Mixing wood and The Pallet Peninsula – Part 1

I read somewhere on the internet (so it must be true, right?) that it’s not a faux-pas to mix woods, but there is a right way to do it. Some of the takeaways about mixing woods are to stick to the same underlying tones and to use wood accent pieces throughout the space to make it sort of a “theme.” For example, place a luscious wood bowl amidst some books to add wood accent tones that tie in to, perhaps, a wood coffee table and basket next to the sofa.

Anyway, thank goodness for internet guidance, because we have a LOT of mixed wood tones going on in our main living area:

Our main living space is L-shaped, so it’s semi open concept. The living room is the top of the “L,” the kitchen table eating area is the corner, and the kitchen is the bottom part of the “L.” I’ve been a little bit stumped how to tie the kitchen area—and blinding orange peninsula—to the rest of the room.

Lucky for me, there’s a pallet obsession happening in the world right now. 🙂 It’s hard to avoid pallets if you’re on Pinterest pretty much ever. Do I even need to tell you a pallet wall at Bower Power is on my inspiration list? Of course it is. And this one is pretty gorgeous, too, from Mom and her drill (also, I freaking love her blog name!).

But I bet you that, even with all the hullabaloo about pallets these days, nobody has ever told you that pallets are patient. Yup. They’ll wait patiently for you. They’ll whisper sweet nothings in your ear every time you walk past them. They’ll swirl around and sweeten your dreams.

It was inevitable, really. First, a woman at work let me borrow her pallet project book (there are tons out there!). Later, two friends each told me they have unlimited access to free pallets. And then one day, the pallets won. The Hubster took the truck to our friend’s shop and picked up four pallets for me.

I let them languish in the basement for a while. Like “8 months” a while. (Like I said, pallets are patient.)

If anyone ever asks you what a languishing pallet looks like, this is it.

Don’t let anyone tell you you’re procrastinating; I needed those 8 months to let them simmer and figure out just how I was going to use them. And figure it out I did. I want to share my idea with you. It’s a spin on the ever-popular pallet wall known as “The Pallet Peninsula.” That’s right. I went there.

My plan is to cover the orange kitchen peninsula with pallet wood. I’m so excited about how I think the multi-tonal pallet wood will really help draw all the wood in the tv area, kitchen, and table area together. (In the pictures below, the wood is from just one pallet. Now that I’ve got the rest of them disassembled*, there’s much more variance in wood colors.)

*If you’re planning on working with pallets, please please research how to understand if the wood is safe to use! You might start here.

Originally, I planned to put the pieces of wood vertical, like so:

… but I think that horizontal line made by the nail holes right in the center might drive me crazy until forever. I put them up horizontally to see what that would look like, too.

Kitchen peninsula idea: cover it with reclaimed pallet wood.

Also, look at how the wood softens the meeting joint between the tile and the peninsula. Nice work, me! 🙂

So what do you think of this idea? And what’s your vote: horizontal or vertical??