There is something exciting about a project that grows step by step. Piecing together and putting up a shiplap type pallet wall is just one such project, due to the nature of how it is carried out.
For some time now, my husband has been steadily working away on the first of two decorative timber walls we are planning on creating. It is definitely a build-as-you-go project, because the walls are each being created by re-purposing wood sourced from free wood pallets in our local area.
Businesses are often very happy to pass on surplus wood pallets freely when asked. If you are happy to do a bit of foraging through the piles of various pallets they have spare and available, you can find some good pallets amongst those they offer you, and which will in turn be great for your particular re-purposing project.
Since wood pallets invariably become damaged, the business owner will have no wish to re-use them or send back to their original supplier. It is a win-win situation for both them and for you, when you are looking to source wood for projects as cheaply as you can.
This particular home DIY project has definitely been a project that involved committing a bit of time and energy when preparing to carry it out, because you are re-purposing and recycling previously used materials. However it has been worth it.
My husband has had to pull apart each pallet gently with a crowbar, strip the resulting pallet planks of all their nails, and in turn each plank has been sanded down a little also. Still, the timber has been free, and it has been perfect for the overall vision we have set sail with.
We also recycled cupboard doors that were surplus and used them as a layer between the original gibboard wall and the pallet panelling. These were trimmed down and attached to the wall. Each prepared door was specifically aligned to be attached to actual underlying wall joists. We have peace of mind that everything to the wall overall will be held securely, because we chose to align everything with the internal wall joists.
The beauty of using the cupboard doors as an underlying foundation over the original wall, is that at any point in the future the whole project could also be dismantled and removed, with very little overall damage to the original existing house wall. Rather than hundreds and hundreds of screw holes to putty up in fill, we will only have to deal to those that occurred due to putting up the actual lengths of re-purposed doors.
We have chosen to use screws rather than nails for attaching all the doors, as well as the pallet planking to the wall surface. I plan to add decorative door knobs for a certain purpose later on, and it will be so much easier to take off and then replace any particular pallet board again later on (More about why these door knobs are being added will be revealed later on).
Rough edges have been sanded down on each length of planking as mentioned, and where possible we have made the most of using pre-existing nail holes also. The variation in wear and tear across the panels of planking creates wonderful visual interest.
We have endeavoured to select interesting wood also when choosing the planks for this project. The variaton in colour and natural wood patterning also adds quite a lot of visual interest.
I absolutely love how it is already looking and am excited about how the overall end product is going to look in this particular space!
The beauty of using pallet wood is that it makes it virtually a free do-it-yourself home decorating project. I am still deciding just what colour (or even colours) I will stain or paint the completed wall in, but it will definitely compliment what else is going on colour palette wise in this particular space.
I will keep you posted on the progress!
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