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Do you love the look of plank walls, but don’t want to commit or can’t install in your rental? Check out this awesome tutorial – the rental-friendly solution for plank walls. The best part? It only cost $8.00!!

If you’ve been on Pinterest lately, you may have noticed that plank walls are HOT right now.  Everyone and their mom is incorporating this awesome design element into their homes, and I’m loving it!

I could seriously add plank walls to every room in my home.

There is only one small problem… I rent.  Sigh!

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I recently re-did my bedroom for the One Room Challenge.  I chose a Cape Cod Coastal theme, and really wanted a plank wall.  I had to get creative.

Do you love the look of plank walls, but don’t want to commit or can’t install in your rental? Check out this awesome tutorial – the rental-friendly solution for plank walls. The best part? It only cost $8.00!!

I considered building some sort of free-standing plank-wall that would just rest between by bed and the wall.  That seemed like a bunch of work, and I wasn’t up for that much carpentry action.

Then…. I was wandering the aisles at Joann Fabrics and lightning struck.

Do you love the look of plank walls, but don’t want to commit or can’t install in your rental? Check out this awesome tutorial – the rental-friendly solution for plank walls. The best part? It only cost $8.00!!

Do you see this roll of paper?  It’s sold to teachers to use on their bulletin boards, and it’s $8.  Yes.  $8.  Sold!

Installing a Rental-Friendly Faux Plank Wall

Supplies

  • 1 roll of decorative wood grain paper – available here or here
  • measuring tape and pencil
  • masking tape
  • 2 8-foot 1x3s
  • saw
  • primer and white paint
  • hammer, finishing nails, and nail setting tool

Instructions

Step 1 – Pick a Wall

before

I chose the wall behind my bed.  It’s small enough that I only needed one roll of paper, and I thought it would make a great feature.

Step 2 – Measure

Do you love the look of plank walls, but don’t want to commit or can’t install in your rental? Check out this awesome tutorial – the rental-friendly solution for plank walls. The best part? It only cost $8.00!!

Measure your wall and center the roll of paper on the wall.  Using a pencil, make small marks where the paper should line up.

The paper that I used was 4 feet wide.  I just took the width of my wall, subtracted 48 inches and divided by 2.  I then measured this amount from each wall edge.

Step 3- Tape the Paper to the Wall

Do you love the look of plank walls, but don’t want to commit or can’t install in your rental? Check out this awesome tutorial – the rental-friendly solution for plank walls. The best part? It only cost $8.00!!

Do you love the look of plank walls, but don’t want to commit or can’t install in your rental? Check out this awesome tutorial – the rental-friendly solution for plank walls. The best part? It only cost $8.00!!

Do you love the look of plank walls, but don’t want to commit or can’t install in your rental? Check out this awesome tutorial – the rental-friendly solution for plank walls. The best part? It only cost $8.00!!

Using your pencil marks as a guide, carefully tape the roll of paper to the wall.

I rolled the tape at the top of the paper.  Since I knew my sides would be covered by the 1x3s, I just taped the paper regularly to the wall.  Don’t be afraid to use a fair amount of tape.

Step 4 – Cut and Paint 1x3s

Cut the 2 1x3s to the appropriate height of your ceiling.  Prime and paint white.

Do you love the look of plank walls, but don’t want to commit or can’t install in your rental? Check out this awesome tutorial – the rental-friendly solution for plank walls. The best part? It only cost $8.00!!

Step 5 – It’s Hammer Time

Using 3 finishing nails on each board, nail the 1x3s to the wall, covering the edges of the decorative wood grain paper.  Use the nail setting tool to set the nails, and spackle over the nails.

Do you love the look of plank walls, but don’t want to commit or can’t install in your rental? Check out this awesome tutorial – the rental-friendly solution for plank walls. The best part? It only cost $8.00!!
Do you love the look of plank walls, but don’t want to commit or can’t install in your rental? Check out this awesome tutorial – the rental-friendly solution for plank walls. The best part? It only cost $8.00!!

Step 6 – Step Back and Admire Your Handiwork

TA-DA!

Do you love the look of plank walls, but don’t want to commit or can’t install in your rental? Check out this awesome tutorial – the rental-friendly solution for plank walls. The best part? It only cost $8.00!!

Budget Breakdown

This project was seriously CHEAP! Here’s what I spent:

  • Roll of paper – $8
  • 2 – 1x3s – $3
  • primer, paint, tape, nails – all things I had from previous projects

So the grand total for this project came to be $11.  Seriously.  Probably less because I think I used my 40%-off coupon on the roll of paper at Joann.

Do you love the look of plank walls, but don’t want to commit or can’t install in your rental? Check out this awesome tutorial – the rental-friendly solution for plank walls. The best part? It only cost $8.00!!

Do you love the look of plank walls, but don’t want to commit or can’t install in your rental? Check out this awesome tutorial – the rental-friendly solution for plank walls. The best part? It only cost $8.00!!

I would love to hear what you think of my new feature wall?  Do you rent?  If so, is this something you would tackle in your space?

27 Comments

    1. Thanks so much Audra! Great point about “trying out” a look… plank walls are a commitment!

  1. What a great idea!! I would never have known that was paper!!! I’m definitely pinning! Thank you so much for sharing at The Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop!

  2. That is such a brilliant idea! It would be so perfect for a dorm room too. Thanks for sharing this!

    I’m stopping by via Snicker doodle Sunday.

    Best wishes,
    Natasha in Oz

  3. This is beautiful! I love this idea. Whether we rented or not, I wouldn’t mind doing this in our home. Such a great idea. Thank you for sharing at Inspire Me Wednesday. Featuring you in this week’s issue.

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