Welcome to my laundry room.  I’ve actually never had a dedicated laundry room, and I’ll admit as much as I dislike doing laundry, I was pretty excited to have a room to decorate for it.  Laundry rooms are usually small which means a couple things in my mind – I can do something a little more unique with the space (supplies and materials will cost less), and it’s a quick project with fast results.  

This project fills both of those categories.  My design idea for the laundry room is a industrial rustic feel.  (Tip: Any time I can put those two words in a sentence, my husband is more likely to be on board.) So the first project I wanted to tackle in here was a rustic pallet wood wall.  

I created a pallet wood wall in my powder room at the last house, and created a unique cedar shingle wall too.  Adding custom touches like this to a home really make it feel like home to me.  

Here’s the wall I decided needed some wood accents.  I wanted it to create a contrast to the white cabinets, and be something interesting to look at. 

In the past, I’ve collected pallets and cut them down (which works completely fine), but this time I wanted to use a product I’ve had my eye on for a while, Weathered Wood Boards. (The only place I know you can find these right now is at the Home Depot.)

Since it’s winter, I’m avoiding being outside sawing pallets, and I love that these boards come already stained, so there’s less work there too.  I priced them out on another project I used them for (a shiplap headboard) and I find the price to be equivalent to purchasing rough cut lumber, and staining it 3 different colors.  

Let’s get started!  The first step is to paint the wall a dark gray or brown.  I literally took some leftover paint samples, mixed them together and painted the wall.  It doesn’t really matter what color you use – it just needs to be something similar to one of the wood tones. There will be a few gaps where the wall will show through, and as the wood has some potential to shrink over time, having the dark color behind it will make it much less noticeable.  

I also painted the corner (the other walls will be this gorgeous BM Knoxville Gray), I figured getting a little paint there now is a lot easier than painting around each board later.  One coat will do – don’t over think this step! 

While the paint dries, cut down some of the boards. I cut down one box in half and quarters.  You’ll want the random sizing so the cuts don’t line up down your wall.  

Once the paint is dry, grab a board and attach it to the wall with your brad nailer.  I did NOT use any glue in this step, just a few brad nails will do.  Removing the boards and patching a few nail holes is much easier than installing new drywall if I ever want something different here.  You’ll want to use 1 1/4″ brad nails to attach them. 

If you’d like to see this DIY in action, you can watch the video I did on Facebook LIVE to see what I was doing. 

Alternate rows with color and size.  You want it to look random, and at the same time have the colors evenly distributed.  

In no time at all, you have a rustic pallet looking wood wall (seriously, I think this took 30 minutes).  

One little problem area is an outlet.  You can cut a space around it and reattach the outlet cover, or for 99 cents you can get an electrical extender box and complete this project like a pro.  

Here’s what it looks like, it’s 1/2″ thick, comes with 2 screws and costs 99 cents.  

***Note: turn your power off at your breaker before messing with the position of the outlets.  Better safe than sorry!***

If you are going to switch out your outlet, do so now (we went from beige to white).  All you do to attach the extender box is line up the holes and screw right through the extender into the old junction box.  

I think this is the cheapest and easiest fix ever.  Once the screws are tight, re-attach your outlet cover.  

Now it sits right on top of the wood covering any cuts/gaps, and safely extending your outlet.  

https://rootsandwingsfurniture.com/blog/palletwall

It’s an extra step, but looks so nicely finished now.  

Here’s the wall all finished.  Rustic, industrial, pallet wood, what more could you ask for??

This is my favorite little touch in the laundry room so far – I took an old wash board and had vinyl cut for the glass.  It’s a fun way to update an antique while adding character to the not so pretty utility tub.  

This room is well on it’s way to being just the laundry room I hoped for (maybe I’ll be able to keep up with the laundry now – do you think??).  I can’t wait to show you this space all pulled together – stay tuned!  

Until then, go find yourself a place for a fabulous DIY pallet wall! 

Jenni