Adding a Little Quirk to Your Home {Yardstick Backpack Wall}

I am quirky…not in a freaky weird “hide your kids” kinda way.  But there are times I like random and different things.  I like adding an element of surprise to a room like a hidden jewelry cabinet, a cabinet that stores your measuring spoons, orhanging beds. I honestly think this 8’ x 5’ mudroom space in my house is my favorite.  I swear it is the BEST use of space I have ever done, being completely functional for my family.  And the quirky part?  The new yardstick board and batten wall I installed this week.

Since I can’t leave well enough alone I had to over-embellish this room just a little.  Because I can {smile}. I was looking through Better Homes and Garden’s DIY Magazine (I can’t remember which issue) and they had a whole slew of uses for yardsticks.  I fell in love with this wall and couldn’t get it out of my head.

Yardsticks, especially vintage ones, can be pricey.  You can expect to pay anywhere from $1-$4 for them.  The best place to buy a “lot” of them is on Ebay.  However thrift store, estate auctions, and flea markets are a great place too.  Since this wall was really small I ended up using 40 of them and paid about $100 for the wall collecting sticks for various places.  I know that is pricey for that small space but sometimes, I am willing to break the bank a bit for something I know I will love.

So all I did was cut them to size with my miter saw and then use my air nailer to nail them in place.  I decided not to use glue or caulk in case I ever want to remove them.  I mean who knows maybe I will staple old shoes up there one day.  Quirky right?  HAHA!  Just kidding!  I haven’t completely lost my mind.

You do want to use a level to make sure they are straight.  Putting up the board and batten and the yardsticks at the same time would be ideal so you can evenly space everything apart.  But since I already did the board and batten I had to make due. I had to rip some of the yardsticks with my table saw to fit them in the edges.  Here are some close-ups to see what I mean.

See how the one to the right is narrower than the others?

And the one to the left is narrower on this picture?

This last picture is all the way to the left on the wall.  I had to do some fancy cutting to make it fit.  You can see there are two narrow pieces of yardsticks in this batch.  It is kind of like “Where’s Waldo?”.  Where is the ripped yardstick?

Since this room is used 99% of the time by only our family I figured fun and quirk was perfect for this space.  On the gallery wall above is all personal things to our family.  I keep telling you I am going to show you how to make those arrows – I promise I will!

Oh and we got new flooring since you last saw this space.  We are now the proud “walker-onners” of some Pergo Max Providence Hickory floor courtesy of Lowes.  I will showcase those in a post all on its own soon.

I have trained my kids to drop their backpack on the two hooks (from DLawless Hardware) when they get home from school.  And miracle of all miracles I never find their backpack on the floor.  That is…unless they run in the house after school and have to pee really bad.  Not that that has ever happened…yesterday or anything.

So what do you think?  Too quirky for your home?  Or just perfect for mine?  Or both? 🙂

For more information on my mudroom check out these posts:

How To Build Mudroom Lockers for $400

Board and Batten Mudroom Wall

Mudroom Gallery Wall

Small Space Organization