A stunning DIY home office accent wall! Make this easy MDF accent wall in just one day with this quick tutorial!

If there’s one thing we like doing around here, it’s DIY accent walls! I love a good accent wall in the right space. So when my nephew asked us to help him renovate a home office so that we could study from home, we immediately wanted to make him a quick home office accent wall!

*This post was sponsored by DAP Canada and may contain affiliate links. Thank you for supporting our blog so that we can continue to bring you posts like these. For more information, please see our disclosure page.*

Many of us are learning to work from home these days, and slowly realizing that these work from home changes are not working! Instead of working at that random table in the basement, or at the kitchen table, we need to find a dedicated work space.

Many college and university students are needing to stay home right now too, and my nephew was one of them. He needed a space to work in, so we created one for him, transforming an old “catch-all” room into a home office with an amazing accent wall (as per his request!).

I am calling this a home office accent wall, but honestly, you could use this wall anywhere! I think any nook in your home, behind the bed, or as a dining room wall would look amazing!

Everything you need to make a home office accent wall

We have done a few amazing feature walls in the past, and this one is one of our easiest because it only requires one sheet of MDF, and doesn’t require any complicated angles or measurements!

Materials:

• 1 4×8 1/2″ thick MDF board
• ALEX PLUS Spackling
• ALEX FLEX molding and trim sealant
• Multi-Purpose Construction Adhesive
• Paint

Tools:

• Nail Gun
• Mitre Saw
• Sander
• Long Level

Home Office Feature Wall Video Tutorial

If you’re like me and you need a visual tutorial, then check out our YouTube video below. I will write out the steps below as well, but this will let you see the entire transformation and gives a few extra tips and tricks.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel while you’re there!

How to Make this Home Office Accent Wall

Here are some step-by-step instructions and tips you can use together with the video above.

We started by using the table saw to rip our 1/2″ thick sheet of MDF into 2 1/4″ strips. This is just the thickness I liked best when testing everything on the wall.

Our next step was to get the wall and the MDF boards prepped. We primed the wall, and all of the strips on three sides (the back side doesn’t ever get seen so it doesn’t need paint.

Then when the primer dried, we did the first coat of paint on the MDF boards and the wall.

When we were ready to put boards up on the wall, we first measured the wall height where the board was going, then cut the board to the correct height on the mitre saw.

Once the board was the correct height, we put Multi-Purpose Construction Adhesive on the back of the boards and then used a long level to make sure our boards were level as we stuck them to the wall.

Then we held the board in place and used a nail gun to nail the boards to the wall.

As you lay the next boards, you’ll need to use a spacer, as in the photo above, to make sure your spaces between the MDF slats are consistent. We used an old piece of molding for this that was 3/4″ thick. You can use the MDF boards too, but they are thinner (1/2″ thick) and I liked the look better with the slats slightly further apart.

To add in the angled boards. you simply decide where you want the angle to start or end and measure to that point. We tried a few different angles, but ended up cutting all of them at a 31.6 degree angle.

We picked this weird number because it was a marked out angle on our mitre saw, but if it’s not marked on yours, you can pick any angle around that.

As we did the wall, we would put a board up, step back and decide the next board, etc. etc.

We did angles going in different directions and at different heights. We also did some spots with no boards at all (like a skipped over board), and some boards in the center of the wall with the top and bottom cut off. All of the cuts were always the 31.6 degree cuts.

Once all of the boards were up, we used ALEX PLUS Spackling to fill in all of the nail holes.

Finally, we used ALEX FLEX molding and trim sealant to seal the spaces between the baseboards (which was also a piece of MDF painted green), and the wall slats to protect the wall from any house or wall shifts.

If you have any slats on the corner, you can use this against the wall too.

When everything is done, give the entire wall and slats another coat of paint and you’re done!

One thing that you may come across is a wall that already has crown molding up, like this wall did. In order to deal with the crown molding, we cut the tops of all of our boards at a 45 degree angle. We thought a straight cut at the top would be too abrupt of an angle against the crown.

Then when we measured boards for the wall, we measured from the bottom of the crown molding, and the bottom of the 45 degree angle cut. They fit nicely over the molding, and you can’t even tell in the room that they weren’t made to fit perfectly.

Another quick tip is that if you are dealing with outlets or switches, the plate for those switched and outlets will likely need to be raised 1/2″ as well. Because of this, we always make a small MDF frame around our switches or outlets so that they have a good surface to rest on all the way around.

Our Finished Home Office Accent Wall

Ok, this is way too many photos to bombard you with, but the wall is just soooo good! My nephew picked the green paint colour and it looked absolutely amazing in the space!

If you like accent walls, here’s an amazing list of all our favourite walls!

Wondering how we made the little shelf on the wall?? This minimal shelf is a dollar store DIY!