Even though our 100 year old barn isn’t much use for animals, it is being put to use in our 1850’s farmhouse! Last spring we did our kitchen makeover an finally a few months ago finished the reclaimed bar wall.
If you missed the kitchen makeover before and after post check it out here. You’ll get a better idea of where this bar wall is in the kitchen. We were able to give our kitchen a face lift for under $2,000. new floors, new countertop but everything else we painted.
What We Did to the Barnwood
We removed the reclaimed wood pieces from our barn and used those on the wall. Right under the counter. We didn’t apply anything to the pieces. We used a wire brush to clean each piece well. We love the look of the wood as it is, and since it’s been outside for 100 years I think it will be just fine inside.
We aren’t concerned with splinters on the wood mostly your feet are down there. Plus we have an entire wood wall up our stairs!
On our wood wall up the stairs we had the industrial pipe for the rail. I decided to continue this look in the kitchen.
We bought the black piping stuff at Home Depot. Amazon does sell it online too. This is where the cost came in. Since we didn’t pay for the wood it works!
The actual counter for the reclaimed wood bar was a challenge. It wasn’t level. This piece was taken from the barn as well. A little tricky because we didn’t want to alter to look of the piece too much.
We first tired sanding sealer on the wood. I didn’t like the look of that at all. Staining was making us both nervous. We tested it on the back side of the wood in a small section.
After a little googling we tried coconut oil.
It was PERFECT! Perfect because it kept the rustic look and it was CHEAP! I already had a big tub from BJs! That’s a win in our frugal book.
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We did have to sand around this edge which is nerve racking on reclaimed wood. This edge is right next to the doorway. It was driving my husband crazy to see the stainless screws in the back. He wanted to put a white piece of molding on it. Okay he DID put a white piece of molding on it.
And here is where the great DIY couple project tension comes in. I thought it looked horrible. It killed the eye catching wood. He didn’t like the screws out. It looked unfinished to him. Well, after voicing my opinion he went to the garage.
Ladies, do you have those moments with no fighting or arguing but your husband exits to his “space”? This is NOT a bad thing. It takes time to consider the other person’s point of view. This case I would let it go and hoped he saw how silly it looked.
Well he did. It’s off. It lasted two days! It was painful for me too, thinking what if he keeps it.
He didn’t say anything to me.
And he did a beautiful job on it, exactly like he did with our barn.
And even better he came up with the idea for the FREE coasters here.
The bar stools were a heck of a deal. I got these last year from BJ’s Wholesale club for a whopping $29.98 each! The clearance at BJs is outstanding and you can follow along with it on this blog here.
Let me know what you think about this barnwood bar wall?!