Home Makeover: {Entryway Reveal} DIY Plank Wall Tutorial

{Entryway Reveal} DIY Plank Wall Tutorial

Completed plank wall — A DIY tutorial of how I installed a plank wall and completely transformed our living room entryway.

You guys, I am SO excited about our plank wall entryway! This was a spur of the moment project that popped in my head Friday night and by Saturday morning I was putting planks up on the wall! The best part about this project is that the total cost was less than $50.00!

My husband pretty much gives me full reign of the decorating in our house, but that doesn't mean he doesn't shake his head at a few of my ideas. When I mentioned I wanted to plank the wall, he looked at me and asked "Can we just finish one project before starting another one?" Well, no....no I can't. I have a slight problem of not being able to sit still. I have to be doing some sort of project or I go a little crazy. It may seem like I've been jumping around from the garage and mudroom to our laundry room and now to the living room and I have. That's just how I roll.

So, while I'm waiting on the weather to warm up to coat the garage floor, the final inspection to lay the mudroom floor and help on replacing our laundry room tub sink I decided to plank our living room entry wall!

Here's how our entryway looked before.

entryway before — A DIY tutorial of how I installed a plank wall and completely transformed our living room entryway.

Before I started putting up the planks the wall got a coat of white paint.

painted wall — A DIY tutorial of how I installed a plank wall and completely transformed our living room entryway.

Then my wonderful husband went to Lowe's and bought three sheets of 1/4" plywood that he had cut into 6 inch pieces. A word of warning, they do not guarantee that the cuts are even. There were a few boards that were shorter than 6 inches and some that were 6 inches at one end and 5 1/2 inches at the other. Thankfully, there were only about 2 or 3 boards incorrectly cut and I was able to catch myself from putting them up on the wall.

cut plywood planks for plank wall — A DIY tutorial of how I installed a plank wall and completely transformed our living room entryway.

The wood that we purchased was about $12.00 a sheet and already primed. All it needed was a good sanding to smooth out some of the rough edges.

type of plywood for plank wall — A DIY tutorial of how I installed a plank wall and completely transformed our living room entryway.

Before I started nailing up my boards, I used my stud finder and marked all the studs. After the studs were marked, I started at the top of the wall and worked my way down, making sure to level each and every board. Do not use your ceiling as a guide and assume it is level.

installing wood planks — A DIY tutorial of how I installed a plank wall and completely transformed our living room entryway.

You can see that there is a gap on the right side, which was easily filled with caulk. After my first board was level and in place, the rest of the boards went up fairly quickly. I used nickels as spacers and just worked my way down the wall. Since the boards varied, the space between each board did end up varying slightly.

spacing plywood with nickels for plank wall — A DIY tutorial of how I installed a plank wall and completely transformed our living room entryway.

installed wood planks — A DIY tutorial of how I installed a plank wall and completely transformed our living room entryway.

cutting around outlet for plank wall — A DIY tutorial of how I installed a plank wall and completely transformed our living room entryway.

planks around outlet — A DIY tutorial of how I installed a plank wall and completely transformed our living room entryway.

puttied wood planks for plank wall — A DIY tutorial of how I installed a plank wall and completely transformed our living room entryway.

Owen and I then got to painting! He was asking all day when he would be able to help me paint and was super excited to help. This boy definitely takes after his mamma!

Tip: Use a credit card to swipe between boards to remove any paint drips.

painting plank wall — A DIY tutorial of how I installed a plank wall and completely transformed our living room entryway.

After we were done painting, I went to nail the trim piece to finish off the wall and after just 2 nails the fuel cartridge ran out on my nail gun. I didn't feel like running out to buy a new one, so let's just pretend that part is finished, okay?