This weekend, we installed a horizontal plank wall in our mudroom closet area! I was super excited to do this, because I am in love with the look of a white plank wall, especially in a laundry or mudroom. So clean looking!

In this post, we’ll share an overview of the steps we took. But, we followed a couple of great tutorials on installing plank walls from the House of Smiths  and Wood Grain Cottage.

The Planks

We bought some 1/4 inch utility plywood panels from Lowe’s. We had to buy 4 sheets (about $15 each) to cover the entire closet area (including the ceiling). We cut the plywood sheet into 6″ strips, but you can also have Lowe’s do this for you. Next, we cut the lengths to size. Before installing, I highly recommend that you sand the sides of your plank pieces to give them a smoother edge.

Installing the Plank Wall

We started installing the planks at the ceiling, making sure the first board was level. We used nickels as spacers between the planks, because they happen to be the perfect size for creating a plank wall gap. Here is a picture of the planks installed in the closet.

plank wall

Prepping for Paint

We filled the nail holes with some lightweight spackling paste, and lightly sanded the plank walls once the spackling had dried. Next, we put on a coat of primer.

primed plank wall

That’s all we had time for this past weekend, but now we can really start to see what the end result will look like, and I love it! We’ll finish painting it this week, grout the floor tiles, and then start installing the mudroom bench next.  The plank wall only cost us about $75. Having a place in the very near future for the kids to put their shoes and backpacks, priceless!

UPDATE: See more progress here!