Quick & Easy DIY Cedar Plank Feature Wall

Oh, hey, y’all! Long time, no see. I want to show you one of the projects I’ve been working on during this whole COVID nonsense. Because when you’re stuck inside for several long, hot months with two kids, you find ways to entertain yourself. And DIY projects are one of my favorite ways to entertain myself!

My living, dining, and kitchen areas are all pretty much one big, large space. And my dining area has a large wall that I’ve always felt would be a great feature wall. Initially, I thought shiplap would be the perfect thing to add. But it is pretty expensive. There are a few tutorials about making your own shiplap, but that would have required a lot more work. So I asked a friend who has a warehouse full of building materials if he had any excess wood planks, and he said yes. I knew I would make my wall work for next to nothing with leftover tongue-and-groove cedar planks.

Easy DIY Cedar Plank Wall

Materials

5-inch wide cedar planks in various lengths
10-foot long, 1-inch thick quarter round
miter saw
pneumatic brad nailer
custom wood stain
plain white paint (mixed with water)
electrical outlet spacers

Process

1. This was seriously a figure-it-out-as-I-go project. I did have help from a good friend, and he really helped the project move along very quickly. But you can easily do this on your own! We started by drawing lines where studs fell across the wall. I didn’t really want to use glue on the drywall to keep the planks in place, so I needed to make sure we nailed them into studs.

2. Next, we started at the top of the wall, smack dab in the middle. We nailed a longer board and then continued placing different length boards on either side until the first row was complete. We continued that process on each row, making sure to stagger the boards’ placement, so none of them lined up vertically.

3. Once we got toward the bottom of the wall, we had to measure and mark where we’d need to cut the boards to allow for two electrical outlets in the wall.

4. At the bottom of the wall, we had about a 1-inch gap between the bottom of the last row of planks and the baseboard. So we just cut 1-inch strips of cedar plank and nailed them in the gaps.

5. Once all the planks were on the wall, we attached the 1-inch wide quarter round along the raw edge to give the wall a finished look.

6. Next, I stained the wall a custom, dark blend. There wasn’t a pre-made color I really loved, so I mixed Jacobian with Weathered Oak and Gray stains. I wanted the stain to be dark but also have some gray tones. I stained the whole wall using a staining brush, wiped it with a rag, and then let it dry overnight.

7. Then, I mixed equal parts of white paint and water to make a whitewash. I used a paintbrush to paint each board, then immediately wiped the board with a rag so the whitewash wouldn’t get too opaque. This process took a few hours because I tackled one board at a time.

8. Finally, I added the extenders to my outlets to accommodate the new thickness of the wall for the wall plates. All finished!

In all, it took about three days from start to finish. And I am so pleased with the results! I didn’t want to put a lot of decor on the wall because I wanted it to be the room’s real feature. So I stuck with a simple wall hanging from Magnolia Home and changed my chandelier to this one from Lowe’s.

Now that it’s October, I love my cedar plank feature wall even more with all the Halloween decor! I can’t wait to see how I can dress up this space for all the other seasons.