DIY Reclaimed Wood Bar

A huge thanks to Stikwood for providing makeover supplies for this project.

I remember the day I fell in love with old barns. I was eight and the girliest girly girl you’d probably ever meet. #GlitterAllTheThings

But there was this one old abandoned barn on a backroad near my house.

Whenever my mom and I drove by it on the way to my elementary school each day, I would wonder what it used to look like before the roof started caving in and the weeds started engulfing it.

Someone once loved that barn when they stepped back to admire their work after building it with their own two hands.

I asked my mom one day if we could stop and take a look inside and she looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Um… it’s probably filled with snakes and spiders.” Nevermind. Keep on driving! But I still loved it from afar.

Then the other day, I finally got a little piece of an old barn for our own house, and I fell in love all over again.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to fight the snakes and spiders to get this pretty reclaimed wood pile though. (So not happening!) We used Stikwood instead.

If you’ve never heard of it, it’s actual harvested reclaimed wood but with peel and stick adhesive. And it arrived inside of a box in a neat little stack like this:

I’d been wanting to try it out ever since I heard about it a year ago.

Way back in the beginning stages of planning our kitchen makeover, I knew I wanted some kind of wood on our bar / peninsula since I predicted kicking feet would constantly scuff and chip our cabinet paint.

UPDATE: See our full kitchen makeover reveal here!

And I wanted to break up all of that white a little bit to add some interest and texture while also tying in some of the brown tones in our wood beam doorway.

Supplies Used: (Affiliate links are provided below for convenience. For more information, see my full disclosure here.)

• Stikwood in Reclaimed Weathered Wood
• Jigsaw
• Square tool
• Rubber seam roller
• Tape measure
• Pencil
• Level

At first, Robert and I really didn’t plan ahead and just started peeling and sticking the wood where we liked it (we were um… a bit too excited), but once we got in our groove, we figured out it was best to alternate light and dark tones and try to alternate cuts.

It was really simple though. Whenever we needed to trim any of the wood planks, we just used the square tool to mark a straight line, and cut it with the jigsaw.

Then we just peeled the paper backing off of the adhesive strips and stuck them in place. They’re basically the most industrial stickers on the planet.

We used a roller to make sure the adhesive was completely pressed down. We didn’t have a rubber seam roller and just used a paint roller, but if you want to do it the technically correct way, the rubber one is the way to go. (Can you tell we so did not plan ahead for these DIY shenanigans?)

Every piece we put up, Robert and I just oohed and ahhed over it. It’s pretty cool to see all of the great textures up close.

And um… if you can’t tell, Robert was kind of proud of himself for how easy this one was. “I am Handyman. Hear me grunt.”

Now our bar is protected from swinging feet, and it looks extra rustic which is always a win in my book. If one day down the road we or our house’s future homeowners decide the reclaimed look needs to go, the wood can just be pried off since no nails were used.

I’m really hoping to install hardwood floors one of these days, since our vinyl really isn’t all that spectacular. But maybe we’ll make that Phase 2 down the road.

So now the next check on the list is to pick out bar stools, and then we’ll be very close to having this space done.

Yesterday, we were able to have our new stainless steel range delivered (30% off appliance sale at Lowe’s… woot woot!), so things are looking much more cohesive in here.

We still have a few leftover Stikwood pieces, so I’m already brainstorming ways to use them since ya know… reclaimed wood is too good to waste. Must. save. all. the. pretty. barns!

In case you missed any of the other kitchen makeover adventures in here, you can check out these previous posts and projects:

• Kitchen Makeover Plans and Mood Board
• DIY Industrial Pendant Lights
• Installing an IKEA Farmhouse Sink
• DIY Feather Finish Concrete Countertops
• How to Paint Kitchen Cabinets Like a Pro
• Faux Rusted Vintage Scale Makeover