Stikwood Wall Living Room Makeover!

You guys. I am SO excited. Like seriously SO EXCITED!! I’ve had a dream ever since moving into this house, that one day we would make a beautiful pallet wood feature wall in our living room. We started collecting old pallets from my husband’s work, but we quickly realized that dismantling, sanding, washing, and nailing the boards into the wall would be far too much effort, especially since we didn’t have any of the necessary tools. My heart was broken until I remembered an AMAZING company that I had discovered around Christmas of last year – Stikwood. Stikwood is a phenomenal company that makes real wood planks that are thin and light enough to be adhered to the wall with it’s sticky adhesive backing. Crazy amazing right?? It’s real wood but with none of the hassle and steps of trying to take apart dirty pallets that have traveled half way around the world. SCORE. I knew Stikwood would be PERFECT for our feature wall. We decided to go with the Reclaimed Weathered Wood Gray option though there are SO many great finishes it was hard to pick!

Let’s remember where we started when we first moved in almost 2 years ago:

stikwood wall

Barf/baby poop (take your pick) green half wall of confusion and a hand stippled sponge-painted tomato-y red/orange horror of a fireplace. Blech. I can’t believe I let it stay like this for so long! About a year later we painted the fireplace white and we were so excited about the positive impact it made.
white fireplace makeover

So much better than the spongey tomato paint! But the barf wall was still there. And everyday I shed a tear over how unsightly it was. No thank you. So when I discovered Stikwood my heart sang a song of pure unbridled joy! The wood was delivered quickly and securely packaged and I was so happy to rip into the boxes and look at all the lovely weathered goodness.

stikwood wall

The awesome thing about Stikwood is that it comes in all sorts of lengths, so you can get the perfect random look! We had pieces that were about 4 feet long all the way down to about 8 or 9 inches long. It was so easy to just grab and go!

When installing Stikwood, they have a handy and adorable little how-to video and guide which you can find here. It’s super easy! We started first by measuring two board widths down from the ceiling and drawing our reference line. We then peeled and stuck boards on either side of this line, varying the board lengths as we went.

stikwood wall

Installing the planks is a breeze and seriously anyone can do it! We simply peeled of two of the backing strips, leaving the third strip only partially peeled off. Next we positioned the board on the wall, repositioned it as necessary, and pressed lightly to keep it in place.

stikwood wall

Once we had it in the right spot, we took the end of the third backing strip and peeled off the rest of the tape cover.

stikwood wall

Then we pressed down more firmly on the board. Stikwood also includes a handy rubber roller – we used it to roll over the board, paying special attention to the edges and corners of the board.

stikwood wall

And it’s as simple as that! There were a few times where it got a only a little bit more complicated: getting to the end of the wall and not having the right length board, getting to the bottom of the wall and having a gap that was much smaller than the width of all the boards, and having to cut around the fancy mantel pieces and a ceiling beam.

To solve the weird shaped mantel pieces, I came up with a solution I call “the tape mold.”

stikwood wall

I used painters tape to ‘trace’ the outline of the mantel lines. Once I had everything filled in, I then peeled off the tape mold, pressed it onto the board we needed cut and then traced the outline onto it with a pen. Now, it probably would’ve been quicker and easier to then cut it out using a fancy saw, but we didn’t have anything like that, so we were easily able to make do with an exacto knife. My hubby relentlessly carved these pieces until they fit just right! He’s seriously my hero. We measured around the beam and then used the exacto knife again to cut it out.

stikwood wall

For the pieces that were too long at the end of the wall, we used a miter saw to trim to size. For the pieces at the bottom that were too wide, we employed the exacto knife again and cut the boards lengthwise and then fine-tuned them to fit by using a knife to whittle the boards down. Again, if you had a fancy jigsaw or saw set up, it would be even more of a cinch, but again we had to make do. My hubby brought out his inner Jesus the carpenter and whittled away like a pro!

stikwood wall

We worked on this project all day Saturday, literally all day – from about 11:o0 in the morning to 11:30 at night! Again, it would have gone faster if we had the fancy saws to cut the difficult weird shaped parts. It was SO incredibly worth it. Our space is seriously transformed for the better! Alright, enough jib-jabbing – I need to show you the finished product! Goodbye barf wall and HELLO GORGEOUS!

stikwood wall

I’m swooning! I’m dying. I die. How crazy awesome does this look??! The barf green and the tomato red are gone forever! Hallelujah! Our entry living room finally feels like a real, complete, adult space. This is the room you see right upon entering our house, and I love the WOW factor that this lovely beautiful Stikwood has provided!

stikwood wall

Get prepared for a deluge of pictures. I just can’t contain it! The wood just has so much texture and life to it and every single board is different! The result is a beautiful flow of natural wood that looks like it could’ve been there for ages!

stikwood wall

stikwood wall

stikwood wall

We haven’t hung up any pictures yet since I wanted to show you the full awesomeness of the Stikwood. It’s basically art within itself! Doesn’t it pair so well with my wood round fireplace insert? We also chose to continue the wood over the half wall into the kitchen above the tea & coffee bar, which was such a good decision! I love how we now have such good flow from the living room to the kitchen.

stikwood wall

All of my home decor accents, be it gold, silver, (or Carl from UP! 😉 ) just look so fantastic in front of the weathered gray wood.

stikwood wall

Even Mumford approves! This is his favorite hangout spot 🙂

stikwood wall

stikwood wall

stikwood wall

I seriously am so in love with this space now that it’s so sophisticated! Pretttttyyy suree I could live in here all day long. (And I kinda do since I work from home…!) I’m so excited to share this space with others and I’m freaking proud of my hubby and I for kicking butt at this project that has been on my wish-list for ages! Go us 🙂

A HUGE shoutout to Stikwood for creating such an awesome product! If you are thinking about adding a pallet wood wall to your home, this is definitely the way to do it. It’s quick and easy to install and looks extremely professional when finished! Come on over to my house if you don’t believe me 😉

stikwood wall

stikwood wall

**I received a discount when purchasing this Stikwood, but have otherwise not received any compensation for this post. All opinions, content, and photos are my own! For my full disclosure, read here.**

What finish of Stikwood is your favorite?? Click here to see all the GORGEOUS options!

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