Wood Plank Wall - Nursery Pt 1

Hello! I’m so excited to finally be making some headway on the nursery. My husband and I are not finding out the gender (Surprise!), so I’ve had a really, really tough time narrowing down the design for the nursery. I. Just. Can’t. Decide. Every time I thought I had finally decided on THE PERFECT theme or color-scheme, my mind had changed by the next morning. This happened for weeks and I was slowly going crazy. January is right around the corner!

Coming up with a vision and plan ahead of time obviously wasn’t working for me, so I decided I to start with a gender-neutral foundation that I can build on as my creative juices evolve, or once the baby is here and we know the gender. I’m already starting my third trimester, so it’s time to get moving!

Taking a break from the real work to touch up the dresser

The wood plank wall was my starting place. I knew I wanted some sort of wood design element, but wasn’t sure if I would paint, stain or white wash the boards once they were up…remember, I have ZERO design direction at this point. I’m all over the place!

After installing the pine planks, I really loved the way they looked unfinished and left nude. All I did was sand the boards super smooth beforehand.

Here are the progress steps and pictures of the room so far.

Room Prep:

To prep the room before we installed the wood planks, we started with all the basics:

Replaced all the old yellow/beige light switches, plugs and vent covers with bright white replacements
- This small detail may seem trivial or unnecessary, but it makes ALL the difference in updating a room. Details count and these changes are relatively inexpensive.
Painted the room a very soft gray
Painted all the trim and doors a bright white to compliment the soft gray walls

Nursery Before — Please ignore the 1970’s light/fan…that’s part 2!

Wood Planks

For the lumber, we used Pine 1 X 8’s planks/boards and sanded them with 220-grit sand paper
- You can buy unfinished wood siding that would be easier to install, but it’s much more expensive to cover a wall
For installation, we used screws and made sure we screwed them into the studs (versus just the sheet rock)
- These boards are too thick for nails and a nail gun to be effective

Baseboard trim removed before installing the first piece

Vertical face completed before tackling the angled ceiling

Wood Wall completed...ready to add furniture and decor! — Wood wall completed…ready to add furniture and decor!

Wood wall is finished. The room still has a long way to go before it is complete, but progress has been made, and that’s always a good feeling! I finally feel like I’m getting something accomplished.

Stay tuned for my next post on the DIY light fixture I created for the nursery, which will be up soon!

– Whitney