by Edward on Jan 29, 2014
in Rustic Home Décor Times
Problem- You have a family room space in drywall and you want a cabin room, here are your options.
Solutions-
A. Paint
B. Wall paper
C. Pine boards or reclaimed boards
D. Faux log siding boards
Paint is an obvious option and you would be amazed to see the wood grain paint jobs one can paint on the walls now. I find painting very tedious and I am not that artsy with a paint brush-so I passed on this option.
Wall paper is easier to put up with similar effects as paint, but still looks two dimensional looking to me, even though a number of the patterns I looked at were really cool.
Pine wood or reclaimed lumber on the other hand, I have utilized twice with amazing results. The first project I did was with 1x 6 inch boards and stained them. I spaced them about 3 inches apart and nailed them horizontally across the wall to give room a wall of logs effect. The look is really amazing. They look like square logs with white mortar between them. I went further and trimmed around the windows and utilized them as baseboards around the floor with the same stained pine boards. This stained board face lift gave the whole room a rustic log cabin feel. I am handy with tools but by no means am I a finish carpenter, and I had no problem knocking this project out in a weekend with a power miter saw.
A few how to make your home look like a cabin project tips I learned in the process:
· Stain all the boards first (two coats if needed) before putting them up.
· Shop around for the lumber. I went around to three different places and saved a bunch do this.
· Buy plenty of stain for future touch up or if you decide to add more trim elsewhere to match later
· Start at the ceiling and work down, using a full board at the top. You can rip a board at the bottom if needed and cover with a baseboard. This way your eye does not catch and see the narrow boards. Sticks out like a sore thumb at the ceiling.
· Buy 15% more linear feet than you think you need for waste
· Utilize a level and a pencil to mark the lay out of your boards beforehand
Faux log siding boards. After I completed the pine board log room I discovered you can do the same thing with actual faux log boards. They are log faced boards that are flat on the back side. They are milled and utilized by log home manufactures to trim out various areas of a room that the logs do not cover. You can find them on line or contact your local log home manufacture and see if you could purchase what you need from the contractor. They may agree to order more than they need for their next project to meet your need? A little research may be in order, but I saw a room done this way, and it looked awesome. My next room decorating project, I will be doing in faux log boards!
