75 modern options for using old boards in the interior

Modern interiors amaze with their diversity and unusualness. Every day designers come up with new and new “tricks” and subtleties. One of them is decorating the room with old boards. This technique makes the interior more comfortable, mysterious, and unique. The cracks, chips, and traces of nails on them amaze the imagination and stimulate one to solve the mystery: who and where did this building material serve before, how old is it? Old boards in the interior will ideally complement such styles as country, shabby chic, loft.

Option for using old boards in the interior

Room design with old boards

Old boards in the interior of the apartment

Fashion trend or tradition?

Currently, it is fashionable to introduce wood into the interior of a room. It fits well when decorating houses, apartments, offices of reputable companies, and restaurants. Old boards are valued among experienced designers; with their help, you can create several interior options, especially since in the 21st century everything antique, rare, and exclusive is valued.

Every owner wants his home to be different from others and is looking for his own style and interesting decor options. Moreover, they began to decorate homes with wood many centuries ago. With his help, the atmosphere was cozy and warm.

Beautiful design with old boards

Modern room interior with old boards

A new wooden house always had a delightful aroma of fresh wood and resin. But it became truly lived-in and family-friendly after a few years, when the room acquired its own special smell, the wood was painted several times, and had chips and cracks. Returning to such a house, the individual was always immersed in pleasant memories filled with the smell of pies, warmth and comfort. Even the creaking of the floorboards is pleasant to the ear.

Option for using old boards in the interior

Room design with old boards

It is always sad to demolish the houses of grandparents, since modern plastic, glass, metal, concrete can never replace wood. Modern glamor is undoubtedly beautiful and luxurious, but emotionally empty. Therefore, at the end of the 20th century, eco-style and vintage became popular.

Thanks to the presence of this material, the “soul”, the harmonious existence of man and nature, began to appear in the modern interior.

Most people, having built their house from scratch, try to make it a family nest, where everything is individual and unique.

Beautiful design with old boards

Modern room interior with old boards

Looking at a wall made from old boards, questions involuntarily arise about their past life, where the cracks appeared on them. Maybe they were dried out by the sun or cracked by sea water, or maybe. They were simply attacked by a common bark beetle. There are no answers to all these questions, all that remains is to fantasize. New owners always try to treat them more carefully than in their previous life.

Option for using old boards in the interior

Room design with old boards

Old boards in the interior of the apartment

See alsoShabby chic style in the interior

Finishing

After the product is assembled, it must be processed.
Treatment is necessary so that the product is resistant to the external environment and lasts many times longer than without treatment. Processing a product means sanding it and then opening it with varnish . Most often, sanding and varnishing are done several times for greater reliability.

We invite you to admire the possible results of the work:

Application options

Old boards are very relevant for creating interiors for modern designers. There are a lot of application options:

Decorating an entire wall.
Decorating part of the wall as a bright accent or functional area.

Both of the above options combine 2 functions: they are a finishing element and fully replace finishing materials such as wallpaper, plaster, paint. But for everything to work out organically, you need to very carefully select a combination of tones and shades.

Beautiful design with old boards

Modern room interior with old boards

Full or partial flooring.
Podium selection.
Furniture elements made from old boards: door, bar counter, partition.
Furniture accessories: shelf, table, stool, panel, photo frame.

Interior items created from boards of different shades and sizes look beautiful and unusual.

Option for using old boards in the interior

Room design with old boards

Old boards in the interior of the apartment

See also: Lining in the interior: types, tips, photos.

What styles allow wall decoration with boards and what does it look like?

We will send the material by email

Today, wall decoration with boards is very popular. She helps create different interiors, but they have one thing in common - a love for nature, for everything natural. The article will discuss what types of finishing boards exist, and the choice of which styles can justify the use of wood.

Subtleties and recommendations for design

Although old wood is very valuable, not every tree is valuable. It is not enough to tear down a long-built fence in a country house and sell the material as unique.

Basic recommendations

Old boards in the interior are good, but in reasonable quantities. Finishes or objects should not attract unnecessary attention. Wood should not be conspicuous; it is necessary to create a certain style, organically fitting into it. When designing, you need to pay special attention to the thickness, size, shade, and possible pattern of the working material.
Experienced designers do not recommend decorating the entire perimeter of the room with wood. It is better to choose 1-2 large elements, then complement the finished interior with accessories. This could be the frame of a massive mirror, a wardrobe, a table, or a headboard. If you overdo it, then when examining the room you will get the impression of a cluttered corner.
To prevent the design from becoming too gloomy, during the renovation process you can use good textiles and some modern finishing materials.
A brick wall will look great against the background of antique surfaces.

These are the basic recommendations; you don’t have to follow them all at once; a balance is needed, which manifests itself in the process of working on the style.

Beautiful design with old boards

Modern room interior with old boards

Tools

Our very first purchase to turn the model into reality was a router. My husband already had all the other tools. Here is a complete list of what was ultimately needed:

Fraser. In our case, it was used for processing edges (in principle, it replaced a plane), cutting grooves for connecting parts and recesses in doors for glass. We bought a Makita cordless router and, in addition, batteries with a charger. Yes, surprisingly, they are not included in the kit and had to be purchased separately. In theory, these batteries are universal and fit other tools of the same brand, but we didn’t have any other tools. We spent 18,089 RUR on the router, a set of batteries + charger + MakPac case cost 11,999 RUR.

Jigsaw. I think everything is clear here; a jigsaw is convenient for sawing small boards. We had such a thing; we didn’t have to buy anything else.

Cordless circular saw. It is much easier to cut long boards with a saw; the cut area is noticeably smoother and cleaner. There was already one too. However, its batteries run out pretty quickly, and my husband decided to order more capacious ones from Aliexpress for RUR 2,968.18.

Screwdriver. Indispensable if you need to tighten screws or drill holes. A screwdriver is often needed on the farm and has already been used.

Grinder machine. It’s much more pleasant when the wood is smooth and even, without the risk of running your hand and getting a splinter. I had a corded random orbital sander from the same company as the router, which does an excellent job with such tasks.

Clamps. To ensure that the parts are pressed well against each other during gluing, they can be clamped with a clamp. They are different: quick-clamping, tape, F-shaped, angular, in general, countless for completely different tasks. To glue the doors we needed strips 4.5 m long, they charged 2070 RUR with delivery. Such clamps are corners connected by a tape to a clamping screw. With the help of such a thing, you can evenly distribute the compressive load over the entire surface of the elements that are attracted. The cafe door is actually a frame with glass. First, the frame elements are glued together, and then they are grabbed around the perimeter with a clamp and clamped so that the boards are pressed tightly against each other. When the glue dries, the clamp can be removed.

Tape measure, square and pencil. There was no need to buy irreplaceable things when you need to measure and mark something.

The tools also require consumables:

Milling cutters for router. They vary depending on the purpose. In our case, straight mortise saws were used to straighten the edges after cutting and to cut grooves and tenons. A set of AEG cutters of 12 pieces cost 4474 RUR. In fact, it is better to buy cutters separately: not all of them from the set are needed, but on the contrary, it would be better to have several of them.
Jigsaw files. We had several files, but in the process they often break and become dull, so we had to buy more. 2 × 490 R = 980 R.
Set of bits and drills for a screwdriver. There already were and, fortunately, we managed to get by with the existing ones.
There was also a saw for the cordless saw.
Set of sanding discs. I used discs with grits of 400, 500 and 1000 for grinding, they cost 120 R + 120 R + 240 R = 480 R.
Corners for attaching cabinets to the wall. 154 R for 4 pieces.
Self-tapping screws. They were used to fasten door hinges, back walls, corners - 124 rubles.
Euroscrews and eccentrics. For hidden fastenings of planks and connecting cabinet walls. We bought packs of 100 pieces at once: 789.60 R + 1055.30 R = 1844.9 R. In principle, you can find cheaper ones in Leroy, but according to reviews they crumble right in your hands, so we ordered stronger Italian ones.
Glue. To glue the doors we used Titebond Transparent II. For 8 doors it took half a bottle of the smallest volume - 237 ml. The cost of a can of glue is 410 RUR.

Each room has its own board

Room	Recommendations
Living room	This is exactly the room where a whole wall made of old boards would fit perfectly. Its understated beauty, worn and cracked, will be a great addition to modern furniture and accessories. You can also make the floor out of wood and decorate it with a Persian rug. Every living room should have a large mirror. It is ideally complemented by a massive frame made of aged material.
Bedroom	When decorating a bedroom, everything is much simpler. You can make the headboard of the bed, the dressing table “old,” and place several decorative beams on the walls or ceiling. If you don’t skimp on lighting fixtures, buy good ceiling lamps; their light will highlight all the scuffs and cracks.
Kitchen	Traditionally, cabinet fronts, chairs, and stools are made from aged specimens.
Cabinet	A place where a board in the interior will only inspire, put the owner in a working mood, and in the evening relax, immerse in an atmosphere of reflection.

Option for using old boards in the interior

Room design with old boards

Old boards in the interior of the apartment

Installed parameters

Its application depends on the characteristics of the unedged board. Most often, these products are distinguished by length and thickness. The first parameter depends on the size of the sawn log and, generally, ranges from two to six and a half meters. However, it all depends on the height of the tree, and the board can be much longer.

The second ranges from 16 to 90 millimeters and depends on the type of wood being cut and the purpose of the board during construction. The width for this type of timber does not matter and is not a standard, since the edge when sawing it is not adjusted to the established dimensions.

How to get special finishing material

It can be found almost everywhere. You can get it from most individuals at their dacha or country house. If there are no suitable options, then you can purchase them at specialized construction stores. All old boards come from Europe, so you need to be prepared for the price to be quite high. There are also advantages to the purchase: 100% quality guarantee, the material has passed all stages of preparation, and is absolutely safe. You can also age the surface yourself, but this requires special tools and working material.

Beautiful design with old boards

Modern room interior with old boards

Old boards in the interior are becoming more popular every day because of their versatility. They fit organically into any style, emphasizing it favorably. Additionally, its advantages include environmental friendliness and a unique feeling of relaxation and tranquility.

See alsoWhite plinth in the interior: photos, tips

How we made our own solid oak cabinets

Our small family - my husband, me and our one-year-old son managed to move to a new apartment just before the start of self-isolation. Before we moved in, we bought all the necessary furniture such as wardrobes and a kitchen. But in addition to clothes and dishes, numerous trinkets, dust collectors and 8 boxes of books moved with us. And all this also had to be placed somewhere.

I really wanted solid wood furniture, but it turned out to be not so easy to find something worthwhile, even to order and for a reasonable price. In the end, we decided that why not try to buy oak and assemble cabinets of the required size and design ourselves.

Tree in the living room

One of the modern trends is the use of environmentally friendly natural materials in interior decoration. The living room is no exception to the general rule. Wood, in addition to its decorative function, helps to divide the room into zones. Here is just a small part of the design ideas for the most formal room in the apartment:

Finishing of one of the walls with noble wood;
Use of wooden flooring;
Carved wooden products in the interior;
Decorating the living room with wooden cuts.

Another advantage of the material is that it goes well with various materials, such as glass or leather. Let's consider options for different styles in which wood is a mandatory attribute:

Classic. Wall decoration with wooden panels fits well into the classic concept. Furniture in dark colors is also made from solid wood. Decoration with carvings is welcome.
Provence - the use of wooden furniture in light colors, vintage design.
American style - a combination of ceiling beams, columns and a massive staircase.
Chalet, country. This design is decorated with logs or beams, without a hint of any processing.
Scandinavian style - the use of beams and (or) painted lining. Often white walls contrast with dark wood floors.

Artificial stone in the interior - 50 photo ideas

conclusions

As a result, we spent RUB 178,284.68 on two cabinets. And more than six months from the beginning of the idea to the final implementation. In terms of money, it still turned out cheaper than ordering a dream closet - about twice as much. Plus we gained invaluable experience and entertainment for the weekend. And a little more home fitness: after a particularly hard weekend, the muscles of my arms and legs, and sometimes my back, were quite sore. In addition, the spare oak panels were not useful and now we are planning to make a desk out of them. Small scraps can also be used for some crafts or small things like a spice box or toys.

Housing. A section for those who rent or buy an apartment, make renovations, or simply arrange their home life

Surface finishing

The design of the walls, floor and ceiling plays a key role in shaping the visual perception of the room. Don't forget that vintage bedroom interiors are the epitome of charm and romance.

The walls are traditionally finished in pastel colors that do not irritate the eye. Ivory, snow-white, apricot and blue-gray finishes are considered favorable for perception.

The most suitable finishing material is antique textile-based wallpaper with gilding or bronze patterns.

The walls can also be painted, the main thing is that the color is not flashy. Avoid acidic shades, because they negatively affect sleep; it’s difficult to relax in a room with bright walls.

Laminate and parquet boards are most often used as flooring.

Shabby parquet in combination with light wallpaper on the walls will help create a cozy image of the room.

Other interior elements

The use of unedged boards does not end on the headboard and tables. Use your imagination to the fullest and create unique pieces of furniture that will become the highlight of a modern interior.

Living furniture from unedged boards Living furniture from unedged boards Living furniture from unedged boards Living furniture from unedged boards Living furniture from unedged boards Living furniture from unedged boards Living furniture from unedged boards Living furniture from unedged boards Living furniture from unedged boards Living furniture from unedged boards

Assembly

Assembly took the longest. We probably spent a total of 5 months on it from September to January. At the same time, we actually worked on cabinets only on weekends, and even then not always. So if you have free time, everything can be done much faster. All work was done right in the apartment, in a separate room. Our house has fairly good sound insulation, so the neighbors were not affected. By the way, in Moscow there are a sufficient number of workshops where you can come with your material and use different machines and tools, and if everything is not so good with sound insulation, then you can go to such places. But we were lucky and we combined regular home rest with carpentry work.

The first thing to start assembling the cabinet was cutting the oak panel into long boards for the frame, shelves and doors. At first, my husband sawed with a jigsaw, but the cut was not very “clean” and then he had to go through it with a router to even out the edges. Later, my husband sawed with a circular saw - it was a little slower, but noticeably smoother. As soon as the boards for the frame were ready, we tried them on where we planned to install the finished cabinets and decided on the height. It turned out 2 m 70 cm.

Then we drilled holes in the boards for Euroscrews and assembled the frame “black” in order to fit the boards together and mill them where the joints were not very smooth. If the shield was cut on machines, and not by hand, this would not have to be done: all the boards would be perfectly identical. But in our case we had to mark with a pencil which board should be in which place.

Then the frames were disassembled back, and I sanded them with a machine. Sanding takes place in several stages: first you need to walk with a damp cloth, then sand with coarse sandpaper. Then go over again with a damp cloth to lift up the stuck-on pile and sand again. Then take a sandpaper with a smaller grain size and repeat again. I finished sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper when the wood felt no different to the touch after a damp cloth than when sanded dry. Once the surface is well sanded, it can be coated with oil. I covered it in two layers with a soft cloth. Drying time is several hours. As soon as the frame is dry, it is finally assembled and secured with corners to the wall.

After the frame, it was time for the shelves. Everything is simple here: the necessary holes for the shelf holders were drilled before assembly, all that remained was to insert them and place them on top of the shelf. The shelves also need to be sanded and coated with oil.

Next were the small strips around the edges. It was possible to do without them, but this makes the cabinets look more massive and interesting. They were also hiddenly secured with euroscrews and eccentrics, sanded and coated with oil.

The final and probably most difficult stage is the doors. At first we wanted to make solid doors at the bottom and glass doors at the top. But the closet stood for quite a long time without any doors at all, and was already filled with books and all sorts of small things, and we got so used to its appearance that we decided to make the lower doors glass as well. As a result, all the doors were made according to a similar pattern: each consists of a frame with glass fixed inside. The frame is 4 planks glued together. First, my husband cut out the strips of the required size, 32 pieces in total. Then I milled grooves and tenons into them for gluing.

Once all the planks are adjusted to each other, it’s time to glue. We bought 2 clamps, so we glued 2 doors at a time and tightened them with a clamp. After a couple of hours, as soon as the glue has dried and the wood has set, the clamp can be removed and the next door glued. It takes about a day for the glue to dry completely. After the glue has dried, you need to cut off the remaining glue with a knife and sand it. Without special machines, using hand tools, it is very difficult to make the frames the same. They were glued together with a reserve, and then aligned with a router. For the glass in them, a quarter was selected using the same router. Sanding the doors took me the most time: firstly, it was necessary to clean the wood from glue residues; secondly, make sure that the joint is tactilely invisible. And thirdly, sanding thin planks is generally harder than sanding a large wide board.

After the frames were sanded and oiled, my husband hinged them to the cabinet frame and installed the glass. They decided to secure the glass on the inside with small oak strips.

Family tree

Placing a family tree in the interior is an excellent solution for those who like to decorate the room with family photos. Combining photographs or portraits from different times and eras into a single tree with numerous branches is a great way to create a unique design with family history. Here are some interesting ideas for decorating a room with the best photos from the family archive:

A drawn tree with connections between relatives. The photo frames are also drawn, and the photographs themselves are glued to them.
A great family tree for those who can draw. Each family member is depicted in the attire of his era. You can order an image from a professional artist. The resulting giant painting will be a real work of art.
Photos made in retro style. This is a great option for decorating a classic style dining room.

These are just some ideas of a family tree. Other options are also possible. In any case, this is a great alternative to the usual family album. This is a great idea not only for the living room, but also for the nursery. While playing, the child gradually learns the history of the family and types of family ties.

#1 Battery painting

The design of radiators painted in the same tone as the walls looks stylish and solid if the room is made in a deep and rich color. And in a small room without windows, a bright radiator spot can be a good accent, distracting from various shortcomings of the room.

#01 is a rainbow, not an LGBT flag. There is no, once again NO, blue color on the LGBT flag! All colors except blue.

But the primary task of the radiator is to heat the room, so the layer of paint applied should be small. First, all preliminary layers are removed. The battery needs to be polished to a shine for better adhesion of the metal to the paint. To do this, the old coating is first scraped off with a knife and then sanded with sandpaper. Next, a degreaser and primer are applied with a brush, carefully going through all the cavities and bends.

#02

Remember! The better the surface is cleaned and the more thoroughly the primer is applied, the better and more durable the paint will be.

#03

Paint it in the summer when it is cold, otherwise the paint may change color or even crack

The most crucial moment is to apply the main color to the battery yourself. Anti-corrosion paints are chosen for painting. The jar or can must indicate that the paint can withstand surface heating up to a temperature of 80 °C, that is, they are approved for use in heating appliances. European companies produce paints that can withstand heating up to 160 °C. You can also purchase special enamel marked “for radiators.”

#04

To paint batteries use:

• quick-drying water-based paint that does not have a strong odor and does not change color when heated;
• acrylic enamel, applied without primer, adding gloss and maintaining a fresh look for a long time;
• alkyd enamel, which protects the surface well and does not change the structure when heated.

#05

Before processing batteries and painting them, you need to lay any protective covering on the floor: old newspapers or cellophane film. You can also cover the wall behind the radiator so as not to stain the pasted wallpaper. The choice of color is the prerogative of the owner. Whatever advice fashionable home designers give, you should choose the decor that will be pleasant to see every day. Whether the radiators are plain or any color of the rainbow. Examples of such homemade heating radiator decor can be seen in the photo.