DIY Pallet Wall – Laundry Room Makeover on a Budget
If you want to add some texture and create a wall focal point then a DIY rustic pallet wall is a great way to do it. The natural wood adds rustic charm and instant warmth to any room. Check out our step-by-step tutorial to make a DIY pallet wall – perfect for a laundry room makeover!
[This DIY tutorial has been shared with us by Jenn, who has made some fabulous DIY improvements to her home (including this mudroom entryway bench and shiplap walls). Read on to see how she did this pallet wall!]
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This is a pretty quick and frugal project. The longest part of this project is taking apart the pallets.
You can speed up the work by using a reciprocating saw and take a bunch of pallets apart at once.
The cost for this wall was $0. You can usually find pallets for free and the strapping here was made out of a scrap lumber pile.
Before installing the pallet wall
This area is the entry way into the mudroom/laundry room. It’s quite a large space that we didn’t know what to do with for years.
Then one day I decided a DIY rustic pallet wall would make the perfect accent wall in my new laundry area. A DIY pallet wall would give the farmhouse feel I wanted for this renovation.
Before we started renovating, our washer and dryer were straight ahead when you walked in the room. Not exactly as great of a focal point as a pallet wall, now is it?
Years ago there was a sort of cupboard thing here where the doors never closed (hit my head on the doors more than I would like to admit). The cupboards were not deep enough to store shoes in a practical manner either.
I tore that out long ago but never painted this section and just covered it with the large cubby shelf and some extra shelving above it. This is where I decided to put the washer and dryer rather than our entry way.
How to Build a DIY Pallet Wall
Mark your studs
First, you need to figure out how wide you want your area to be. This pallet wall would be 70 inches wide. The nailer that I used for this project does not shoot 2 inch nails, therefore I needed to strap the wall along the studs.
Even with 2 inch nails, I recommend strapping your wall if you plan to hang shelves, cabinets or hooks in the future.
Find your first stud and measure 18 inches to find the next stud. Most houses are built with 18 inch stud placement. Then screw your strapping to the wall at the marked stud lines.
This strapping is made out of scrap wood from a cubby I had disassembled. We ripped it down into strips with the table saw and then I cut to lengths on the miter saw.
Repurposing wood is a great way to save a few bucks and reuse what you already have on hand.
If you don’t have any scrap wood on hand, you can purchase lathing and use this to strap your walls. Make sure you use a level to ensure your strapping is straight as you put it up.
Use long enough screws to go through your strapping, drywall, and into your stud for a good secure hold.
Start adding your pallet boards
With strapping in place, grab your pallet boards, brad nailer, air compressor, and gloves (gloves will keep your hands from having a million splinters!).
I wanted staggered seams and different widths and thickness of boards to add even more texture to the wall and create some depth as well. I made sure I measured all my boards so that they landed on a strapping piece, leaving room to nail my next board to it as well.
Here you can see where my last board leaves room for the next board to be nailed on the same piece of strapping. This secures both ends of each board.
I also added another piece of strapping to the outside edge of my accent wall where it would end, so there wasn’t just a floating piece of pallet wall there.
Of course there was no stud there, but it stopped the edge from just hanging free. That piece of strapping wasn’t really being used for support.
Then you just repeat the process of adding the pallet planks to the strapping as you go down your wall.
Finishing your DIY pallet wall
It’s surprising how quickly this project goes. I still consider myself an amateur with the power tools, but I’m trying to learn.
By putting my miter saw on the door step I saved time by not needing to run to the garage for every board that needed to be cut.
Because this house isn’t perfectly square, my pieces did change in length as I went along. Make sure you measure your space for each cut, or at least measure every few rows.
And just like that my DIY pallet wall was complete. My total amount spent for this feature wall- $0!!! Pallets are usually free and by repurposing the old cubby shelf into strapping, this project cost nothing but time.
This project could easily be completed in just a few hours. With the right vision and materials on hand, you could have a gorgeous accent wall in less than a day!
Thanks for checking out our DIY pallet wall tutorial. Be sure to follow along to see the many other DIY projects that went into the making of this mudroom/laundry room.
You can also follow along on Pinterest where we share lots of other DIY and decor projects and inspo!
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MEET AMANDA
Amanda is a mom of 4 living a mostly crunchy lifestyle outside of Atlanta, GA with her husband, 2 dogs, and a cat. As a former special education teacher who also has her personal training certification — Amanda really enjoys teaching others how to do things!
When she’s not working, Amanda enjoys DIY projects, exercising, photography, hiking, and long walks through Target.