Notch Ur Best Work....Rather Notch Mine

Notching Can Be Done!

    As the days have gone on, I've started to attempt to take on part of the Reclaimed Wood Wall. I'm also apparently crazy and overly ambitious about new tasks. But whatever, right? Man did I learn some lovely lessons on how to properly notch the wood for the wood wall. Now I shall share my hard learned lessons, and complete screw ups. You also need Louie the EVER-present sidekick/stalker.

I think he's bored of this project......

Step One

Hmmm....that doesn't look right....

Find the piece that you are going to notch out. Hold it up to the space on the wall, where it eventually will fit. Carefully draw a line where you will need to cut.

Then look at the picture of it on your phone, and quickly realize um ya....that's like a quarter inch off that old adage "measure twice" totally makes sense. So let's try that again.

So much better!

   Ok, now we are notchin'!

 Step Two

 Now you are going to want to measure the depth of that overhang. That way when you cut out the notch you know how deep to cut. You will still have to adjust and shave a little off, maybe. For now this helps out though.

Don't forget to think it through, measure twice right?

Step Three

  Then, I take it onto the workbench to straighten the lines and square it up. One of my favorite tools is the triangle. It just works so nicely to help you get those lines nice and straight. No that the other wood is always stinkin straight and that will drive you to drink....whiskey....lots o whiskey.

Follow the original mark you made to create a line all the way across the wood.

Look at that beautiful line! oooo la la

Step Four

    Now that you have the line drawn across the entire plank (really this is more about using the triangle to draw straight) you are going to find the place to cut that line off. In other words you are only going to use part of that line. In fact it will be the depth of the notch right?

    Measure down the line to the same depth of the other piece of wood. Repeat that measurement over and over and over again, as to neither confuse nor forget it. Make a mark in that location.

    Once you have the this new mark, use your handy dandy triangle to draw another line across the wood, in a perpendicular fashion. The place where these two lines come together, or intersect, is going to be the corner of our notch.

Step Five

     For me, I like to notch using a jigsaw. Its small enough to have decent control and I find it appealing because its pretty easy to maneuver. It's really important to pay attention to which way to notch. If you cut the wrong way then you will have it notched out int he opposite directions that you need. I've almost done this a few times and then actually done it once or twice, or five or six times. It's crazy frustrating.

  Once I'm happily cutting I tend to really focus on the wood. The sound of the jigsaw and the small part peel of wood that twists and turns and winds its way above the wood as you cut. On this particular day, during this particular cut I realized it was almost time to pick up my kiddos. Clearly, I focused and making sure that all my cuts are in the right place. I'm cutting and thinking...what kind of day did the offspring have? Did the boy do well on his behavior chart? Did the girl get to practice Steel Drum band again?

 Step Six

  Now that you have cleanly cut out your notch, take it back to the wall. Accept that you may have to do some fine tuning, but it should basically slide into place, almost. And this is when I excitedly do the happy dance, knowing that once again I have made something beautiful.

Argh! What is that crap!

  Until I realize that I haven't made anything beautiful. I've totally screwed up.....again. HUMPH! I shall fix this...I will make it work....I will! So when you mess up like this, and you will, because this is so labor intensive, breathe, give yourself space. Rinse your brain off, and repeat! :) It always works the second time....almost always.

Ahhh yes! Cut THAT way....

Only THAT way

   It works, especially when you draw it out and actually include and arrow directing your cut, as in cut this way you bloody dork.

Here's to better notching!

Cheers!

-Mandy

Gigolo and the Lime- The Ugliest Fireplace in the Northwest

    Do you remember the ugliest fireplace in the Pacific Northwest? Let me refresh you with a visual you will wish you've never seen. Somethings you just cannot unsee.

Oh so ugly!

   Prior to the floor coming I decided I should do whatever it was that I was going to do to the fireplace. Remember that my dreams of refacing the fireplace quickly flew away with my roof  in the windstorm. This fireplace encompassed the trifecta of ugly. It was ugly on so many levels. First and foremost, some gigolo must have hung his gold chain right there on the mantle, straight out of the seventies. The monochromatic brick is eye numbing, borderline excruciating. Of equal importance would be the insert. Who would insert that in a fireplace? Brass is making a comeback I hear. Not in this format! Finally, just to top it off someone decided hey why not put a bench on this thing? Yes of course, lets find some classy manufactured stone. Maybe it's actually concrete with some weird coating. When examining an archaic fireplace, or its decorative (if you can call it that) elements do not arbitrarily unscrew parts to see what they do. This is simply unsafe. I would never do that. I totally did that, and almost crushed myself. That piece of mystery material is attached in a most bizarre fashion, and it looks like it is staying on for the long haul.
         I seriously looked into painting the fireplace. Everything that I read about it left me feeling very blahhhh. I hated the way the color just sat on top of the brick. Brick can be beautiful, right? So how could I make mine beautiful? The next idea was to whitewash it. Basically that's mixing your latex paint with water so it's a bit less opaque. This was more viable, yet it would still suffocate the brick. Does brick really need to breathe? Will it die if it doesn't? Also, once you paint brick, that's it for life. No divorces, no affairs, you are married to painted brick for life, even if its a white wash. So, what then?
      Eventually I came across the lost craft of lime-washing. Its not that uncommon on the east coast and in Europe. Not so much on the west coast. Go, figure. For many people white-washing is white-washing no matter the material. Not that I ever thought that. I totally thought that it was the same. Slap some stuff up and washed it was! However, when you start perusing the actual masonry and artist websites (in the wee hours of the morning because yes once again I'm curious and find this fascinating) you quickly learn that white-washing is paint and water and lime-washing now that's something different all together. Lime-washing is often used on exteriors, instead of paint, especially with brick. Lime can be used a number of ways. There is Natural Hydraulic Lime which is made by burning and slacking limestone at the quarry. Basically it makes it reactive to water, as I understand it. No that I really understand it.  Lime Putty, or non hydraulic lime is made by slaking quicklime in water for a VERY LONG TIME. At least three months so that it will cure and age properly. Quick lime is also the lime that you hear crazy horror stories about. You know where people burn their faces off or cause massive explosions. So that was a bit of a deterrent for me. Not really. Here's what I love about lime-wash:

1.  It's best applied to porous surfaces because it sinks into the material, rather than sitting on top. Something about that makes me as if the surface and the lime-wash were meant to be together....so happy together.
2.  It gives whatever is being washed an older look, with depth and character. Because of the crystals created by the carbonization (not getting too science-y here right?) it refracts light. So there is unique look to it.
3.  It protects whatever it is used on and doesn't really allow mold or bacteria growth. That has something to do with the PH, blah blah blah. 
4. Cultures all over the world have been using for centuries as a protective and decorative covering for buildings and interiors. Learning a technique or a craft that has been done for hundreds of year=history porn for me baby. I love it!
5. You can use pigments to color it! Insert my fantasies of mottled creams and whites to match the mystery material bench. Hey why not take a crazy out of my league project and complicate it?

All of these things are good...character....history.....depth....anti mold and gross stuff. The more I read, the more I loved the idea. 

This Ain't Grandma' s Recipe Box 

   Some people use Portland cement in their wash, as it includes lime and the concrete helps it all stick to the surface. The last thing you want is lime dust floating around in or around your house. On the surface as a protective coating it actually helps the air quality of the environment. In dust form, its toxic. Isn't that amazing? Ohhhhhh scary!  Some people use a different element to bind the lime and make sure it sticks to the surface. Ya that's probably a good idea. The idea of using cement scared me more that the lime itself. Cement=permanent in Mandy-Land. What if I mess up? Here's a first, I'm not overconfident about this project. I was totally confident that with enough research I would know exactly what I was doing.  So, off to the artisan and masons of Europe. Now there's some seriously good info for ya! These people know what they are doing! Here's my favorite sights for info on lime-washing and products.

1. http://www.earthpigments.com/limewash
2. http://blog.segretofinishes.com/segreto/2014/04/28/a-limewashed-facelift-for-my-exterior.html
3. http://www.limestuff.co.uk/pages/user-guides/how-to-apply-limewash.html
4. http://www.minervaconservation.com/articles/limewash.html

     The more that you read, the more I understood. The more I understood that I was confused as heck!  Basically, you use lime putty, diluted to the point that it resembles milk. Some professionals recommend an additive for adhesion. Again, you don't want dusting and chipping. Most of the common additives aren't substances you want inside your house, and they reduce breathability. Is that a word? On one website I read that on farms they used to mix the limewash with cow's blood for adhesion. EWWW! Originally I read about these additives:

1-Casein- All I know is that its a protein found in milk. That seems stinky, am I right? But I wonder if the milk would eventually be cheesy. I do like cheese.
2-Tallow- Yes because everyone wants a wall slathered in fat! UGH!
3-Raw Linseed Oil- OK, maybe.

If its a chemical reaction we need, then there must be a better choice. Something must react to the lime that doesn't rot on your walls or once belong to an animal. Eventually I found my answer. One website stated that the binder or additive needed to be mineral based. OK! SALT! That's a mineral right? And who cares if they were talking about lime paint. Close enough for me!  The recipes that included salt, included it in varying amounts. So it was a little difficult, but I figured too much would be better than little.

The Emergence of Masonry Man

I'm totally feeling the alliteration vibe tonight....well on most nights I suppose.

  So off I went to find hydrated lime. First to Lowe's, Home Depot, and then Ace. No dice. The best offer I got was to use gardening lime. Somehow I don't think that lime is processed the same way. Ace, I love Ace. They are always so helpful. Anyway they referred me to a specialty asphalt and cement place. Ah ha! These guys are going to have it! I know it! They didn't have it. Of course they finally told me they didn't have it after they satisfied all of their curiosity by asking me a million questions. They seemed shocked that a little woman would be searching for hydrated lime. It can't be that uncommon, can it?  However, the super cool guy at one of the three desks decided he was going to hook me up. He called a masonry supply in Woodinville (which is a tad of a trek) to see if they had masonry lime, or hydrated lime. Success! They did. He clarified that yes indeed this manshack masonry place would sell to me (since I'm not a contractor). I got their contact information and was off. Enter manshack masonry place and four twenty-something guys staring blankly at me. Then the onslaught of questions and queries....Why would you use that? It's really for mortarr. Do you know that? Are you sure its going to work for a wash? Can't you just use paint? I've never heard of that before. When hope was all but lost, my Masonry Man emerged.

Rolling on his desk chair this old guy (maybe 60s) came to my rescue. He told those whippersnappers that lime had been used for centuries. He knew exactly what I was doing. So it was....I had my lime....and the support of Masonry Man.

 

 

 

Anxiety in Application

 OK, clearly I'm sold on this lime-washing stuff. Somehow I needed a recipe to work with during the prep process. I always follow recipes. I never follow recipes. I start our with good intentions, I do! Then, as I follow the recipe I have a deep desire to "improve it". So far, its worked out for me.Shall i try this method with a caustic substance like lime?  I looked at several recipes. Then I combined the common elements and ta-da! We have lime putty. Make sure you wear protective gear. This is serious stuff. Here's my process and supply list.

Supplies: hydrated lime, water, trowel, paddle attachment for a drill that is at least 24", a drill, salt (I used Morton's, the kind you buy at the grocery store), 5 gallon bucket with a top, a metal trash can with lid, dust mask, masonry brush, something to spray water from, a clean rag or 5, a natural bristled brush, long sleeved shirt, and chemical resistant gloves My neighbors must have thought HAZMAT had arrived because I was looking freaky!Either that of it was reappearance of ET's healthcare providers. You need to wear the protective gear whenever you work with the lime, in any form.




Process:
Part One, making the wash:
You are going to mix 6-12 cups of lime with 1-2 gallons of water. Then add 1 pound of salt.  Alternate the ingredients as you add them (don't add all the lime and salt at once). Sound a little loosey goosey? It is. What matters here is consistency. Use the drill and masonry paddle to mix it as you go. Your goal is to get the consistency of milk. Once you have that, you get to let it sit. Yep that's right, more waiting. It needs to cure for 2-3 days at a minimum. So leave it in the bucket, cover it, and walk away.
Storage: The bagged lime is just as caustic as anything else. You need a solid metal container to store it in. We got a metal trashcan with a lid. The lime-wash will reside in the bucket until you use what you need to from it.

Fast Forward Three Days

 Once you have your HAZMAT uniform on and the area prepped you are ready. A few notes of caution. First, for me most of this was counter intuitive. That is to say that initially I couldn't trust my gut or my eyes. I simply followed directions. OK, I tried to follow directions. I may have altered a little along the way. Whenever you are going to apply the wash you need to follow the same pattern. This was mine.

1. Wet the area you are going to wash. I used a garden sprayer. I was worried I'd wet too much but in hindsight the wetter the better.And really isn't that always the case? I learned as I went.
2. Stir the wash with the drill.
3. Use a masonry brush to apply the wash only to the area that you have wet, in a figure eight fashion. It will drip. It will be messy. It will look like nothing. It is something, I promise. Pay attention to make sure you get into the mortar (sometimes I used a natural bristle brush to ensure that the mortar was washed or touch it up).
4. Wait about 40 seconds for the drips to slow. 
5. Take a clean rag ball it up and blot in a totally random pattern. Blot a little in some parts and a lot in others. You could also dry brush it off, but to me that seemed like it could fling it everywhere.If you want more coverage then the first coat should not include blotting.That's how I did my fireplace. It was a total accident but the blotting took that lovely inconsistency and made it artistic on the other coats.

Now wait. Here's the very uncomfortable truth. You will have no idea what it looks like. When lime-wash is wet it can be around 10x darker (meaning that  it will be a whole lot whiter when it dries) than when it dries. So you apply...look at it skeptically....assume it will dry better than it looks currently....and wait. Here's what mine looked like immediately after the first coat.

    I tried to say that this was exactly what I wanted.I stayed calm and waiting for the reults that I knew would come. I didn't freak out that the gigolo fireplace now looked like it was coated in mucous. Actually, I was making plans for paint, maybe even tile! But then something subtle and unexpected happened about an hour or so later.

60-90 minutes later 

OK..... there appears to be hope.

 I knew this was going to be ok. I just had to be patient and wait. I had no idea if it was going to work. So I spent that hour and a half thinking of soultions I could present to the husband after he realized that I mucousified our gigilo fireplace. This pattern continued through out the night. The darkening, not the stressball problem-solving. Ok see the lights and the darks? That's all from my well planned random blotting. I had no idea how I did that and spent about an hour studying it before I realized it was simply uneven distribution.

So onward and upward! The next day at exactly 24 hours after the first wash (that's the minimum time you should wait between coats) I went at my figure 8 frenzying with the determination of a tantruming two year-old! This will work if I do it long enough....

By the  end of day 2 I was getting super excited, and comfortable.

Day 2

Here's the really super cool thing about limewashing, as long at it is wet you can work it to adjust the appearance. This will also make the perfectionist in you never want to stop. You will want to touch up this and blot a little more there. you'll see a drip you don't like. Just drink a whiskey and coke...then its all ok. 

Most of the blogs I read stated that 3-5 coats would do the trick. Are you serious? That can't be right! I was determined to get it done in three. I mean I DO have other projects to attend to. To my happy surprise it looked like this in the morning.I mean seriously we are entering the territory of "The Little Fireplace that Could." I'm kind of loving my mucousified gigolo fireplace. Shhhh..don't tell.

Morning of Day 3

 It's beautiful! Its amazing! Why does it look like there are two holes in the wash on either side? Hmmmm...I can fix this.Time to research. I didn't research anything. I just hoped for the best and did some selective touch up.

End of day 3

Now that's what Im talking about! I simply wetted those areas, reapplied and reworked. I filled in some other gaps too.It's perfect. So my husband came home and reinstalled the TV. Life would soon go back to normal. Or I would relentlessly stare at it and find flaws that I knew I could fix. If I cover the TV, it will be fine right?

This is so much better! It only took a few minutes the following morning or in the middle of the night tomato tomaaato. If it stays like this I will love it.

Ta flippin da!

Now it's really done. After drying and a full 24 hour cure it is done. For the first few days I would go up to it and touch it to see if the dust was coming off, or if it was flaking. Then my son casually asked me why I was petting the fireplace.I secretly love it and shall pet it all day long! Be gone with you child! I decided then that enough was enough and all was well. Please ignore the subfloors. That's a post for another day!

PS- Did I mention that I spray painted the brass black? Yep that heat tolerant spray worked out great...until it started to rub off the handles. Now its oil rubbed brass! 

Purposeful Pallets-Reclaimed Wood Wall

    As I’ve said before our new home didn’t really excite me, at first. This home has been more of a trickle of inspiration, with exception to one aspect. From day one I knew that we needed a reclaimed wood wall. Truth be told, I've always wanted to create one, but never had a substantial wall.....or the substantial time to create it. Now I have both! I have a big, boring, tall, oddly shaped wall in desperate need of "Mandy-ization". So, it began. At night I laid in bed dreaming of my beautiful wall. It will be shades of grey and brown with touches of red, peppered throughout. It shall be bedazzled with black and white pictures, maybe some sepia toned as well. It shall be....

         Marc is almost always on board when it comes to my crazy ideas for houses. However, gaining his full buy-in took some schmoozing and some "look honey see! see!", moments. Marc loved the idea of a reclaimed wood wall. He loved the idea of a neat and tidy, balanced, close to monochromatic reclaimed wood wall. Eventually he came around to the clarity of chaos I wanted to put on the wall....eventually. This will be a fairly long post. Feel free to skip around. Eventually, I put up a short list too:)

1-Choosing the right wood and finding the supplier.

2-Disassembling the  pallets

3-Preparing the wood

4-Building your pallet wall.

 

Where's the Wood?

    Where does one find a substantial amount of "used wood"? My first thought was the backyard deck we were re-flooring. The wood was a beautiful silvery grey. The problem is would have all looked very similar. So, nope that won’t work. Maybe a piece here, a piece there. Research, research, research.....start other projects.....research, research, research.

    Offerup.com and Craigslist.com became my first nightly obsession. My poor husband was required to drive here and there in the mornings to find the piles of free wood posted on these sites. The more I did this, the more I realized we needed to be there immediately after the post! Then we would have first selection. No longer would we suffer the fate of the left over wood! Ha! Insert Marc rolling his eyes at my instant competitive nature. There must be a faster, more efficient way. Research, research, research. A few pieces of wood did end up being purchased at the Re-Store (Habitat for Humanity) and Ballard Reuse. Both of these places are all about re-purposing and salvage. So far we've spent 12$ on wood. Not too shabby.

       I'm not sure how it happened. Somehow I found all of those really cool professionally done, reclaimed barn wood walls. Happy dances ensued....until I saw the price....no more dancing. There are at least a dozen companies out there specializing in creating these walls in an easy application for the average DIYer. Man do you pay for that easy application. I tend to be slightly confident in my ability to do projects that I know nothing about. So I looked at these prices and thought, nope, I shall do this in a cost effective way. Oh jeez, now I've made another goal. I shall create this wall for under 100$! Be realistic about setting goals for a massive project like this. For goodness sake make the budget realistic. I always do that, lol. So I set the goal of less than 100$ for wood. Tools, well that's another story.

        So now I need to find more free wood.  Hmmm.....insert barn wood companies that have branched out into pallet wood walls. I can do that, right? Yes! I'm going to use pallet wood. Otherwise I'm paying 14$ a square foot....um no. Damn that roof for blowing off. Now the quest for pallets begins. Are pallets the type of thing that you can just grab if you see them on the side of the road? Marc says no, but I'm still wondering. I’ve tried to jump out of the car several times to grab pallets on the side of  the road. He wants confirmation that said pallet owner actually wants to part with the pallets they have put close to the street. Apparently putting them on the side of the street isn’t enough of sign. Hmmm....really?

    
     Did you know there's a whole wide world of people making a bazillion different things out of shipping pallets? I'm not kidding! Its amazing, inspiring, and overwhelming! I'm so excited! The best resource for all things pallet is 1001pallets.com Not only is there a plethora of DIY pallet projects but they have resources in terms of educating yourself on the wide world of pallets. The more I read, the more I loved the idea. Reusing something that I knew would have otherwise been discarded was such an inviting idea. The fact that most pallets are heat treated, which dries them out is also a major plus. There's less of a chance of bugs entering your pristine home. Also, it guards against major changes in the wood as the moisture level changes in your home. There's a special coding system either branded or stamped into the sides. You too can become a code decipherer (is that a word? it is now!). Click here to learn the ways of the pallet codes. I have to admit I think the codes on the wood are pretty cool. The codes tell you the history of the pallet in terms of how the wood was treated. Again, I love to learn and this was captivating. 
 

         In time I made friends with a business that neither rents nor returns their shipping pallets. Don't go hunting at major stores. Certainly don't park by their dumpster to casually look at their pallet selection. I would never do that without permission. I totally did that, until someone came and stared at me, as if I was going to steal their trash. Craigslist has postings and of course if you have a mom and pop shop near you, just ask them if they have shipping pallets they would like to get rid of. I found the company that I use on Craigslist! Now I can just go over there anytime and dive into their dumpster. Ahhh the picture exudes class, am I right? The pallet wall will come from this, so its all good. 

Drudges of Disassembling

        It's always important to spend time properly researching the appropriate method to execute a task as large as breaking down a wooden pallet. I always do that! I totally didn't do that until I was tired and sore and repeating the words "must find easier way" as I walked circles through the yard. I watched a bunch of videos on different methods for deconstruction. Most of them show you how to disassemble pallets that have dice (or cube shaped pieces that hold the sides together. I have yet to see one of those! Mine have all had 2x4s in the middle. UGH! The truth is, its hard work and certainly painful  physical labor. You can avoid the gym that day(s). If you use the backside of a hammer, chances are you will dent your wood. So don't start with that. If you use a skill saw or any other type of saw you will probably end up with shorter boards. You want variety, so yes you can cheat a little, just not all the time. If you cut through the nails, you'll probably have to take them out later when you plane the boards, so just do it from the get go. Here's your go to list for tools:

Three pound hammer

Hammer

Prybar---You will love it!

Pliers-love the slip joint kind!

Thor with his mighty hammer for back up.....and eye candy!

      Go at the first loose nail you can find and wiggle that puppy with your crowbar like a little kid wiggling their loose tooth.  Eventually you'll get some room. You just have to dive into that! Once a board is free it will probably still have nails lodged into it. I always flip them over and use the three pound hammer bang them so the head is loose enough for the prybar to get a good lock.  Watch out with the three pound hammer, it's pretty easy to accidentally bang your finger. I'm lucky that it never happened to me.It totally happened to me. I thought I broke my fingers at least three different times.

         Don't forget to pay attention to the nails and their placement.Otherwise you'll crack and break the boards when prying them apart. I I would never do that. I totally  did that. I messed up more boards then I can count because I arbitrarily pulled instead of looking at the wood around the nails first. Once you have a decent pile of wood you get to do the real fun stuff. I'll be honest, some pallets took me an hour and half, some took me a day and a half. It depends on your patience and the pallet's determination to mock you.

Preparation, Perseverance, and Patience...it's best to open a big can of all three!

         Once you have a lovely pile of old looking wood living happily in a dry place, like your garage, it's time to get them ready for installation. Me? I had more boards than I could count, but I wasn't sure if it was enough. This would have been the perfect third grade problem for area. I could have calculated total square footage and measured every single board. Of course, you know me and I totally did that. I totally didn't do that, which meant that we would clean up the wood, prep it and hope for the best. If we need more, I'll go to the pallet place! Anyhow, here comes the crucial part, to plane or not to plane? Personally I could see a pallet wall with wood sticking way out, almost as shelves in some areas. Apparently, I'm the only one that thinks that sounds interesting. Marc, the sound of reason, broke through my fantasy of throwing up the boards and seeing what emerged. In hindsight, I like it this way too. :) 
         After pulling apart those pallets I realized we would really want them to lay flat. Bumpy, crazy wood would probably add too much texture. So we bought a thickness planer. Insert an image of me in my big

farmer overalls pushing piece after piece through the planer a minimum of 5 times per piece. Often times it was significantly more. Oh, and the sawdust! There is enough sawdust to to make a mountain range! It would be smart to have a plan for what you will do with this stuff. I have used it a few different ways:

1. It tends to rain here in the Pacific Northwest (I know you are shocked) so I threw down (and continue to throw down) much of it in the chicken run. They've been very pleased with this new kind of snow that occasionally drizzles from above.
2. Compost, compost, compost!
3. Mulch, mulch, mulch!
4. If you have a wood stove for heat (as we do). It works great, to help start your fire. Someday I'll replace the wood stove for something more efficient and earth friendly.....someday when I can afford to do so:).

     Once you've planed your pieces you need to make sure they are straight all the way around. We used a table saw and a chop saw to accomplish this. Yes more fun with power tools for me! Thank god for earplugs! I'm sure my neighbors are loving the constant rather deafening hum of the saws.

       Last prep step, clean the wood. Many different people will tell you to take hose and some mild detergent and give it a thorough wash down. Part of what makes the wood look so cool is the dirt. I don't want it all in my house, but enough to maintain the character of the wood was alright with me. You can also use lemon oil. Lemon oil will help bring dirt to the surface. That's kind of an endless cycle though. As the wood dries out you will want to re-oil. It also won't all dry out in the same way. I opted for more painstaking physical labor (really this is replacing my gym membership). First I scrub the heck out of it with a stainless steel wire brush.don't forget to put on the dust mask! I always remember safety and lungs first. Don't tell my sister, husband, doctor, etc but I forgot to do that. Let's just say you breathe in that fine dust that you scrap off. The black boogies and snot that build up in your nose will serve as a visual reminder you if you ever forget. While you scrub, ensure that you always go with the grain of the wood. Become one with grain....always. The wire brush will raise the grain, which helps with creating that cool wood texture while lifting the dirt up. Its a win win! Next I used a plastic brush to continue to push all the dirt out . Finally a rag to do a wipe down. Now they are ready!  Again, at this point your wood should really be nestled inside your house somewhere. I'm sure your significant other will love the wood spread all over your house. ;)

Mounting! Its a Miracle!

      Three weeks, that's how long I prepared for this day. As in the supplies are ready, and so it the wood. Darn that husband with a job and those pesky visitors (I think we call them parents). It's time to put up my wood wall! Its calls me at night. It's time. We organized our wood by length. We separated out really amazing pieces that would need special placement, like the ones that have words and letters on them (its like pallet wood porn, truly those pieces rock). 
       We decided to start by finding a piece that roughly covered 2/3 of the wall. This was our beautiful

anchor piece. Measure, measure, measure. Then apply some liquid nails. Put up the piece and finish it with finishing nails (is that why they call them finishing nails). A note about Liquid Nails. When you purchase it, don't just grab any liquid nails. By all means do not buy a sampling of the low odor and indoor outdoor types.(After all how bad could the odor be?) I bought the indoor low odor Liquid Nails. Right after I bought a sampling of all the different kinds and quickly learned that low odor is the way to go. I can still smell the boogarlicous yellowish gunk holding up my precious pallet wood. 

Stolen from hubby's facebook, this is Day 1

      You can progress in one of two ways. Plan ahead and rip everything through the table saw at 3 inch increments. Doing this will give you wood options that can all equal out in terms of width. Two 3 inch boards will equal one 6 inch, etc. Or the other option is to notch the wood so that it fits together. This is will take much longer, and frustrate the installer much more. I love you Marc. I bet you know which one we chose! A notching we will go! This IS much slower, because someone (not me, as I am measure and cut challenged still or rather still developing those skills as us educators would say) has to measure and cut out each notch and make sure it aligns in a pleasing way. OK, perfectionists this will not be perfect and tiny gaps are totally acceptable. What? Yep that's right. The wood presumably will shift as your house warms and cools (like a wood floor), so the gaps will help accommodate those shifts. 
         The process for placement is one of paying attention to color, texture, and seam alignment. You don't want two glaring seams running down your wall do you? So as you choose, make sure you vary those short and long pieces so that the seams do not line up. If you have a certain tone of wood that is in short supply divide your wall into thirds and plan to place it in each third, at different heights. My wood pallet porn pieces (yes the ones with brands and stamps on them) are pre-selected for different sections of the wall. I love those pieces...

Day 2

In Closing

       We are still working on the  pallet wood wall. I'll continue to share our process/progress.


 PS- The husband is a saint as the notching is relentless!

1/22/2016 Update on Reclaimed Wood Wall

Notching, notching, notching. It's painstaking, time consuming and completely beautiful. Beautiful with exception of the frustration that seems to be plastered on your partners face like a new tattoo. However, smiles do prevail when he gets it right, and he always does.

My Hubby Mr. Notchtastic

We've made so much progress in the last dew days! Its amazing!

Day 3

Day 4

Different angles to show off the wood on Day 4

Some of my favorite pieces so far

End of Day 4

I love the texture in that center piece!

1/26/2014 Update on Reclaimed Wood Wall

    I had grand plans for today. Yep, armed with my new Erin Condren life planner (which by the way is organization porn for those of you ultra organizers who love to plan, color code, etc) I was ready to accomplish many tasks. However, when I went to wake my kiddos up for school, one had fallen into the nasty cold frenzy that has plagued their school. In other words, Master Wood Wall Maker hat off, mom hat on. By mid day she was up and as ten year old's often do, talking a mile a minute. So I thought, yea I'll listen to your million comments and thoughts, while I wood wall! That lasted less time than I thought. However, all by my lonesome I did some notching and some nailing. ROAR!  I rock...most of the time! Yes, I'm certainly proud of my four little pieces.

My accomplishment for the day! Woot, Woot! Whatever that means...

1/30/2014 Update on Reclaimed Wood Wall

   We didn't do this today. It was actually the 28th, not that anyone is going to care lol. The Voice of Reason (hubby) and I divided and conquered working on the Wood Wall among other projects. We went and got more pallets from the business that gives them to us freely. The guy on the fork lift was proud to add what he thought was  "a good one" to the pile. It turned out to be an MB treated POS. Never trust the forklift dude. We got quite a few good ones though. Today's accomplishments include: putting up a decent chunk of wood and perfecting the art of darkening wood that is just too damn clean, and some seriously silly notch work. See my  post about notching here, um after I write it...be patient with me OK? Below are the progress pics for the day.

Down the stairs it goes!

See that bottom piece with the cool knot? What a pain in the pooper that one turned out to be!

More amazing piece and notch work!

That's all for today!

     There are some pallet pieces that are beautifully worn and aged. Even the ones that I think are simply too light for the wall tend to have saw marks on them, which is enough visual interest for them to earn their place on my wall anyway. Recently though I have come across some pallets made of beautiful fir. It's clean. It's crisp. It's way too bright and cheery for my wall. So what's a girl to do especially when she's too cheap to purchase any special aging products? In my hunt for ways to appropriately age the wood I considered using my kitchen mini torch. What fun! Also though it defeats the purpose of being cheap about it, but I do love the look of the charred wood. AHA! Charcoal! So off to the local art store my wood stove I went. Here's what I did:

 

 Step 1) Set yourself up next to your source of charcoal. If you don't want to get dirty because you are  a big sissy lala then wear a glove. If you want light coloration, then only rub the charcoal with the grain of the wood. Remember that like 80% will rub off with the rag yes I've measured it precisely to make such a claim.



2.Rub that board like a hot cabana boy rubs a wealthy cougar with the charcoal. I wanted it dark, so all directions were needed. Also leave open untouched  spaces too.

3.Use a rag, dirty or clean because who really cares at this point, to rub off the charcoal. If yo feel like its getting too light, you can always go back and add more. What you don't want is this wood on your wall dusting not sure that is actually a word but I'm going to pretend like it is charcoal everywhere at the slightest breeze. Scratch that, you don't want any charcoal coming off your wall at all. Period. Because that's gross.

4. Look at your hard work and ooh and ahh over this masterpiece.

Oooooooo....

Ahhhhhhhh....

 5. Remind yourself that hello you are working with charcoal, which is pretty dang messy so yes some prep is necessary. Otherwise, you will get that nasty crud everywhere. When you try to pick it up it will mock you and break into a thousand little pieces all over the carpet, smearing everything in its path. It will roll in laughter, knowing that your vacuum cleaner has recently passed away. They will mock you, those dirty little demons.

Oh the shame!

3/6/2016 Update on the Reclaimed Wood Wall

              I know what you are thinking....those lazy donkeys, they started a project and either never finished it or decided they were too lazy to share their finished project. That's what I'd be thinking. of course none of that is true. I have a perfectly good excuse for my limited communication the last month or so. Truly, I do. First of all, the sun came out. Gardeners unite! Seriously, it may have only been for a few days here and a few days there, but it's presence was most welcome. It made me want to dance around the yard naked and plant a million and one beautiful plants. The neighbors would love that I'm sure. I'm already the weird woman who wears overalls a million sizes too big when gardening. So my world has been stock full of seedlings, garden beds, mulch and more! OH MY! Check out my massive gardening because you know me I'm all about small scale and trying little bits at a time.That's BS its huge and super-Mandy-like! Visit the Gargantugarden Blog and see for yourself.
             So there I was dancing around the garden like a naked fool setting up the raised veggie beds when it happened. At first it was a little, never in my life did I think that I might actually hope a bird had peed on me, but instead of rain....I'll take it. Right after I get my slingshot! Alas, no bird peed upon my little head. It was the beginning of rain. Not just a little, get your rain jacket and it's no big deal kind of rain, like real heavy rain. Poo! So inside we went. That's when we got back to the wood wall. It's a rainy day sort of project anyway.
                I thought I'd channel myself a little super woman and hey why the hell not? Come on twinkle toes man up and try to dive into this all by my lonesome. OMG! So much fun to finish and such a pain in the pooper when it comes to notching and leveling etc. Anyway, we actually finished the section on the landing! Can you flipping believe it?

We left just enough room for a 6x1 baseboard. Do you see my trusty sidekick, Louie? Even the air compressor doesn't bother him. :)

Ahh the beauty! Part of me is feeling bad that I wanted to put pictures on it. We shall see....

Now we are venturing down the stairs. OMG grant me some sort of patience because seriously I may explode.  The angle of the stairs has been really challenging, so it's a little slow going.

Down, down, down the stairs it goes!

The nefarious nasty corner. Even when i use a protractor it gives me an angle that the miter saw refuses to measure! UGH! I'm sure someone knows an easier way to do this, it just ain't me!

With a little rain to keep me inside, and a buttload of luck and good measurements we may just get this sucker done soon!
Cheers-
Mandy

3/20/2016 A Mediocre Update  on the Longest Project Ever

    There's been a few rainy days here and there. What does that mean ladies and gents? Time to slap some wood up on that wall! How long have we been working on this project? Forever. It's not like we are ignoring it, it's just that the last section, happens to be the hardest section. It makes you scream horrible profanities whilst wasting beautiful pallet wood on stupid mistakes. It makes you remember why carpenters are paid more than you want to pay them. It makes you wish that you had stronger geometry skills. We've made decent progress, but it has been laborious. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are almost done. Now we are working with some of my favorite pieces of wood, yet quickly running low on supply. So it is a quiet little dance between the pallets, planing, and making cuts to fit.  Here's the progress. Here's hoping the sunshine stays out so I get another few garden days in before I have to return to this labor of love......again!

A view from the landing. I've officially decided that I no longer want the 6x1 baseboard at the bottom. It's just going to look weird, am I right?

This is the evil 60 degree angle I'm working with....kill me now.

60 degrees of pain, that's what I'm saying! But it's filling in nicely, if I do say so myself!

Hopefully there's more to come!
Cheers-
Mandy

4/10/2016 Update and Ta-fricking -DA!!!!

The doors have opened and the light hath shown down upon  us! Yes ladies and gents, IT IS COMPLETE!!!! How long was that project? Four months? I don't even know. We've certainly learned a few lessons upon the way.

1-Don't paint the wall the same color as all the the others. No one cares if they match. That color will poke its evil little head out of any crack of crevice that emerges just to simply mock you. Paint the wall black. Black will just melt into the wood. Nothingness...that's what you want of the cracks...nothing, like they aren't even there!
2-No matter how much wood you prepare there will never be enough.
3-Plan on this project taking MUCH longer than you could ever dream possible. Embrace to timeline because in the end you will gaze at it in awe.
4-Don't use the stinky Liquid Nails.
5-Even with LN and actual nails, nothing is permanent. you can still remove boards if you must.
6-The wood will shift and move as the humidity changes in your house. You'll walk by and see a small crack where there once was not. To this you can either flip off said crack for daring to enter itself into your beautiful wall of pallet perfection, or you can accept that nothing is perfect and this wall is simply a labor of love.
7-No moulding....its looks weird.
8-You may think that using wood with weird pain splatters will look like a mix between a resurgence of the 80s and Jackson Pollock's best work, but that's just your fear speaking. It will all come together, colors and all. Use them.
9-Measurment and focus are key....beer too...sometimes whiskey...sometimes all of the above.
10-Pay attention to geometry, because although logical people would create standard angles for stair cases, ceilings and the like....logical people did not build my house, and they probably didn't build yours. 

I'm proud that it is done....so proud. I look at it all the time, touch it in a semi-creepy fashion...but truly it's like those oil paintings in museums that you just crave to run your fingers over....except I can touch this artwork. Yes I can.

Looking down from the family room into the "foyer"/landing and stairs down to our room.

Looking up from the doorway of our bedroom (the downstairs). Stairs are evil.....angles are not angels!

Of meritorious note we actually accomplished a nice looking frame around the return. Before this, it was barely hanging on, seriously I pulled out the screws by hand. UGH.....

Cheers! On to the next project!
Mandy