EASY TO DO DISTRESSED PLANK WALL

At first I had no idea what to insert today for my post because I'm so far behind on putting stuff in that its unreal.  I have finished about 5 or 6 projects and taken pictures along the way but have been tired and haven't even known where to begin on which one I wanted to post.

So, I'm going with my Plank Wall Project.  For this project I can actually say and be very honest that it was pretty easy.  I am all about easy, as you can see from previous post.  I want to post projects that are easy so that others will be encouraged to feel like once I have taken a chance and flubbed through something that if I can make it so can anyone else!!

If you can use a tape measure, push a button, use a paint brush and bend over you are good to go!!! No, seriously that is all it takes.   Now I did have to borrow some tools from my husband and daddy to complete this project but if you have someone around that has a couple of tools, then you can do this.  Tools needed: a large round circular saw to make even cuts, a nail gun, paint brushes, tape measure, level,petroleum jelly. stain, white paint, and a pencil.  

This wall that I finished has a little special meaning behind it.  I had decided after looking through many pinterest boards that I could accomplish this project, told the hubs what I wanted to do, so I went to Lowes with him to pick out some other things for a "Fixer Upper" project we did(I will have those pictures in another post), picked out the other items but while I was there I checked out all kinds of plywood boards, all kinds and prices.  They range anywhere from 20$ for a 4 x 8 board up to 60$ a board depending on what kind of wood you want.  Well, I'm trying to keep my expense down, so I decided I wanted to wait and think over this thing and check with  my dad(the farmer) to see if we had anything laying around on the farm to use, because I love to reuse, recycle if you know what I mean.  So we left went bout our day and come home.  After coming in and staring at my wall I felt bummed because I wanted to do the project but didn't want to spend like any more than 50 cause I knew I wanted to be able to go to the almighty Hobby Lobby to get some desk decor later.

Well, I decided to take all the decor I had in there down, putty up the holes and just basically prepare the room for changes.  Especially since I didn't know what I was gonna do about the boards. I decided what ever I did that I didn't want to keep the red, so I went ahead and painted the office with some old grey paint that I had from another project so I still haven't had to spend any money. 

So, after deep thought I decided I was gonna go to Lowes to purchase the boards.  Right as I'm getting my pocket book to leave my dad calls and says he and my son Jonah was bringing me something from the farm. I said well I'm headed to Lowes and he says well hang tight there before you leave cause I'm turning in.  He brings me this huge, I mean huge box from where he had bought a combine auger 3 years ago before my Grandfather(the other farmer) passed away.  This was so cool because my grandfather would be really proud to know that I was able to use the box.  

 This is them coming in to greet my other son Isaiah and they are wrestling cause that's what they do.

Then below is the large, like I said, large box that he had and wanted to know if I could use it? What???? Can I use it......???   Like God is So So good!, No purchasing wood now (that comes later on the next plank wall, LOL)

So now all I have to do is take the cotton picking thing apart.  So we do, we get a crow bar, and hammers and saw and start taking the box apart. (Now this was not Easy, it is much, much easier to go to Lowes buy the big board and have the cutter at the back of the store to cut it into planks that makes nice and even boards. But I didn't do this for this particular project but I do on one that I will post later if you don't have old wood laying around. 

Ok, so once I had the pieces apart and ready for the circular saw, I brought them in one at a time and placed them in the floor to use a tape measure on.  Once I cut my pieces with the saw, I begin nailing them all up with the nail gun.  Now, if you have a stud finder this would be a good time to use one.  I don't use one, I use the old knock on the wall trick and if it sounds hollow I keep going till I hear a stud. But a stud finder will work great if u don't know how to do this. 

So once I was able to use the nail gun and slam all those babies to the wall it looks a little something like this. 

 As you can see from the first picture, I fixed the first one to the wall but before I kept going I did take a level and hold it on top of the plank to make sure it was level.

You can actually leave the wood as it is, or you can stain it dark, but I chose to use stain and white paint because I wanted that farmhouse white style. The first thing I did once I got all the boards nailed was to use a little bit of wood filler on the wholes that were really large, I didn't want to cover up them all cause I wanted that old barn effect. 

First I applied some Classic Grey Stain left from my pallet wall project and decided I wanted to have the lines in the planks to show through to give it the distressed look.

Once you paint the stain with a old brush be prepared to have paper towel in the other hand to wipe it down cause it will run a bit.  

The next part is actually kinda funny.  After reading many blogs and DIY sites on how to do this most of them said you needed to use a Vaseline in the creases over the stain so once you paint the boards and sand them the stain will show through.  Believe me it is much easier to sand the places you want to have it show through if you use some kind of petroleum jelly substance.  I on the other hand couldn't find the Vaseline but with having 6 people in the house there had to something else that I could use without having to run to the store to get some.  So I used Preparation H.  Yes folks, that stuff works wonders and has many, many uses.....Who knew? But guess what it did the trick.  This is how I applied it. 

Once I had all the seams jellied up with the booty cream, I used a flat white paint for the wall.  Now you could probably use any old white paint even trim paint, but I already had a gallon of flat white paint left over from the house.  I painted the entire wall and let it dry for a hour.  

Once I felt like it was good and dry I went back and lightly sanded with a piece of old sand paper in the areas I wanted the grey stain to stick through.  

I really was please with how it was turning out!

I let all the work sit over night and cleaned it up the next day so I could add some of the decorations I had found and put together.  

My metal shelf, sign and metal basket came from Hobby Lobby.  The old frame with metal chicken wire was found in a old house we bought, I just cleaned it up and repaired the nail in it and stuck some magnets on it to hold notes or pictures.  Here is a extra picture:

Now I was able to do this entire project for  around 75.00 because the only expense I had was the decoration! So if you have this kinda stuff at your home you could do it for even less! Let me know what you think!