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How To Make A Wood Fence Board Countertop

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 Today I want to show you

How To Make a Wood Fence Board Countertop.

Or as we like to call it, “The great laminate cover-up”.How To Make a Wood Fence Board Countertop - Laminate Counter Cover Up - foxhollowcottage.com DIY Tutorial

One day, my hubby and I got the wild idea to install some repurposed wood countertops on the bar in our sun room [click here for the reveal]. We wanted to cover up the ugly laminate counter that was there with some cool old fence boards we had been hanging on to!

I promised to show you how we did it, so… 

This Is How We Did It

How to cover up a ugly laminate countertop -diy wood counter

See? UGLY.

Vanilla, Laminate & Boring.

We gathered the *fence boards and decided which ones we wanted to use. We gave them a good cleaning! We dry scrubbed a ton with a stiff brush, then blew them off with the air compressor. The we dry fit them to figure out what fit best where.

DRY FITTING: checking for placement and making adjustments before adhering in place.

*These boards are really rough, but we don’t eat at this counter so it works for us. It holds home decor only. When I want to use it as a buffet during events, I simply cover it with plastic tablecloths, then layer my pretty ones on top!

If you wanted to duplicate this but use it to prepare food on, you would want to use boards that are smoother, and with tighter joints for cleaning purposes. Then you would want to seal them with a few good coats of poly, or maybe a marine sealer (water proof). You might even go so far as to fill the joints/spaces between the boards.

But back to the project… after the dry fitting step, and making sure everything was right where we wanted it, we nailed the boards right into the laminate. Bam. Done.

As you can see we used a nail gun. If you don’t have one, you could pre-drill, then nail and finish with a nail set if you wanted the nails just a pinch below the surface of your wood.

Dry fitting and installing fence board wood countertops

We have an outlet down below the counter, so I had Jim drill out a hole through the wood and laminate so I could plug in a lamp or little white lights at Christmas. Again, we were not concerned with the original counter. If and when we tire of the fence board look, we’ll replace it with something new… or tear it out altogether! Who knows?

DIY Wood Coutnertop - Pilot Hole Spade Drill Bit For Lamp Cord Checking Fit

We drilled a pilot hole, then used a 1.5 inch Spade Drill Bit to make this hole. Perfect fit!

The backside of the counter is visible when you go up or down the stairs, so Jim finished the backside and the underside of the countertop with a thin stripe that pops up under the face.

DIY fence board counter install

 Sweet. He’s hired!!

Back View - DIY Wood Countertop - Underside, Coming Up On The Stairs

Now, this is not perfect… but it’s not meant to be.

Though it feels perfect to us.

DIY Repurposed Wood Fence Board Counter Top Tutorial - Aqua Shabby Chippy Rustic Home Decorating - foxhollowcottage.com

After we added the counter, we decided to use the space under the counter too and added a double set of shelves [click here]. They hold so much! I’m so glad we took advantage of this dead space.

I still haven’t made the curtains to cover them. I am so fired! hahaha.

I’ll get to them before my nieces shower though. I have too.

.

How To Build A Repurposed Wood Countertop - DIY tutorial - foxhollowcottage.com

 

I sure enjoyed getting to show you how to make a wood fence board countertop!

It’s so fun repurposing and upcycling for thrifty solutions for our home.

Z Shannon

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UPDATED: The “new” counter, ready for the Bridal Shower [click here]

bridal shower ideas pretty practical games food decor

For a tiny peek at how our countertop looks now [click here]

Vintage Cottage Kitchen Tour - full of thrifted and DIY projects - Spring at foxhollowcottage

Another “Fence Board” Project – Our Planked Wall [click here] 

Low Cost Wood Plank Wall Treatment DIY Home Improvement

Comments

  1. My husband and I were talking about doing something like this just today; I didn’t look anything up I thought I we would just wing it…I hadn’t been on your blog in a few weeks and what have you posted the same exact thing we were planning on doing with a much better plan than we had! 😀 Thanks!

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    Have a wonderful week!
    Hugs, Cathy

  3. Nothing wrong with eating on it. I would seal the crap out of it and use this on my main counter. SO IN LOVE with this!! XO

  7. This is such an awesome project, Shannon! I love the color you painted it as well! Have a great weekend!!~~Angela

  9. Ok Shannon this is one of my favorite things you have done. Wow Wow I love this. So fantastic and so beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
    Kris

    • Thanks so much. It is one of our favorite smaller projects that made such difference in the feel of the house. Jim and I both really like it (:

    • Thanks Susan! We moved from a much larger house and we are all about using every little spot in this one up! lol (:

  11. That project is impressive. What a team you and your husband make. The counter looks absolutely beautiful even with the minor imperfections which by the way are not obvious to this reader!
    Linda
    mysewwhatblog

  13. Oh I LOVE the new fence board counter! We have a similar counter (with wasted space) in our kitchen. If we owned this place, I’d definitely add some shelves – but we rent so we added a free-standing cabinet and a cheap melamine top to make some extra counter space below the existing counter.

  14. OK … that is nothing short of fabulous!! I am definitely pinning … & hoping that someday I could incorporate something like that somewhere or another.

    • Well thanks! We thought it was a pretty neat trick {winks} and I always like free!! lol

    • Thanks Nancy (: We think so and have not regretted it for a moment!