Barnwood Wall {A Tutorial}

Do you ever take notice of the wall underneath a bar area in a house? From now on, I bet you will. Can you guess what color the wall under our bar was? If you said, Antique White, you're spot on.

Instead of just painting the wall, I wanted to add some texture there, so I decided to create a barn wood wall. I had seen something similar at a shop in Downtown McKinney underneath a register stand. I thought we'd try it out under the bar to see how it looked with the new wainscoting.

Here is how we created this great looking wall for FREE!

We took an old fence Jason found in the dumpster at work. (You know you have a good man when he is willing to dumpster dive for you! Love that man!) Most people will leave old fence on the side of the road for bulk pick up, so drive around your neighborhood to see if you can find these jewels! If not, always look on Craigslist. Many times people will post it for Free or for extremely cheap to have you come haul it away. If all else fails, you can always purchase fence pickets at your local hardware store. 

First Step:

Remove base boards carefully (you'll want to reuse them if possible) and measure. We measured from just under the bar to the floor to find out how tall to make each board and started cutting using a chop saw. 

Second Step:

After all cuts were made, I took a spray bottle and filled it with diluted bleach. I sprayed each board and set them outside to dry. It only took about 20 minutes from them to dry. This step helps to kill any mold spores hanging onto your wood.

Third Step:

Paint the boards any color combo your heart desires! I had about 6 different colors of blue paint samples from testing out wall colors, so I used those. I didn't keep count of how many of each color I was making, because I didn't want there to be a pattern. I wanted it to be a random mix. I also took a cream (Antique White if you will...) and a taupe to pull in the Antique White from the other walls in the room. Also, I left a few planks as they were. I wanted some natural barn wood color in the mix as well.

Fourth Step:

Once the paint was dry, I took my orbital sander and began sanding. I didn't worry about how much paint came off each one. I just sanded over each board about 4 passes, and moved on to the next one. I wanted it to look a bit rustic, but I also did this to smooth out the boards. I have a toddler learning to walk, so he is always pulling up on the walls. I didn't want any splinters!

Fifth Step:

Using a nail gun, attach the boards to your wall and reattach your base over the boards. You'll probably need to touch up your base boards at this point.

Now sit back and enjoy looking at your unique and custom wall! It's a great way to add color and texture to an area below a bar or half-wall. Get creative! You could even do this around your tub. The possibilities are endless!