Pallet wall.

this post was on my previous blog, and it was my most viewed blog post. i pinned a picture on

pinterest and neglected to add the URL to the photo, so i'm adding this information to my new blog since it's become extremely popular to do a pallet wall. this version is far less detailed then the original, but i will keep all the important information in this post. if you have questions, please comment and i will answer them! 

first off, let me tell you how easy this was. we've had guests at our house and they fall in love with our pallet wall, but they think it was super hard to do. sometimes i let them think that, but it really was the easiest thing. easier than painting! 

here is a photo of our pallet wall before we started.

we found a place in a nearby town that had several pallets we could take and we did a lot of research on how to make the pallet wood sturdy so it wouldn't fall on someone. we found that it would be easier to work around our TV stand since it would be difficult to remove it and then re-find the studs it was anchored to.
to make our pallet wall sturdy, we screwed 1/2" ply wood to the studs in our wall which the pallet wood will be connected to.

after the plywood was up, we painted the plywood a color that would match out pallets. we took a small piece of pallet with us to Home Depot and they came up with this green, brown color. the reason we did this was so you wouldn't be able to see the plywood after the pallet wood was up.

after the wall was painted, the next step was to install the pallet wood. this process went pretty smooth and we were able to finish this in about a day.

here are a few pointers that I think helped Craig and I finish this wall up so easily:

• obtain a lot of pallets. our wall was 10.5 ft (W) X 8 ft (H); we used a total of 11 pallets to complete our wall but we collected close to 20 pallets. some pallets are old and weathered, and some pallets are fairly new and don't have that rustic, barn wood look. you don't realize how new a pallet can look until you put it with the rest of your old pallets. if we would've used some of the newer pallets, it wouldn't have given us the rustic look we wanted. so make sure you're greedy with your pallet collection so you will have lots to choose from.
• if the pallet looks to difficult to rip apart, don't mess with it. pallets aren't really made to be torn apart and some pallets are made of really thick hard wood and have twisted nails.  we had several pallets where the nails wouldn't budge so when we were trying to remove the wood and would split.
• it was much, MUCH, easier to cut along the outer edges of the pallets then it was to pry the nails out. it provided more leverage to get the middle nails out. (shown below). it cut our time in half by doing this so it comes highly recommended from Craig and I.

• sand, sand, and sand some more. no one likes splinters. we sanded all our pieces with 100 grit sand paper and used an electric sander to remove any splinters and also to loosen any dirt or debris.
• find pieces that are the same width. this helped us so we didn't have to trim down any wood to be the right size when we were hanging it on our wall. most pallets have the same sized wood so this should be fairly easy to do. once you have your pieces that are the same width, start nailing them up right to left, left to right, right to left and so on. this way, your pieces will be random and won't be aligned perfectly. the picture below explains this process.

• when nailing your pallet to your wall or plywood, try to put the nails in at an angle. this helps so you can't grab a piece of wood and easily pry it out or have it fall.
• paint the plywood. this is my biggest recommendation. we were on the fence if we should do this but we are so happy we did. because most pallets are outside when they aren't being used, they tend to warp. this warped wood will not match up perfectly with the next piece under it. because we painted the plywood,  you can't see the gaps between the pallets. if you don't want to gabs in your wall, i've seen people buy some hardwood floor kits at Home Depot or Lowes and use them instead of using old pallets.

• if you have a TV wall mount that is already mounted to your wall, just leave it and work your way around it. TV wall mounts must be anchored to a stud, and it would've been difficult to find a stud under 1/2" pieces of pallet wood, then 1/2" plywood. 

if you want more info on  pallet walls go here , here and here. if you are concerned about using pallets, this blog will tell you anything and everything there is to know about pallets and any safety concerns you need to watch out for. here is a post about someone that used the hardwood floor kits i mentioned above.

here is the finished product! 

in the end, this pallet wall costed us right around $80 total.  i don't have the exact cost but i know it can be done for cheaper. we chose to use a much thicker plywood and we chose to paint it which adds up. the pallets were free so that is a plus. some places charge for used pallets, but watch your local ads and if you are lucky, you can find a stash of them for free!