Shop Renovation: Wall Decor

Some people may see snow as an obstacle, but over here at Kanibal Home we see it as an opportunity.

I've been waiting to start a new project that -- like most undertakings -- had only two possible outcomes: awesome or awful. I'm happy to report that after a day of gluing, nailing and board breaking not only am I pleased with the outcome, but my legs got quite a workout in the process. Double bonus.

So the inspiration for this project came from all the great decorative wood walls I've seen popping up lately. Unable to commit to destroying the shop's wall, I turned something that should have been permanent into an installation. And I got to use one of my favorite types of wood too! Yay lath.


Here's the wall before:

(Not bad, but missing a little something-something)

And now a little recap of the process:

(I might have stated this weird fact about myself before, but it's worth repeating: If I could bottle the Home Depot smell I would. There's something about a lumber aisle and infinite building opportunities that really gets my gears going. So I was super psyched to truck over there Tuesday night just as the snow started falling to stock up on supplies ... including a jumbo canister of Liquid Nails.)

(I needed a wood board 5.5 feet wide and 6 feet high, but that was never fitting in my truck, so I split it up. Not evenly, obviously. I also had to wait to tackle this project on a snow day because -- as you can tell -- it took up the whole floor in Kanibal Home.)

(The fun and time-consuming part = measuring and cutting all the lath pieces to fit into an aesthetic grid pattern.)

(Bundles and bundles of lath ... and me and my little saw. I have a big girl circular saw in the shop, but I was trying to minimize the dust. And loss of fingers.)

(Getting there ...)

(Finally finished laying everything down! Now it's time to rip it all up again so I can glue/nail it back into place.)

(Another angle.)

(The diminished wood pile. There are no images of me actually nailing and gluing this monster together because 1. I was trying my best not to affix myself or wood scraps to the nice tile floor, and 2. It was just me doing this project. I'm not that patient to set up a photo shoot of myself doing construction and no one really wants to see that disaster anyway.)

(The finished project. Mounted to the wall. Securely.)

It's not completely finished ... I still have some elements to add. But at least the largest portion of this project is completed. Lesson learned: Snow = Productive day in the shop.