The “What To Do With This Nook the OTHER 11 Months of the Year” Makeover

Renovation by: Courtney and Brent
Location: Houston, Texas

When we moved into our house there was one thing about our living room that bugged us. It was the inset in the wall next to the fireplace. It was intended for the TV but we knew how we wanted the room to “flow” and found it awkward to have the TV off center and next to the fireplace. So we set up the living room how we wanted it with the TV on the long wall and left that space empty. When Christmas came it became the perfect spot to put our Christmas tree but we were perplexed with what to do with the space the other eleven months of the year.

After a lot of brainstorming we came up with a great idea for the space. We decided to turn it into a reading nook. We love reading so we were excited about creating a cozy little spot where we could curl up and read. It also provides extra seating that we were lacking in the living room.

We wanted to try and make a pallet wall somewhere and thought since this wall is fairly small it would be the perfect place to try it. It also adds a focal point to the large area. We decided against wood that came directly from pallets and instead opted to buy the same type of wood but to cut, rough up and stain the wood ourselves so we could control exactly how they looked.

It took us two days but we got in a good rhythm of working on the wood wall. Brent would cut the wood, then I would hammer nails into it to make it look used and then he would rough it up and I would stain it. We created a pattern varying the size of the boards and the color of the boards to make it look random but also organized. The hardest part was definitely the top of the arch and cutting the boards to fit the shape. After the wall was finished, we installed a light fixture since the space did not originally have lighting in that area.

Then we built a custom bench that would double as a bookshelf to fit perfectly in the space and made a custom cushion to fit on top of it. We also painted the walls Sherwin-Williams Mindful Gray.

We love how the space turned out. It adds so much character and warmth to our living room. The whole project took us two weekends to complete and our budget was $500.00.

Our supplies included wood (pine) cut to various sizes, walnut stain, a new light fixture, custom made cushion (foam and fabric), six new pillows, wood for the custom made bench, electrical supplies to run light fixture to breaker box and Sherwin-Williams Mindful Gray to paint the walls.

Read more about the project on Courtney and Brent’s blog: Gray House Studio

Thanks, Courtney and Brent!

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