DIY Faux Wood Wall Using Vinyl Flooring

I started seeing a trend in wood flooring being installed on walls.  I knew that I wanted to try this but on a much smaller scale and much cheaper than some people were doing it for.  I started to think about how I could get the same look without it costing a ton.  That is when it came to me that I should use vinyl flooring that looks like wood.  It is an inexpensive alternative yet it still gives the appearance of wood.  

There was a small wall in my bathroom behind the toilet that was a perfect place for this project.  As you can see the wall is kind of boring and there isn’t much personality to the area.  I know, I know…it’s just behind the toilet but it just needed something extra.

Now I hope you are actually reading this post instead of just looking at the pictures because at first this project was a major fail!  My initial thought was that since vinyl flooring is so light I could just use liquid nails to glue the pieces to the wall.  At first that seemed like no problem.  So I measured and cut the flooring to size then I put the glue on it and then used painters tape to hold it thinking that once it dried I could peel the tape off and it would adhere to the wall with no problems. Boy was I wrong.  

Almost immediately the vinyl flooring did not want to stay on the wall.  I thought oh let’s just add more tape to keep it in place.  I did that and it held for the most part but when I started to take the tape off I noticed that although the vinyl flooring was sticking it was not flush with the wall.  It was bowing out in several places.  Each piece had some bowing.

Now at this point I couldn’t just peel the flooring off the wall and say never mind to the whole project.  The vinyl was connected to the wall with liquid nails.  This is when my project turned from a “DIY” to a “DIY + ask my husband for help”.  He suggested that we use a finishing nail gun to help correct the bowing and to ensure that the pieces would not fall off over time.  Thankfully he saved this project.  It went from a total fail to wow I love how the wall looks.

I love to hear from you!  Please comment and share any tips or fails you have experienced as it relates to installing faux wood paneling.