlocking planks, like we used in our kitchen remodel, but to make them look more like planks, my husband shaved off the “tongue” that interlocks, so we could make a little gap between each board, hoping it would look like real planks, seen here before they were painted.
That process took a good deal of time to complete, and although I’m happy with how it turned out, I wanted true planks in our bedroom, not mock ones, and I wanted it done quicker this time.
The timing was perfect, because I was contacted by Build.com, who allowed me to select one of their products to review, and I knew right away that I wanted a nail gun, to make installing the planks quick and easy. I selected the Dewalt Cordless Finish Nailer kit
This was a tool I knew both my husband and I would get a lot of use from, and since it’s cordless, I wouldn’t need to drag our super heavy air compressor around to use it. I was practically giddy when it arrived. Diamonds couldn’t make me happier than a cool new DIY tool! My husband was pretty excited too, because he grabbed a few pieces of scrap wood, so he could be the first to try it out, and I put a few nails in as well…just for fun.
Installing the boards onto the wall went as smoothly and quickly as I’d hoped. My husband cut the 16 ft. boards into various lengths, so they would be staggered on the wall, and he started nailing away.
Within a few hours, he had most of the wall done, and he finished it up the next day.
Honestly, I’m always happy to leave the construction work to him, and then I step in and do the “pretty” parts of our projects, but I know I could have done this wall myself. I envied him getting to play with the nail gun, but I know I’ll get my turn on some future projects I have in mind. Now, I wonder why we didn’t get a nail gun a long time ago. It would have made all of our other remodeling projects so much easier, and faster.
I hired my youngest son to put the first coat of paint on the planks, and I did the second coat. I’ll probably add one more coat, but I’m in love with it, and can’t wait to get more walls in our bedroom done.
Speaking of my husband, I’ve always referred to him as just “my husband” in my blog posts, but he has a name. His name is John, and without him, there wouldn’t be a single remodel completed in our house. I told him I need to start a new column on my blog, and entitle it, “Dear John“, because he does all the truly hard work in any room remodel, and I get to step in, and do the easier parts – like painting and decorating. He rarely lets me photograph him working, but I made him cooperate this time, although he wouldn’t look at the camera. Thanks honey!
Disclosure – Build.com provided me with the nail gun, but all opinions are my own. I’m thrilled with the product, and very happy with they service the offered. I highly recommend them!
I have that nailer – best tool I ever bought!! Your wall looks divine.
Happy New Year!
Love visiting your site but I have to say it sets off my antivirus or something tries to download to my computer (usually it says it’s flash player but I know it isn’t really) every time I do. I’m positive it’s in the ad widgets and I thought I should let you know.. This is my second visit in the past few minutes, the first one a red page popped up telling me it was a phishing issue and wanted me to click on a button to go “back to safety” and I’m thankful I’m tech savvy enough to know not to click on it. Some of your visitors may not be. I wanted to let you know so you could check into it. Unfortunately it’s a common thing when letting someone like Google Ads or something like it randomly place ads on your site.
Thanks for letting me know, Lisa. I haven’t heard that anyone else is having the same issue. I did investigate it, and it sounds like you might have an outdated Flash player, and that CAN cause a risk with some ads that redirect, so you might want to update your Flash Player to protect your computer, because with an outdated flash player, you don’t even need to click on a malware attack for it to infect your computer. Unfortunately, I can’t really investigate further without knowing the specific ad that caused the alert, because every person is shown different ads, which are based on your own search history, so I may never see an ad that you see displayed.
Thanks,
Angie
Love the wood planks! They look awesome! Could you tell me what type of wood you used? I mean, I can see it’s pine, but did you purchase it from Lowes? Or is it reclaimed, etc? I redid my back porch & laundry in wood planks from wood pallets. There are some pics posted of the walls on my blog, and I’m working on re-doing the floor now. I love the way it turned out, but am always looking for new ideas. I used vertical planks in my bedroom out of 1/8″ plywood cut in 6″ & 8″ strips and I whitewashed it. It turned out ok, but still kinda looks like the crappy paneling it covers. Many of the other rooms in my farmhouse are painted paneling, so I’m looking for new ideas to cover that paneling also.
Aren’t the cordless nail guns awesome? Mine is a Ryobi 18 gauge and I absolutely love it! Like what did I ever do without it?
Incidentally, in reference to the comment above and the antivirus/pop-up issues: I have had zero issues with your blog
and visit it almost daily. However, I am on a Mac OS with all my devices, so I hope this helps!
Thanks for all the inspiration, Angie! Happy New Year!!!
Thanks Lori! It is 16 ft. pine planks we got at Lowes. It costs about $10 per board, and we used about 10 boards to do that wall.
Love the look, hi John !
Hi John! You are very blessed to have a “Dear John” who enjoys remodeling and has the skills to do it. The wall looks amazing. Ya’ll make a great team 🙂
The wall looks wonderful…that is just what we want in our porch. The nailer looks awesome. Your hubby sounds a lot like mine…we’re blessed to have them! They keep you laughing…
Great looking wall! Our whole house (an old farm house built in 1900) has paneled walls. I might get brave and try this in our bedroom. I love the plank look. Can’t wait to see the rest of your room!
Angie … You accomplished so much in 2014. You should be proud and then also have a sweet husband to do the grunt labor and kids to help paint. What you have done with your blog is impressive. Hope your 2015 is all that you want it to be.
Blessings,
Audrey Z. @ Timeless Treasures
Love the look and have wanted a nail gun forever!❤️ Are the boards 1x 6 x 16 planks? Happy planking!
Cathy, yes – that is the size of the planks we bought.
Had my comment all ready in my mind on the great walls and the photo of John, but now that I know he dropped drawers for one of the photos all I can do is snicker.
Love it! I need a “Dear John” 😉
Debbie
Love it! I’m getting ready to do some planking here as well. Your tips are perfect. My “Dear Sam” will be doing most of the work 🙂
Hugs!
Lani
Dear John
I love the plank walls but I’m wondering what you did at the corners… I have a small bathroom with thin paneled walls just like yours and I’d love to put planks up.
Thank you
Susan Homeroad
I think I need to ask Santa for that nail gun. Angie what kind of wood did you use?
Thanks!
Susan, we used plain pine planks.