Planking.......a wall, not the exercise!

I can do the exercise plank, just not as well as my planked wall! It is not as fun either!

We are dealing with flooring issues and that has prevented me from decorating some areas, and I was itching to do something......anything really. So, I decided the long plain wall in the kitchen needed some attention. It is just over 8 feet long, and I decided to plank around the corner ending at the small 1/2 bath door.

Here is a shot of the short wall fully planked and painted. Can you see the spot I need to caulk?

This project took me 1/2 day to complete, and that included painting.

I had previously bought 1/4" plywood at Home Depot and had them cut it to 5" strips. Thank goodness they do that since I don't have a table saw. I usually shop during the week for that, because they are less busy cutting pieces.

One 4' X 8' piece was enough to plank both walls. It was less than $30.

I decided on the 1/4" specifically because I did not want to pull out the baseboards and this allowed the wood to sit on top of the baseboards and NOT stick out past them in depth.... I prefer the look of the baseboards put over the wood, but I was not about the rip those out. And it looks just fine.

I started on the short wall and used my nail gun. This wall was easy because you know where the studs are.

This picture shows the spacers I used. Nickels. They worked for me and gave me the look for the spacing I needed. Also, let me remind you to sand the boards. Man, they were rough on the edges. And I wish I had used gloves because I had 2 tiny splinters when I was done, that felt like giant shards of metal under my skin!

I leveled the first piece, not trusting the baseboards to be level.....which they were NOT. I also checked every piece that I put up, because what I found out is that the cuts are probably not precisely exact. Luckily it did not need total perfection, and I am fine with how it turned out.

The outside corner pieces I mitered on my compound miter saw with a 45 degree cut. This way they came to a corner, just like the drywall under it, when I added the other wall pieces which I also mitered.

Next it was time for the long wall. Of course this wall is about 2 inches over 8 feet, so my 8' lengths were too short....

I did think out in advance how I wanted the boards to be spaces related to the joints. I did not sketch it out or anything, I am not that organized. I kinda get a plan in my head and then do it.

I also wanted this treatment to roughly be the level of the counter tops, just for the flow. I used 6 5" boards, stacked over 5+" baseboard, topped with 3 1/4" casing. This casing is the same as the door casing in the entire house, and they kindly left some in the garage for me!

I tried to butt the strait joints up to each other. In one spot I did not do a great job of this, but I just caulked it and no one will ever know!

After I was done I caulked around the bottom, between most the vertical seams, and around the cap molding. I LOVE to caulk. It is like meditation to me. Weird, I know.

This is the entire wall, both areas, before paint and caulk.

I painted it with a left over white (from our old kitchen cabinets) using it as a base coat. Then went over it with matching trim paint which the painters kindly left behind in small containers for me. Perfect for a project like this! So I did not have any painting costs.

I would like to add some hooks just below the cap rail. I also have to rearrange the things on the wall above it. But at least I feel like I got something done. Maybe I will take some staged, finished pictures too..... maybe....

I was planning to use beadboard wallpaper in the 1/2 bath, like I did in our old house, but after doing this I decided that I will do this instead. That will be my next project.

Thanks for visiting and please let me know if you have any questions. Have a great weekend! Take a minute to click and see these great linky parties where I am: Between Naps on the Porch, The Dedicated House, Thrifty Decor Chick, Dwellings, Boogie Board Cottage,