**I'm posting this to The Best DIY Projects of April at Beneath My Heart.
As Jeff would say, “Leave the tribal council area immediately.” Heidi would tell me, “You’re out.” Ali would looked at me with a sympathetic face and inform me, “I’m sorry, but you are not the biggest loser.” And Clive would say, “Your show has been cancelled.” (Can you tell I like reality competition shows?) Anyway, I was booted out of the SYTYCD competition today. If I was competing for a million bucks or my own show, I may have cried, but this was for fun, so it was just a bummer. It was bitter sweet news. This competition has been stressful at times and has distracted me from things that are higher priorities, so it’s a relief to be done. It’s hard because I was over the moon about my guest room. Well, I still am, but it’s tough to lose on something that was labored over with love and photographed with such excitement.
The competition moves on and two of my very good blog friends, Donna from Funky Junk and Flea Market Trixie, are still competing with the lovely and talented ladies from All Things Thrifty, so make sure to continue to vote for your favorites. These three blogs are tops in my book and they are all deserving of a win. Good luck, ladies.
So, if you're interested in making your own exposed wood wall that would lose in a decorating competition, here's how to do it. (Only kidding.) Now, I wouldn't call this a full blown tutorial. I was in a mad rush to get this finished, so I didn't snap pictures all along the way, but if you're reasonably handy, you should be able to figure this out.
First of all, make sure this treatment is right for your space. Is it going to work with your existing trim? Will it look right for the period of your home? Is it going to be a practical treatment for the use of your room?
I would also hesitate to do this treatment in a kitchen, bathroom or any room with a lot of moisture. Make sure you check with someone who really knows what they're talking about to make sure that the moisture will not be trapped between the hardboard and the wall and cause mold, mildew or termite issues.
So, now that you've determined that this is perfect for your space and your spouse is willing to let you fill a wall with nails, let's get to it.
1.) Measure the wall you want to cover and figure out how many sheets of hardboard you will need. I needed two sheets for this project and I had the 4'x8' sheets cut to two 4'x4' sheets at Lowes, so they would fit in my van and be easier to manage.
2.) Determine what width you would like your "boards" and cut them on a table saw. My husband stacked the sheets on top of each other and cut them all together, so this took about ten minutes. I decided to make my "boards" 4" wide.
3.) Line your first board up in a bottom corner of the wall. Make sure it's level and nail it into place. This board will be a guide for all of the boards above it, so make sure it's perfectly level. Nail it into place using a nail gun or brad nailer. If you don't have an electric or pneumatic tool, an old fashioned hammer and nails will work just fine. I used as few nails as possible, so it will be easier to take down if I ever want to.
4.) Use the thickness of one of your "boards" to act as a spacer. This will ensure even placement. It doesn't have to be perfect, but you don't want things to look totally off. Continue to apply the boards in a staggered pattern, using a chop saw to cut pieces to length and a jig or scroll saw to cut around angles and corners.
I would definitely suggest painting the wall and boards prior to nailing them up, but I had to do the nailing while the kids were awake, so I could paint when they napped. I was in a rush to get this done, so I had to paint when I could.
If you have an angled ceiling, like I do, you use a piece of paper as a template, so you know the proper angle for cutting your boards. Hold a piece of printer paper level on the wall by the corner. Fold the paper over, matching it with the angle of the slope. Line up the top of the piece of paper with the top of the board you want to cut and it will be the exact angle.
Again, this is the kind of treatment that doesn't have to be perfect. When something's perfect it looks new and machine made. This should look imperfect and old. I left the nail holes for this very reason, but you can fill yours in if they bother you.
Happy DIYing.
