Let’s kick this thing off with one of my favorite DIY tutorials, our Pallet Wall. Leep was very unsure about this project in the beginning when I told him we were going to cut up some nasty old pallets and nail them to our wall. But knowing my eye for design and track record of not having an unsuccessful house project yet – he allowed me to be the Foreman and lead!

This is a fairly easy project with the hardest parts being finding the pallets and the puzzle of putting them on the wall. We completed from start to finish in about half a day. The first step is to find pallets. We ended up using about 17 in total with lots of extra pieces. Luckily, my dad handled this step for me but nowadays pallets are popular for projects so finding old ones shouldn’t be an issue. I have also seen this done with new wood stained to various levels.

The uglier the pallet – the more character your wall will have.

Next, acquire help [since you’re the Foreman and just supervising 🙂] to piece out the pallets. Not all the boards on each pallet will be usable. A few of ours had paint splashes or concrete on them – use those! They make for the best texture and character. We used diamond grit blades on a sawzall and cut straight through the nails leaving the heads intact to the board.

Leep and my cousin, Maddy, piecing the pallets.

Once you have all your pieces, arrange them by width. This will help when you’re making your rows on the wall and make the process faster. Next find your canvas – we painted our wall the same color as the rest of the room because the boards don’t match up perfectly or have holes in them so the wall will show through in some places, remember character.

Now you put your master puzzle skills to the test. You don’t have those, you will at the end of this project! Find your handsome workman and have him nail the pieces to the wall about every 10-12 inches with a finishing nailer – like you would use for moulding. Using boards of the same width start making your rows. Do your best to alternate your colors and textures. Also, try to mix up the width of your rows. Not all boards will fit together well, this is why it’s good to have extras so you can play around with them. Puzzle. If you have outlets or switches you will need to just cut the pieces out to fit around these.

VOILA! In the end your hard work will pay off and you will have an amazing focal wall everyone will love! Leep should never have doubted me.