Creating a bedroom accent wall is a beautiful way to add uniqueness to your space. Making your house more like a home that expresses your style and shows the things you love. This DIY accent way idea creates a frame for your bed. Making a perfect space for some artwork or decor above the bed. No need for a headboard.
Preparing the Space
I was ready to do something a little different in my guest bedroom. The paint color needed some updating and the current accent wall wasn’t doing it for me any more. So I started by taking down the old accent wall which was 5 horizontal wide boards. It was easy to put up and even easier to take down.
Because the wood was nailed to the wall the remaining nail holes required some filling. My favorite wall repair is Dap. You can grab your kit Here. (affiliate link)
It goes on quick, easy to use and makes the unsightly holes a thing of the past.
After the holes were filled and sanded, I was ready to touch them up with paint. Because I knew I was going to do some feature I just quickly painted where I filled the holes. The whole wall was going to be painted when I was done with the wood accents, so I saved myself a little time by doing a quick touch up. I was also leaving the feature wall the color it was originally painted, making it a quick patch and paint.
Picking a Design
This was the hardest part. There are so many beautiful and unique accent wall ideas. I spent a lot of time deciding what I was going to do. Waffling back and forth about the decision.
My original plan was to create a slat wall and stain the slats a light color. I then decided I wanted to do wider slats painted the same color as the wall. That was my final decision until things were not working out. Our table saw for whatever reason just wasn’t ripping the slats straight. Which is a huge problem. We had the wood that we took down that I was wanting to reuse. Wood prices right now are very high so it was a good option but when ripping the wood wasn’t working I thought about buying 2″ slats. The 2″ slats are actually 1 3/4″ inches which wasn’t as wide as I wanted. Plus they were a little rustic looking, possibly not giving me the smooth finished look I was after. And the cost was really adding up.
I finally settled on something unique, pretty and very simple. But was the right choice for the space. I’m sure I’m not the only person who waffles back and forth until a final decision is made.
Buying Supplies for the Accent Wall
When you are working on a project like this it always requires a trip or two or three to Home Depot. One of my favorite stores. It is nice to go and see what is in stock, check the sizes and see the prices. It also helps make the final decisions when you see what you can get.
Look at that price, it used to be around $4.
Because we have amazing baseboards that would work with what we were adding it saved us having to remove the baseboard and add something new. They are 5″ but with the carpet you only see about 4″. At first I thought we would need to buy a 5″ piece for the top of the wall. But decided that since you only see about 4″ of the baseboard a 3 1/2″ piece would look the best. So we used the same width of trim for the entire project.
We have done a beautiful grid accent wall in one of our guest bedrooms, it was one of my favorite projects. The look is amazing and was a quick project. This one is going to be even easier.
You can check out our grid accent walls here. The grid accent wall requires a little more math to make sure it will be spaced perfectly. This accent wall was going to be even easier. No figuring required. The spacing was more about what looked good and the size of the bed.
Painting the Wood
Because I was painting the wood accent the same color as the wall I wanted to give it a coat of paint before installation. I set up a quick painting station in my garage and give them all a first coat of paint with some foam rollers. I roll the edges then up the board. It’s a quick process and is nice to have one coat of paint on the wood before installation.
Heres a great kit from Amazon. The perfect size foam roller plus a tray that is a great size for the smaller projects.
Accent Wall Installation
We started by framing out wall. Doing DIY projects requires a few decisions. There is often no right or wrong but things you need to think through. I knew I wanted the top horizontal piece going the full length of the wall. It was then decided to add the two vertical pieces on each edge. Part of the decision making was do I take all the horizontal pieces the full length of the wall and then patch in the vertical pieces.
I can see both looking ok but I decided to frame the entire wall before we added the remaining pieces.
After framing the wall I needed to decide on spacing for the horizontal pieces. The electrical outlet helped make the decision. I didn’t want to cut around it so I made sure the wood piece was going about the outlet. Which was the perfect height.
We then ran the final two horizontal pieces of trim. Because we couldn’t find trim long enough we did need to have a seam but no worries, I’ll show you how to patch the seams so they wont be seen.
The Final Steps to the Installation
I had decided ahead of time the distance of the vertical pieces. I wanted it to be just wider than the bed. So it would look like intentional and create a perfect space for artwork or decor.
We installed the longest piece first then added the two shorter pieces. This was such an easy project. Definitely something you’ll be able to complete on a Saturday or even a weeknight.
Caulk and Wood Fill
Because it required seams for our horizontal pieces we needed to use wood filler. If you are are working with two wood joints you will want to use wood filler. It hides the seams and wont crack. It is easy to install and sand. You can find the link Here.
The wood filler takes a little longer to dry than caulk so I applied it first.
I then got busy filling all the nail holes and caulking the seams. Caulk is what will take your project from amature to custom. Making it look like you’ve hired a professional.
This is my favorite caulk. Here is the affiliate link to the caulk I love to work with.
The hand tube makes it easy to apply.
After I put it in the seams I run a piece of damp paper towel along the freshly caulked seam. This wipes of the extra, gives it a smooth finish and makes it ready to paint.
I also fill all the nail holes. I’ve see some people sand the excess but if you wipe it with a wet paper towel softly right after applying the excess will come off easily and leave the nail holes filled perfectly.
Paint the DIY Accent Wall
The wood filler takes a couple hours to dry before it is ready to sand. The caulk only takes 20 minutes to set before it is ready to paint. By the time I was done caulking I only needed to wait a short amount of time before I was ready to sand the wood filler.
I used my foam roller again, making sure to get in all the cracks that I’ve just filled. Because the trim and wall are going to be the same color it makes for easy painting. After the seams are painted I painted the wall. I worked in sections, the seams then the middle were painted. I also ran my roller up the face of the wood trim after I did the edges. After I gave the filled seams a gentle sanding it was time to get painting.
If you are doing a larger space you may want to use a good quality paint brush and regular sized roller. I was tempted but decided since I had a foam roller already with paint on it I would use it again to finish the project.
It took less than an hour to get the final coat of paint on the bedroom accent wall.
How the DIY Accent Wall Turned Out
I am so happy with the finished look of the bedroom accent wall that we DIY’d. It looks even better with the bed in place. The spacing of of the vertical boards are perfect for this wall and queen size bed.
Now I need to look for the perfect artwork. Something that matches the theme and feel of the room. Wish me luck.
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