{ Deets on the Plank Wall }

Man, time sure does fly by, huh?! I meant to get this post up last week about the plank wall but my side biz has been busy, which is a great thing but not so great when I don't have time to spare to hop on the computer to get these posts up! If you didnt read my last few posts, we participated in a one room challenge (click that to see our reveal post) hosted by Linda from Calling It Home. She does these twice a year and it really gave us a kick in the butt to get our kitchen to the point that we I really wanted it to be! 

I wanted to start with the plank walls since we've had SO many emails, comments, and questions even when people have stopped in to see the room in person. First off, as if I didn't already say this a million times now I'm going to say it again, I freeeeeking LURVE these walls. It adds dimension to what was previously a plain wall and it makes the room feel a lot larger. 

Let's get to those questions though...

What kind of wood did you use? 

We used 1/4 inch HD (high density) board. We tried the 1/8 inch board initially but it didn't have enough depth so we went with the 1/4 inch. They were $13 for a 4x8 sheet. We needed 3 sheets for our two walls. 

How did you attach it to the wall?

We used a stud locator to find where the studs were and then used an air nailer to nail the boards to the walls at the studs. We didn't use glue (as some people do) because if I were to change my mind about the planks and want them removed, using glue would ruin the drywall behind the boards and make a lot more work to get the drywall back to looking good (which now I can 100% say these planks aren't going anywhere!). The 1/4 inch board is pretty light weight so using the nails is sufficient enough to hold the boards in place. 

Where did you start?

Mark started at the top and worked his way down. The most important thing is to make sure your boards are level. NOT that they are in line with your ceiling because more than likely your ceiling isnt 100% level all the way across. So start with the top board and make sure to get that one level all the way across. Caulking the ceiling after you paint will fill any gaps and make it look perfect. After that you can work your way down and keep checking the level with each board. Wonky boards would not make a pretty room!

What is the width of the boards?

Mark ripped the boards with the table saw into 6 inch planks. I read A LOT of plank wall tutorials before we started and this was the measurement most people went with. I think it's perfect but really it's all in what you think looks best in your room. 

Did you do any sanding?

After I spackled all the nail holes (which really didn't take that much time) I used a block sander and went over the whole wall twice. I took the vacuum hose and vacuumed along each gap after sanding because it got really messy. This whole process went pretty quick and I think made it overall look better. Make sure you cover your kitchen utensils if you have any out or you will be washing everything to get it clean again. Speaking from experience. :)

What color white paint did you use and what was your painting technique? 

I painted a coat of Zinsser Fast Primer and then did two coats of Dutch Boy brand white paint called Delicate Pearl in a semi-gloss finish. I choose that color since it's the same color as the trim in our home so it matches up perfectly with the surrounding floor and window trim. 

My technique for painting was to paint the gaps and the edges with a brush and then rolled on the rest. 

I would say overall this wasn't a difficult project. It took about 3 after work nights to get all the boards up on the wall. If we did a wall with out windows or a door and didn't require so many cuts then it would have gone a lot faster! The priming/painting took me three days to do. That includes filling in the holes. 

It's a relatively cheap room update as well. I think for the effort and cost it was WELL worth the beauty!!

Items we used + break down of what we spent:

boards (3 sheets at $13 ea) $39

table saw (we already had)

air nailer + nails (we already had)

spackle (we already had)

block sander (we already had)

primer (we already had)

paint $12 (after rebate)

paint brush (we already had)

paint tray liner $0.69

paint tray (we already had)

Since we already had so many of the items (which are pretty common home improvement items that most people have on hand anyways) this project cost us under $52 to do and about 6 total nights worth of work. 

So what do you guys think? Plank walls aren't anything new but in our neck of the woods it seems like it's something we don't see very often and I am here to tell you if you are good with a tape measure, level, and have a few nights to spare you can get this same look in your house for pretty cheap!

Let us know if you have any other questions! Next week I will share details on that GORGEOUS tile back splash of ours...cant wait to share because this tile is truly so beautiful!! 

{ One Room Challenge | REVEAL DAY! }

First off, I have to start by saying THANK YOU to all of you that have left such sweet comments on all of our projects each week + Thank you for taking a little time out of your day to see whats happening around our house!

IT's REVEAL DAY!! I've been so excited to share these photos with you. I must admit we still need to finish a few last minute things, I thought six weeks was no big deal but one more day would have been helpful for us (coming from the biggest procrastinator on earth...I always need one more day ha!) 

So disregard the few things that still need finishing...I'm not even going to mention what they are...you know what they say, what you don't know cant bother you...or maybe I just made that up. Whatever, it works for me. I know you are all just stopping by for the photos so I'll just stop here and let you enjoy! 

All of the beautiful images were taken by my amazingly talented friend Sara from Kety Studio! 

Here is the bench with X shape legs! I love this bench and it works perfect in our small space.

The legs fold in and the seat part lowers to allow the table to be pushed back against the windows when we don't need the extra seating that the bench provides. 

 I LOVE walking into this kitchen!

 This amazing tile was given to us for this ORC by Mission Stone and Tile. You can find it and all their other awesome choices on their website here! 

This kitchen is the prettiest room in our house and I want to do these one room challenges for each space that has yet to be touched, although I have to admit my sanity and my family's happiness or our budget for that matter would probably not survive ha! But with that being said, I LOVE how this room has changed in just 6 short weeks. When people say the kitchen is the heart of the home , it is very true for us. We do life in this kitchen and now we get to enjoy it all the more with the finishings that we have completed in these last six weeks! 

and just to leave you with reality check of our life, do not be fooled by the "put together" look of our kitchen, it literally only looked that tidy for the 20 minutes it took my amazing photographer and friend to photograph the room and meanwhile this is what our living room looked like with all the tools and junk that needed to be removed to allow you to truly take in the space in a pretty way

this is life! 

and because we all love a good before and after...these are from the day we bought the house till today. In one year this room has evolved into home for us!

and this is the comparison from 6 weeks ago. It was a nice kitchen before but the finishing touches make is all the more better!

Thanks again for stopping by! If you haven't had the chance to check out each week of the #oneroomchallenge you can see all the past weeks below. 

week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4, + week 5

If you are new to the Raw House Project Blog and want to get a quick look at our house tour you can see that here!

Thank you Linda from Calling It Home for allowing us a space to share our home and for giving us the kick in the butt to get it done with a time limit! Visit all the amazing blogs that participated in the challenge here and here to see all the jaw dropping room reveals!

{ One Room Challenge | Week 5 }

Week 5...how did this get here so quickly?! 

This week was crazy but Mark did get most of the tile on the wall (insert happy dance!)

This tile. 
It is gorgeous just coming out of the box and up on the wall it is PER-FECTION!  

If you are just stopping by for the first time, so happy you are here! 


Thanks for taking a minute to checkout our ORC week 5 post. You can play catch up here for week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4 if you are wondering how we got to this point of the challenge

This challenge is hosted by Linda from Calling It Home. The challenge is to take one room in your home and give it a face lift in only 6 weeks. These past 5 weeks have been really fun AND extremely challenging for us. I like to share about our house updates and since we've got this old home that needs a makeover of every square inch it's a great outlet for me to journal about our progress crazy life. It's been fun because I love seeing how a space changes even with just a can of paint, into a room that feels more like me, more like home, and something that I love. It's been challenging because we really don't have a lot of time. Like everyone, we are busy. If this was our day job it would be a lot easier but we both have jobs and the kids seem to always need something ha! Life happens. So we sneak in a little work here and there in our spare time! 

Because we need to work on our projects a little at a time, Mark went a little unconventional when it comes to setting the tile but honestly I think it's pretty genius what he ended up doing!

If you are unable to see the video the short and simple version of what he did is, instead of using tile adhesive that you spread a thin layer across the wall in small sections due to the fact that it dries pretty quickly, he used an adhesive called power grab. Applying it on each piece of tile and sticking each piece up individually as he went.

We also opted to not use spacers while setting the tile. Due to the arabesque shape of the tile it was difficult to use spacers...we tried, and each tile is slightly different so because of this we decided to eye ball each placement using approximately a 1/4 inch gap between each tile.

We still have a small section to complete and then we will be moving on to grouting. I'm having a hard time deciding what color grout to use. One really great benefit of using the power grab is we could paint the wall prior to putting up the tile so I could get an idea of what the tile would look like with different colors behind it. This was the genius part. To be able to get an idea of the color grout by looking at the wall color behind it is easier to make a final decision.
 I have the hardest time making decisions, choosing grout color is no exception. oy! 

I painted a little section of white, a little section of dark gray, and then the original wall color is a light gray/green...

So here are my choices after the tile was applied

Opinions on grout?

Last week I still wasn't sure what legs we were going to use for the bench Mark made but I had an idea pop into my head that was altogether different than what I was originally thinking. I tried finding something similar online but I couldn't find exactly what I had thought up in my mind, so I asked Mark if he thought he could make them. He made them and they are exactly.what.I.wanted. 

A quick sneak peak before the big reveal next week is up on Instagram!

Here we are one week to go until the big reveal and we still have to finish installing the tile, grouting the whole back splash, complete the bench, CLEAN, and accessorize. Oh I forgot to mention, the curtains I ordered from Joss and Main came the other day and they were the wrong color. boo. I had to return them and the color I had wanted was no longer available so I will be crossing my fingers to find something in time for next Thursday! 

Don't forget to check out all the other awesome ORC posts here and here for this week. Make sure to stop back next week for some eye candy when all of us show off our newly re-done rooms!

One last thing before I sign off this post...my cousin Kyle was involved in a very serious work accident last week and is currently in the hospital fighting for his life everyday.The power of prayer is being felt by all and I just ask, if you could take a second to send up a prayer for his body to heal and for his family to stay strong through it all, it would be a huge blessing. Thank you and blessings to you. 

All of the beautiful tile was provided by Mission Stone + Tile, all my comments regarding the tile are 100% my own opinions and clearly...I am in LOVE <3 font="">