DIY Reclaimed Wood Kitchen Backsplash
When we moved into our house, we basically gutted the entire thing. We replaced the floors, blinds, countertops, baseboards, painted the cabinets, and had the walls repainted. After all the changes, the house was looking much better. The kitchen still needed something to make it ours. It didn’t have backsplash, and my wife insisted the bare walls needed something with personality.
The perfect opportunity came along when a neighbor was taking down their mother-in-law’s old wooden fence. My wife managed to snag a big stack of the weathered boards. They had just the kind of aged character she was hoping for.
Obviously you can’t just nailgun dusty old fence boards to your kitchen wall, so we took some steps to clean it up and make it kitchen-wall ready.
Skill Level: Intermediate
Estimated Time: 3-5 days
Reclaimed wood backsplash
Materials Needed:
Reclaimed wood boards
Air compressor
Wire brush
Jointer
Chopsaw
Sandpaper
Polyurethane
Nail gun and nails
Handsaw
Hammer
Miter saw
Replacement outlet/switch covers
Steps:
Deep Clean - We blew off the loose dust with an air compressor, then used a wire brush to scrub the wood grain clean, and finished off with another blast of air once the wire brush loosened the dirt.
Uniform Height - We ran each board through a jointer to flatten the top and bottom edges and make them all the same height (3 inches).
Cut to Size - We used a chopsaw to cut the boards into varying lengths for a staggered look.
Sanding - just a light touch was needed at this poiont to get rid of any splinters.
Seal & Protect - My wife added 3 layers of polyurethane on each piece to make the boards easy to wipe clean - essential for kitchen backsplash.
Installation - Using a nail gun, I secured the boards behind the sink and oven, tapping them snug with a hammer and trimming pieces as needed to fit around outlets and edges.
Finishing Touches - I mitered the edge pieces for a clean finish and sswapped out the light switch and outlet covers to match.
And that’s it! The result was beautiful, unique, and functional backsplash that gives our kitchen the rustic charm my wife dreamed of. It felt good to give an old stack of fence wood some new life as one of our favorite features in our home.
