Rustic Wood Kitchen Ceiling

One of my favorite things about our small home is the amount of character we added to the home when we renovated three years ago. The kitchen/dining room ceiling received a new and rustic look by planking reused wood boards. 

When we bought our home, things were a bit outdated and definitely needed some love. However, the ceiling wasn't originally on that demo list. There was a small wall that separated the kitchen from the dining room and after tearing down the wall, the ceiling tiles came with it too. The dining room ceiling held plastic sheets and the kitchen had small white cardboard tiles. You can see the entire "before" of these spaces here. 

We didn't have much money to pay for drywall and we wanted something that added warmth and character to the space. Our solution... wood boards (aka: "copper box"). My husbands family business receives large shipments, which arrive in large wooden boxes. The wood boxes are then broken apart and are left over rough wood boards. Great for misc projects- like our ceiling dilemma. After the kitchen ceiling came down, the rustic wood boards went up.

We planed the rough boards flat and jointed up the edges. After applying a couple coats of Minwax Stain in Dark Walnut, they were ready for a new life! We nailed up the boards to the rafters and didn't bother sealing the boards. I love the extra texture and interest it adds to the ceilings now. It completed the vision we wanted, was affordable and effective!

Having a similar ceiling dilemma or just wanting to add some texture to your space? Maybe planking your ceiling is the answer. We did the same thing in our small bathroom but instead of staining the boards for the rustic warmth, we whitewashed them... accidentally. I was planning on painting them full white but after accidentally using the cheap white ceiling paint from Walmart, the paint didn't quite cover the boards fully. This left us with a whitewash look, which showed the grain of the boards and I loved the result! 

Thanks for all your sweet words and compliments on the exciting news of us moving the other day. We're extremely excited to get the ball rolling and to see what kind of character we can add to our blank slate! 

Hugs, Alyssa