We built this accent wall over a couple nights for our guest bedroom and I’m loving how it’s turning out so I thought I’d share how we did it along with some tips & tricks that might make it easier. Note: We’ve never done anything like this before so if you’re a pro, please don’t judge our work or techniques. I just love accent walls and have always wanted to do one ever since we first designed this house but I couldn’t decide which pattern — a grid, herringbone, random pattern, B&B, etc so I drew up over a dozen different design variations for what to do on this wall, then we narrowed it down to 4 top favorite patterns, before deciding on this one. It took us 3 days in total to do this wall because we just didn’t have enough whole days to dedicate to this project so we mostly did it at night… it took us one night to put up the boards, another night to fill the holes and sand, then another night to paint it. So this is how we did it:
Note: these instructions can be used for any pattern of wall paneling – they are not specific to my particular paneling design. So, no matter what type of paneling you want to do (squares, straight board and batten, herringbone, something completely different) the basic “how-to” instructions are the same.
What you’ll need for prep & cutting/attaching the boards:
- Miter saw (ours is like this: Home Depot)
- Pre-primed boards (the ones we used were very similar to this: Home Depot, but a thinner version would be here: Home Depot. The size you pick to do is totally pure personal preference.
- Carpenter’s square: Amazon | Home Depot
- Sharp pencil
- Measuring tape
- Level (Home Depot)
- Construction adhesive (we used 5 full tubes: Home Depot)
- Power drill (Amazon | Home Depot) and screws (less than the depth of the board + drywall if you do it like we did, see details below) or nails & a nail gun if you do it the traditional way (I think, I’ve never done it like this)
- Painter’s tape (Home Depot)
- Drop sheet (Home Depot)
What you’ll need for finishing:
- Heavy sandpaper (Home Depot)
- Light sandpaper (Home Depot)
- Caulk (Home Depot)
- Joint compound (Home Depot)
- Putty knife (Home Depot)
What you’ll need for painting:
Steps:
- Design. This was the longest part.
- Plan your wall. This was the hardest part. It involves a lot of math and patience.
- Cut boards and attach them to the wall with construction adhesive (Home Depot) that you just squeeze out onto the boards and I used a scrap piece of board to smooth it out before we applied it to the wall AND some kind of fastener (either screws or nails, depending on how you want to do it). Start with the perimeter and then strategically work through your pattern. Cut as you go so that you can adjust any measurements needed along the way. (Note: Our accent wall was on an exterior wall and we didn’t want to have any penetrations in our vapor barrier so we didn’t want to nail or screw the boards to any studs (which is commonly done) sooo we came up with a creative solution where we predrilled holes in our boards and got screws that were less than the thickness of the board + drywall and when applying the boards to the wall, we used the adhesive and then screwed the boards into place for about a day to dry, then we removed the screws and filled the holes so ultimately the only things with holes were the boards + drywall and our exterior wall assembly remained completely in tact.)
- Sand down anything uneven with a heavier sandpaper (Home Depot)
- Fill all the holes with Joint Compound (Home Depot) as well as the joins where 2 boards meet and use a putty knife (Home Depot) to help you get a smooth finished look.
- Caulk every place were the board meets the wall with something like this Home Depot. Note, you lay down a line of it and then use your finger to smooth it out. I learned how to do this watching our trim trade during construction. It really helps to have a damp disposable towel on hand to wipe your finger too.
- Sand everything you used Joint Compound on with a lighter sandpaper (Home Depot). You have to get this pretty smooth or it will show through once you’ve painted it.
- Paint (be sure to either use primed boards or prime before painting). I used an angled paint brush (Home Depot) for the edges first, then a microfiber roller Home Depot (though I got a kit like this one: Home Depot) for all the boards and drywall.
Random thoughts:
- If you’re kinda thinking this all sounds a bit too hard I recommend trying a board & batten look or a simple grid wall since it’ll all be 90 angle cuts and should generally be easier to tackle.
- Paint the wall first if you can. I mean, why not?? I didn’t because at the time we started putting up the boards I still hadn’t decided on my final color. But it would have made painting faster to at least have the first coat on the wall done.
- Make sure your board cuts are accurate. You don’t want to have to fill in the space between boards with filler so if your cut isn’t accurate just redo it rather than trying to make that piece work. You should be smoothing the joins between boards but not filling the gaps.
- If you’re a newbie to this kind of work (like us) I highly recommend trying to work “around” outlets etc instead of incorporating them into the design. It’s just easier. And just personally I’m not a fan of trimming them out as it just draws even more attention to them. In our case, we unfortunately couldn’t go around one of our outlets so I kind of got creative around it but in a perfect world, we would have just avoided it. I wasn’t too worried about ours though since eventually it’ll be behind furniture anyway so it’s not like it would be visible.
For more sources from our Guest Bedroom, click here.
For more of our DIY tutorials, click here.
To explore the other rooms in our house, click here.
My boyfriend and I recently bought a new home and want to add this accent wall to our dining room! I had a couple questions. 1. What if you have textured walls? Yours seem to be all smooth. 2. What if your bottom base board isn’t flat, but has ridges or curves? 3. Did you have to find studs to screw the lumber into the wall?
Hi 🙂 I’m not a building expert so I don’t really have the answers. Our walls are smooth and are baseboards are flat. But I do know that yes, you should always screw everything into a stud otherwise it won’t hold.
If your baseboards aren’t flat at the top you can rip it out and replace it with a flat board, miter your cuts near the baseboards down to the thickness of the top of your baseboard, or live with it. You could also use really thin boards. If you have textured walls you can use a power sander and try to get the texture as flat as possible. And if you use construction adhesive and tape or nails no you don’t need to find studs but the adhesive WILL rip your drywall off when you go to remove the board of you don’t like it in the future. I framed my windows with nails and adhesive only and they have lasted years.
I also have textured walls. Let me know how yours turned out.
Good Q! Every post I see online never mentions textured walls. I know the technical answer would be to skim coat the wall but what a pain in the you know what! There’s got to be a way around that
I’ve since seen many people do accent walls over textured drywall and it works. Obviously, it’s a slightly different look, but there’s nothing wrong with different 🙂
If you have heavy texture, I suppose you could caulk the seam between the new board and the wall to fill in any gaps. But I’ve never personally done that I’m just thinking out loud.
I just wanted to say I stumbled across your blog, and so glad I did. We’re attempting this in our dining room next weekend! Thanks for the inspo! Wish us luck!
Welcome to our page! And good luck 🙂
In response to your Random Thoughts, I’m wondering if this look would be achieved well if you fully painted the wall AND the boards first and then just installed from there? I’ve never DIY’d anything, so forgive me if that’s a dumb question.
Yes and no. It could work, but it’s usually better to do a final coat once it’s finished. It’s also surprisingly annoying to paint boards that aren’t installed. You need a lot of space and set up.
Hi there, this is absolutely beautiful – very well done! I have a question for you… would you be able to kinda explain how to measure the angles of the boards and calculate how to cut them using the carpenter square? I am having a hard time picturing how to do it… In my mind, I was thinking I would place an uncut board on the wall first, mark it down and then cut it… But I am sure there is another more efficient way… That would be very helpful if you could explain, please.. thanks a lot for the tips! 🙂
Hi – thank you 🙂 The way you’re suggesting is a possible way, or you can take a smaller scrap piece to determine your angle and use that as your guide so you’re not hauling around a full 8-ft board.
Thank you so much! That’s a great idea 🙂
What was the size of your wall? We have a small dining room wall in a condo so wondering if the larger or smaller trim pieces would look better? Thank you
The ceilings are 10′ for reference 🙂
Is that really bm grey???? It looks white??
It is the color I listed in the post 🙂
I am on Home Depot and can’t find this color. Is this Behr Marquee classic Silver? I cannot find it even on google.
The paint color we used is listed in the post.
Home Depot does not carry Benjamin Moore paint. You need to go to a BM store.
What angle are your cuts cut at? Not the obvious straight cuts.
The purpose of this tutorial is to show how to make an accent wall, not specifically so my particular design can be replicated exactly so you just have to make the angles at whatever works for your wall.
This looks amazing! We have been playing around with colors for our accent wall. I love your grey. By any chance is it flat/eggshell/ or semi gloss? Thank you!
Satin 🙂
How did you determine the placement of the first 2 boards? Is everything at 45 degree angles?
However you want 🙂 There is no right or wrong way to do this wall, or any other accent wall – it’s just about whatever looks best to your eye.
Hi there!
I love this look … approximately how much did it cost you in supplies?
Thanks!
Hi! Costs will vary depending on what type of materials are available to you locally and what tools you do/don’t have on hand. I’ve sourced supplies in my post to help you assess that 🙂
I really love what you did here! I was wondering whether those boards are 2in wide or 4in?
Thank you. 🙂 They’re somewhere in the middle
Hello! I just want to say that you did a fantastic job and the finished product is amazing! I feel like this would take me weeks, haha. Super impressive, thank you for all of the great tips as well as the links!
Thank you! I promise it’s easier than it seems 😉
Hi there – we really love this and are having it done in our living room – thanks so much for the inspiration!
Did you use the satin finish on the wall and the trim? Or is the wall finish different to the trim?
Hi – We used the same finish everywhere but it doesn’t have to be done that way.
That’s great – that’s what we’d like to do too as it will simplify the painting 😆😆😆
Are the surrounding walls also satin finish? We’ve got eggshell on our walls at the moment so I’m a little cautious about putting satin on the accent wall and leaving eggshell on the others.
I used your post on Pinterest as inspiration for a feature wall in my son’s bedroom (taking it from young child to preteen. It turned out so beautiful! So thank you! It is the first DIY project I have taken on. I requested a finishing nail gun for Christmas because I hand nailed in all of the boards and then set them with a nail setter (Old school). In the future I would definitely use wood screws! It would have been much faster!
I’m so glad it worked out for you! And yep, I can relate. In the beginning, we started all our projects borrowing tools from my dad and over time we’ve built up a larger tool collection as we got more skilled. It’s a process! Best of luck with your next project 🙂