Friday, June 3, 2011

FREE that spells free

I know it's been forever since I've been on here. My laptop had been warning me for a while that it was about to die. Which I thought was pretty considerate. And then it went through with it. It will be missed. So I'm on the hubbies puter and it doesn't have any photo editing software. Go figure.

But I have a couple of images for you of my kids bathroom wall I just finished. I wanted a beachy vibe and loved the look of this wallpaper...



Here's a link to their website. Who is "they" you ask? I have no idea. Because I don't speak dutch. But I'm assuming since it's available in a completely different country it would take a decade to get here and is probably WAY more than I would ever spend. So that's where my mothers favorite quote comes in.

"Necessity is the mother of invention."

What I came up with has kind of the same look as the wall paper with an infinitely cheaper price tag. Like so cheap it was FREE. In fact, people were thanking me for getting the supplies I needed off their hands.


Wooden pallets.

Has anyone else noticed a massive amount of orphaned wood pallets in the world? Well, in my neck of the woods there is a ton of them. And no one wants them. Apparently cracked, old, hard as heck wood isn't considered useful. But I love the character of old wood. It would have been way easier to buy 1x4's and paint them but I wanted it to really look like it's been around the block. Here's what a little TLC can do with wooden pallets...


I had to use a saw with a metal blade to get them off the pallet because they were just cracking at the nail holes. Once I figured that out, I just cut them to various lengths painted them 4 different colors I already had and starting nailing them up.



Here's the towel rack on the opposite wall. To hold all the towels. And stuff.


I used a finish nail gun so it would be really easy to take them down again if I wanted to change things up.


Overall I spent a total of $3.16 on this project. And that was just because I got hungry and went to taco bell. So really I guess it didn't cost anything.

I still want to paint the dark tan a lighter color but I'm kind of avoiding painting for some reason. Maybe because the thought of repainting 3,000 sq feet sounds exhausting to me.

20 comments:

  1. The wall is more than fabulous you have a great knack for seeing new uses for things.

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  2. Did you find them on CL or was there somewhere local? I live close by and would like to do something similar. Would you mind sharing? I'm at gtwoolwine@gmail.com Thanks!

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  3. How awesome! You are so creative!

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  4. I hate you. Now I have that stupid creditreport.com song stuck in my head.

    I saw the new X-men movie. It was good, I liked it a lot.

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  5. That wall is Ah-Maze-Zing! I LOVE it! Now, if only I could convince my landlord of it! lol Oh well…

    If you haven't checked out Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, come on by my blog. I'm a new mini-stockist in Southern California and I will be showing some great projects soon!

    www.sweetvintagedecor.blogspot.com

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  6. This is awesome (the wall, not Taco Bell...) how gutsy of you and it does look fantastic! I love the rustic and yet whimsical look to it - too cool!

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  7. Simply love it. How the heck do you have the time to do this stuff?

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  8. Nik,
    That wall is sooo amazing! I have been wanting to do that around my fireplace!
    LOVE IT!!
    -Cassie

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  9. amazing! looks great! I love it.

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  10. Oh, wow! I love the look of this. Do you mind sharing what colors of paint you used? It looks really great.

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  11. OK so you have totally inspired me. I thought 'wow I want to do this some where in my house hummm' and then it hit me, why not do it to the bottom half of the walls in the boys room, yay! I've got the wood and paint now I just can't wait to put it up on the walls. Thanks for the inspiration!!!

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  12. I love this, more then anything I've ever seen!

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  13. wow, way to go. Nothing better than FREE and it doesnt hurt when it looks GREAT too :)

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  14. love it- doing it now, literally. Question for you though- did you seal the wood somehow or do anything for bugs? Or have you noticed any bugs at all? Im freaking a little bit about it thanks to google searching for ways to make a pallet wall! I was all ready to do it- saw your pics on pinterest and decided to get it done right that minute. then I kept googling~ I should have stopped!!! LOL!! So now I'm freaked about bringing bugs in. This is a perfect example of why you should just do it when you get an idea in your head :)
    Seriously though- if you have any ideas, suggestions or input at all please let me know! piacrook@me.com
    thanks so much and your wall looks FABULOUS!!!!!

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  15. That is sooo well done! I do speak Dutch but I'm not gonna bother looking at the original website as your post gives me plenty inspiration! Really cool.

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  16. love!! you dont happen to know what colors of paint you used?

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  17. I just found your pages! I love love love your wall, I am starting to do this in my bedroom this was very helpful. Thanks

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  18. Can I ask what sort of paint you used on the pallets?

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