GRASSCLOTH NAILHEAD PANELS TUTORIAL

Hey! As I promised here is the tutorial to the Nail head Grass cloth Panels. Let me first start by saying if you are going at this solo be prepared for it to take a lot longer than you anticipate, nailing in all those nail heads are very time consuming! I used around 4,000 nail heads! I know crazy! 

The first step was to gather my building materials which were:

1. Three sheets of 1/2 or 3/4 inch plywood 
2. Grass cloth wall paper,  (one roll)I used THIS stuff (HGTV Coastal Cool Grass cloth)
3. Wall Paper Adhesive ( I used This) bought from Walmart, I used almost 2
4. Nail Heads ( Got mine from eBay from THIS seller) 4,000!
5. Trim for the outsides, I got the cheapest stuff my local hardware store had
6. Primer In any color (it seal the plywood so that the wallpaper glue doesn't seep into the wood)
7. Brad Nails for applying the trim
8. Wood Filler
9. Wood Glue
10. Sandpaper
11. Paint for the trim
12. D rings for hanging the panels on the wall

Now the Application materials:  

1. Rubber Mallet
2. Felt tipped pen
3. Pattern ( I downloaded mine from Sarah off her blog HERE)
4. Lots of Patience and a pillow to rest your knees on

I got my plywood for free from Craigslist so I had to cut my own, two cut at 3feet wide, 6 feet tall and the other I just cut the length to 6 feet and kept the 4 feet as it came. I used my level to make sure that my line was straight before I cut it.

After I got my wood cut, I primed the side I was going to put the grass cloth on again so that the wallpaper glue stands on top of the wood and doesn't seep into the pores. After the primer was dry, I got out my wallpaper glue and applied it to the boards, then applied the grass cloth.
I carried inside and started on the first panel. Get your pattern and poke holes through the dots and lay it down on the panel and start getting the pattern on it, I learned it is much better if you copy down the pattern on the entire panel first before you start applying the nail heads.Oh and learn from my experience dont let anyone else try and help with coping the pattern ,its tedious and when your in the zone stay there! My dear hubby tried to help but kinda messed up...oh well..

After the pattern is down Start getting those nail heads in! This is the time consuming part but also very gratifying when you start seeing the nail heads make the pattern and come to life. Use a rubber mallet for this, a regular metal hammer will damage the nail-heads finish.

After all the nail heads are applied cut your trim to fit, Paint, then glue together the mitered edges and then apply to the outsides of your panels with brad nails. Fill in the holes where your brads are with wood filler, sand and touch up with paint. Apply your D rings to the back of the wood, make sure you put these baby's in studs cuz they are Heavy!! Hang up and your done! Wheww.. I would do it again because I LOVE them did I say LOVE!!!! them! I decided that I would hang a mirror I got from Target in the center of the center panel, It helps with my light issues (bounces the light off the panels) and it looks pretty too!

What do you guys think? Would you ever do a project like this? I cant help myself, when I see something that I totally love I have to give it a try! Thanks again Sarah for your inspiration! See you guys soon!