I love to repurpose items and turn them into something new. In this case, two of my boys had messed with their bamboo blinds so much that they were falling apart. I was just going to throw them away and then as I looked at the lovely grain of the bamboo slats I thought, “Maybe I can do something with these.” My daughter and I had already begun a bathroom remodel project and we had wanted to do a pallet wall behind the toilet, but we found there just wasn’t enough room behind it. But, as I looked at these very thin bamboo planks I thought that they just might do the trick.
The idea of a Bamboo accent wall was born.
Bamboo Blinds
In order to do this project, I needed to take apart the blinds first. I had measured and was pretty sure it was going to be a close fit to cover the entire wall so I was very careful to get as many usable boards as I could. If you know yours won’t cover all of the wall you can just plan on a half wall of bamboo and add paint or a chair rail to dress up the remaining portion.
A good idea at the beginning is to paint your wall the color of your bamboo. This will help hide any cracks that show between the planks.
Besides the bamboo planks, I also had some of the long bamboo sticks that went between them in the blinds.
You will need something to trim the bamboo to the right size. (I used clippers because mine was thin enough for that to work.)
You will also need construction adhesive for sticking the bamboo planks to the wall. I ended up adding wood glue for extra security. You should also have a damp cloth for wiping off any excess adhesive or glue that seeps out as you press the planks to the wall. Be sure to read the instructions on your adhesive. Mine required good ventilation and gloves during use.
I first glued the bamboo sticks into the corners to give me a sharp working edge. I knew that my planks, when cut in half, were just shy of filling the whole wall so this avoided having a gap and extended the coverage I could achieve. If your planks are longer you could save this step for last and use it to cover your ends instead of having the ends butt up against it.
Contrary to popular belief, walls are not perfectly straight. The top 2 feet of my wall angled in so I had to adjust each plank as I put it in. Having as many cut to length as you can beforehand can really save time. I tried to avoid gaps as much as I could so I was very precise when I made my cuts.
My favorite method for applying the adhesive ended up being in a zig-zag across the wall, doing only about 6 inches at a time so it didn’t dry out before I was using it. I would then prepare 5-6 planks with wood glue and place them over the adhesive. At this point shifting of the boards to minimize gaps is a good idea. Because, in addition to the walls not being perfectly straight, the boards are not perfectly straight either. There may be some small gaps, but try to make these as small as possible. Many times, the glue will seep through the cracks as you are adjusting it, and now is a good time to clean it up, before it hardens. Continue in this process all the way down, trimming boards as necessary. I regularly readjusted previously placed planks until they dried.
You may want to consider starting from the bottom as then the planks have something to rest on and slipping would be minimized. In the video, I start at the top, but after thinking about it I am sure the bottom would have been a better choice. The process is the same either way.
After all your planks are up and the glue is dry you have the option of applying wood filler to any large cracks.
Hopefully, this gave you some inspiration for repurposing projects you can do in your house and will help to keep more items out of the landfill.
