RPG Basement

Now that we added rock spots wherever needed and painted/ texturized all the walls, we get to add wood panels to complete the look.

Before we get to add the wood to the room, we have to stain the not so pretty 2x4s;

Step1) Buy the lowest grade 2x4 studs

Step 2) Pick out a stain color

Step 3) Wear protective gloves

Step 4) Stain the boards

Step 5) Rip your gloves

Step 6) Buy better gloves

Step 7) Stain more boards

Step 8) Get a nasty sunburn - optional

When we got our haul of stuff, we grabbed a bunch of standard grade construction framing 2x4s. In addition, we made sure to pick the boards with the most imperfections to add even more character to the process.

For the stain color, we opted for something dark and easy to apply. We ended up with Minwax Wood Finish in Jacobean an oil-based interior wood stain that promised one coat application and relatively quick drying time.

An old t-shirt ripped into rags served as an application tool for the stain which worked great. What didn't work so great were the vinyl gloves I wore, as they tore much too quick, and left me with rather stained hands. The second time around I wore thick dish gloves with much higher success.

The sunburn is optional for all but the pasty sun-sensitive shade dweller that is me!

After staining for what felt like forever, we had to wait for the stain to dry!

Fast forward to a fully painted room and well measured, and cut boards that were eager to find their place on the walls.

We stayed with the simple approach and used 2.5-inch drywall screws to get the board on the wall. As they are purely decorative I decided to stay low key, and 2 screws per board were more than enough.

First, we added the vertical boards.