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Disclaimer: We are so thrilled to partner with Lowe’s Home Improvement on this Guest Room Makeover. We wouldn’t have been able to do this DIY without their support. All opinions & photography are our own and are not influenced by Lowe’s Home Improvement.
Last week, we dove head first into our tutorial for the decorative wood wall treatment in the guest room. Today, we’re back to discuss the finishing touches!
Decorative Wood Wall Project – Part 2
With the wood all up on our wall, it was officially time to put the intimidating power tools away and get out some DIY supplies that we’re a bit more comfortable using around here.
Filling Nail Holes
First up, filling those unsightly nail holes.
Look at this one pock-marked piece of wood. Yikes! We started shooting the nails into this piece, only to realize that the gun had run out of nails. Oh boy. So after refilling the nail gun, we had to go back and re-shoot some into this board. Luckily, we knew we were going to eventually be filling in all of the holes for a more uniform, cohesive look.
We used painter’s putty for this step. All you really have to do is take a big ball of the stuff, roll it around in your hands, and mark it on the wall. You can almost think of using it like an eraser. Just go back and forth with it directly over the hole, and it will fill up with the putty. You can also use your fingers to really smoosh it down in there.
With all of our holes easily filled in about 10 minutes, it was time to caulk.
Caulking Seams
Rookie Tip: Wear crappy clothing when caulking. This was a big fail for me. I figured that since we were just working with wood on this DIY day (not yet onto painting), I could get away with wearing workout clothes that I kinda cared about. Wrong! Caulk is super messy, and is so hard to get out of clothing. By the end of this project, I had it all over my yoga pants, and it definitely didn’t come out in the wash. Any tips for me fellow caulkers?
Caulking can be pretty darn tricky, so we recommend moving slowly until you get the hang of it. Our best piece of advice…don’t use too much. Instead, let a tiny bit trickle out as you go along the seam. You can always add more!
You’ll also need 2 hands for this job. One to hold the caulk gun, and then use your other hand and place a finger directly after your caulk line. As you move slowly across with the caulk gun, follow it closely with your finger. Then, have a wet rag on-hand. In fact, we had an entire bucket of water right by us when caulking. You’ll want to run the rag over your caulk line to make sure it gets any excess caulk. This gets super messy…but be sure to wipe up anything extra and rinse your rag often.
Honestly, we couldn’t believe what a difference the caulk made on the wood wall. It really made it look so much more professional and the wood looked like it was built right onto the wall. We caulked where the wood met the wall & where wood pieces joined together…basically every seam that was showing. Look past my cheesy grin to the top of the wood piece. On the right you’ll see the area that is caulked, to the left you’ll notice a gap between the wood & the ceiling waiting for caulk. Such a big difference, right?!
We let the caulk & the putty dry overnight, and then the next day it was time to sand.
Sand It All
Essentially, we just went over all of the boards to get a smooth even finish where we applied the painter’s putty. Just a nice light sanding will work just fine. Be sure to touch the boards and make sure they’re smooth before you get ready to paint.
Once our boards were sanded down, we used a rag and wiped off all of the dust. Tack cloth would work great for this step, but we didn’t have any on hand so we just had to be extra vigilant about getting all of the dust off the wall.
And there you have it…our completed wood wall that is now ready for PAINT!
To see the reveal of this guest room space, check out this blog post.
Bridget&Casey
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