Some people were born with the interior design gene… and others were not. If you’re doomed to always be rearranging items in your drab living room and scouring Pinterest for inspiration but never feeling like your home accurately reflects your personality, you may want to keep reading this article.
Reclaimed wood may just be the missing piece to your never-ending interior design puzzle. This adaptable and unique material can add character to your home in many ways, and one of the most popular ways is using reclaimed wood planks for walls!
Reclaimed Wood Planks: The Ultimate Accent Wall
If you want to change things up in your home design, you have many options to consider. You can change the paint, rearrange the furniture, update appliances, or add an accent wall. Accent walls are a fantastic way to breathe life into a room. You can accomplish an accent wall by:
- Painting a mural
- Applying wallpaper
- Adding peel-and-stick tiles
- Hanging many pictures as a gallery wall
- Building bookshelves
- Adding a large picture window
- Adding upholstery
Or, by adding wood paneling!
Sure, you can purchase fake laminate wood paneling or wood veneer sheets from the store, but these products often look cheap and don’t add value to your home. Instead, consider reclaimed wood wall planks.
You can cover an entire wall with reclaimed wood wall planks, or you can opt for strategic paneling in certain areas, such as the bottom half of the wall.
It’s usually best to use a certified installer to accurately add the wood panels to your wall. However, if you have the time, patience, and math skills, you can also attempt a DIY installation by lining up the panels across your wall and nailing them in.
What Makes Reclaimed Wood Different Than “Regular” Wood? ?
Instead of using virgin lumber that requires cutting down new trees, many people appreciate having the option to use reclaimed wood. Reclaimed wood is lumber that was used in buildings in the past and is now getting repurposed. It’s often sourced from:
- Barns (most common)
- Railroads
- Factories
- Shipyards
- Warehouses
- Boxcars
Additionally, reclaimed wood offers numerous benefits, including:
- Beautiful Appearance: There’s nothing quite like the antique and rustic character of reclaimed wood. Authentic barn wood is eye-catching and adds a level of elegance to your home. It looks far more expensive than it is!
- Environmentally-Friendly: Using reclaimed lumber lessens the need for cutting down newly-sourced wood. Overall, this helps limit deforestation. Reclaimed wood can get used again and again, so it’s far better for the earth than wood veneer.
- Durability: Reclaimed wood is considered to be “old growth” wood. This means the trees have reached their full maturity and are stronger than other types of newly-sourced wood.
- Increased Home Value: Unlike wood veneer, reclaimed wood has real aesthetic value. If you decide to sell your home in the future, the reclaimed wood featured in your home is a huge selling point and can even increase your resale value.
13 Different Types of Reclaimed Wood Used for Planks
There’s a whole world of possibilities when it comes to reclaimed barn wood paneling. While pretty much any kind of wood can be reclaimed, certain species are more popular than others. Here at Manomin Resawn Timbers, we offer an impressive 13 different options of reclaimed wood for wall paneling!
1) Weathered Antique
Weathered Antique wood offers an incredibly unique aesthetic for your home. You simply can’t recreate this look with veneer or laminate products. This paneling is sourced from softwoods in the 19th and early 20th centuries, ensuring you get a real piece of history in your home.
2) Platinum Gray
Grey wood is becoming more and more popular in modern homes. Using Platinum Gray wood on your walls will offer a bright, silver-gray tone to the room. This wood originally got its color from years of exposure to snow, sun, and wind.
3) Antique Oak
A mix of red and white oak barn wood comes together to create Antique Oak. You’ll get comforting gold tones from the white oak and a nice warm hue from the red oak in the mix. This product is more whimsical and ensures your home is one of a kind.
4) Antique Ash
Antique Ash is one of the most authentic barn wood wall paneling options out there. These barn timbers date back to the 19th century and feature many distinctive traits that you can’t recreate with a veneer product, such as:
- Mortise pockets
- Wormholes
- Peg holes
You simply can’t find wood like this today unless you get it reclaimed!
5) Reclaimed Douglas Fir
Douglas Fir was a popular material during the Industrial Revolution. Wall paneling made from this lumber suits almost any space and design pallet. Check out examples of compelling Douglas Fir walls and ceilings here.
6) Faded Red Barn Wood
Can you conjure up the image of a classic red barn? Well, Faded Red Barn Wood is made from wood that endured years and years of exposure to the elements. This exposure gave these beams a unique gray color with hints of red. Check out stunning examples here!
7) Antique Elm
Antique Elm has a classic light tan color with a striking grain pattern. You’ll even notice a beautiful shimmer that offers a great sheen. Plus, you’ll get rustic features like peg holes and mortise pockets.
8) Antique Mixed Hardwoods
When you opt for Antique Mixed Hardwoods, you get a special combination of:
- Ash
- Elm
- Maple
- And sometimes, a mystery board!
These mixes offer a charming texture that set your walls and ceiling apart from anything else.
9) Antique Wormy Chestnut
There’s an interesting story behind Antique Wormy Chestnut panels. “Wormy” chestnut trees were a type of American Chestnut tree that was damaged by small insects that chewed pin-sized holes in the wood.
Thanks to our rigorous process at MR Timbers, you won’t be welcoming any little critters into your home with a Wormy Chestnut purchase. But instead, you’ll be getting rich earth tones and timeless patterns.
10) Heart Pine
All of our Heart Pine planks are sourced directly from Southern Yellow Pine boards used to construct textile mills in the southern states. If you want a classic aged look in your home, you’ll enjoy the amber patina on these panels.
11) Timber Tile
If you want a rustic feel, Timber Tile panels could be exactly what you’re looking for. These panels have a variety of tones to create an organic, natural feel.
12) Shou Sugi Ban
Now, if you want your home to be the pinnacle of luxury, look no further than Shou Sugi Ban. This striking product is created by burning and charring the wood. This process makes the wood more fire, rot, and insect-resistant. Shou Sugi Ban not only makes great indoor paneling, but it’s also popular to use on home exteriors as well.
13) Weathered Gray Barnwood
Last but not least, our final wood species offering is Weathered Gray Barnwood. With the gray tone that suits many modern designs and the rustic charm of a unique wood grain, this is a fantastic versatile option for many different designs and styles.
Find Out How Reclaimed Wood Can Bring Your Walls to Life ?
Whether you want to create one accent wall in your living room or bedroom, or if you want to incorporate reclaimed wood throughout your home, Manomin Resawn Timbers is your one-stop-shop.
We provide wood paneling options in the 13 species listed above, and we also offer products for flooring, mantels, box beams, doors, and more! Every piece of wood goes through our detailed process of de-nailing, kiln drying, and milling.
If you’re ready to learn more about how reclaimed wood can transform your home design, visit our showroom in Hugo, MN, or request a free quote online today!