Are We Out of the Woods: 4 High Impact Areas to consider swaddling in wood planks

Adding wood planks to an accent wall is a relatively easy and quick way to add a fun natural element to your home that inherently brings warmth and texture.  It’s a trend that’s been out there for a while – but keeps gaining in momentum.  What I love about it are the possibilities: you can use reclaimed wood, wood meant for fencing, wood from pallets or new wood from the lumber mill and then stain it to suit your style or leave it as is.  Unless you live in the mountains, a little goes a long way.  Here are some great high impact areas to consider for adding a little bit of the natural to your home.

1. Accent Wall in a Living or Dining Room:  If you’ve got a room that needs warming up either because there’s a lot of steel and glass going on (as is the case in the condo interior above), or if you have a house or a room that lacks architectural oomph look around for a spot for a planked wall.  Try to place it so the accent wall goes from inside corner to inside corner.  It’s more tricky to end an accent wall on an outside corner and it’s something that always bugs me as a designer.

2. Bathroom Wall:  I’ve always liked stone or tile accenting a sink wall – why not use wood planks instead?  Bathrooms tend lack the warmth and texture of other rooms in the house.  Wood on the wall would amp up the warmth and the design impact.

3. Headboard Wall:  Always a good spot for an accent.

4. Fireplace Wall: A fireplace wall is one of the most classic areas in the home to use wood plank.  Out here in Denver, it’s been a hallmark of almost every spec and model home erected in the past 10 years.  Despite this, I still love it!

Can you do this yourself?  There are lots of DIY blogs and YouTube videos out there that show you exactly how to do this, however, it’s not a big job and if you’re not so confident about your skills or just don’t have the time – hire somebody and get it done already.  It’s not that expensive for the dramatic impact it will create.

So no, we’re not out of the woods yet and that song is not out of my head yet.