Gorgeous Wood Accent Wall! Make your own stunning feature wall with this simple DIY tutorial! Looks amazing in this modern entryway!
If you asked me right now what my favourite part of our new house was, I would probably always tell you that it was this entry feature wall! I dreamed up this idea, sketched about 50 different designs in my notebook, and built the wall with my husband in just one afternoon. I’ll show you just how easy it is for you to build your own stunning wood accent wall!
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The Beginnings
This is the blank wall in our modern entry that we started with. I knew I wanted to add a great feature wall here. I toyed with the idea of wallpaper, or a geometric design, but in the end decided on a wooden accent wall and I’m so happy with the design.
Here’s everything you need to make your own wood accent wall:
1/2″ MDF cut into 1″ strips
6 ft. level (or any large ruler)
A smaller level
Measuring tape
Pencil and eraser
Mitre saw
Sanding paper
Paint (we used Black Bamboo by Behr Paint)
How to Make a Wood Feature Wall:
We absolutely love this project, and we want anyone to be able to recreate it! So we are sharing a video tutorial (from when we recreated this wall in a friend’s home), and a written tutorial!
Video Tutorial:
This project was so fun! We actually snuck into a friend’s home (with permission!), while they were on vacation, and built them their own beautiful feature wall!
Watch for a great tutorial and a great room reveal:
Written Instructions
You can copy my design or make one of your own. Either way, you may need to draw multiple pencil lines before you’re satisfied! We didn’t measure any special angles, except the first one, which we needed a speed square for.
Start by drawing one prominent line that you want to work off of at a 45 degree angle. A speed square against the wall will give you exactly 45 degrees—so you can start the line there, and then use a level or large ruler to draw the rest of the straight line. We started with the large angled line that goes through the centre of the design.
Next, we drew one line perpendicular to the first one, going up towards the corner of the wall. We made sure it was exactly 90 degrees difference by using a square (or speed square again). Once we had those two lines, we could work off of them in either direction.
To do this, I eyeballed where I wanted the next line to be. Let’s say I decided 15 inches, then we used the measuring tape to measure 15 inches from the original line a few times, drew ticks along the wall 15 inches away, and then used the large ruler to connect those ticks.
I wanted a few horizontal lines at the bottom of my design. To do these, we just used a level to make sure that they were perpendicular to the wall and made our own spacing again.
When it came to adding the MDF pieces, we were originally going to add 1/2″ pieces. But when we drew the design on the wall (hard to see above), we realized it was too small. So, we measured 3/4″ pieces, but I still didn’t like it (sorry hubby! lol). We finally settled on 1″ thick pieces and they were perfect.
When you are ready to cut the pieces, use a measuring tape to measure the length of your line and cut with a mitre saw. All of the angled pieces will have 45 degree cuts and straight cuts. For the horizontal pieces I did at the bottom, we just held up our strip of MDF against the pieces already on the wall, and drew the top and bottom of the cuts by hand (no measuring angles!).
Nail all of the pieces to the wall with a nail gun!
Once all of the pieces were up on the wall, we filled the joints with wood putty. When that was set, we sanded down the putty so everything was smooth and then we (errr… my very helpful friend!) painted the wall!
I’m so unbelievably happy with how this feature wall turned out! It’s even better than my sketches, lol.
If you ever recreate this wall, I would love for you to tag me on Instagram!
We recreated a similar DIY Wood Accent wall in a friend’s home and here’s how her feature wall looked when we were done:
I absolutely love the white on white in this space! It’s the perfect way to accent that wall which is the main focal point for the room.
We also added the same mouldings to the reading nook off the side of the dining room! The two accent walls are connected in design, but define each of the spaces individually!
Doing the moulding wall on the corner was especially fun! We’ve never done anything like that before and I loved tackling a corner for the first time!
You might also be interested in how we did this Beautiful Weathered Wood Ceiling!
Or in How to Paint a Textured Wall!
Your entry looks so great! Nice job!
Omg whaaaat this wall was a DIY? That’s so impressive!!
Thank you! Anyone could do this! It’s so easy!
Any suggestions on how to plan a design for a wall?
My best suggestion would be to copy my design, lol. Or to draw out your wall to scale (if you don’t have grid paper, use 1cm = 1 ft or a similar unit of measurement), and then just sketch a whole bunch of ideas!
I always want to do something like this, and I’m like… more nooks and crannies to dust!
It’s so easy to keep them clean! If you have a swiffer, you’re golden!
That is very lovely and we would like to try it, unfortunately we don’t have nail guns or know how to use them. Is liquid nails strong enough to hold the 1 inch MDF pieces?
I don’t think it will hold properly while the pieces set. You can rent one from Home Depot or other hardware stores if you want to use one! It’s very easy to use – like a staple gun!
Hi, you did an amazing job! Where is the circle mirror from?
It was from IKEA!
I wish I could post a picture!!! I was inspired to try this myself and even used Black Bamboo (amazing color!) and the wall completely transformed and it looks straight out of HGTV! Thanks!!
Amazing!! You can tag us on Instagram if you share! We’d love to see! @love_create_celebrate! :)
Beautiful. Can you give details on the floor? What kind of tile is that? Thanks!!
Thank you!! It’s a porcelain tile from Home Depot! You can see more about the tile in this post: https://lovecreatecelebrate.com/modern-entry-reveal/
i love, love, LOVE this wall so much! am going to attempt to tackle a similar look in my master. may i ask what gauge and length nails you used? any adhesive? i worry that i may not be able to hit a stud each time… absolutely stunning!!!
This looks beautiful! I love the color you picked for your accent wall. What color did you use? Thank you!
Thank you!! It’s called Black Bamboo by Behr paint :) Love that colour!
Can you do this on a textured wall and it still look ok?
You could sill do it, but you would have to be careful about painting the entire wall first, because there may be small gaps caused by the texture. And the texture would still be visible, so if that bothers you, it may not be the best solution. Totally personal preference!
Hi! I love the color of green paint you used, could you tell me what color it is?
It’s called Black Bamboo by Behr!
Would you be able to share where the weaved pendant lamp is from? Thank you!
It’s from IKEA!
Thank you! I got a sample of it today to test out in my in-laws guest bathroom. I’m doing a surprise makeover for them while they’re out of town :)
That’s amazing!! I hope they love they colour too! :)
Hi Lindi! Do you remember what sheen the black bamboo paint is? I can never decide, or know what’s best. Absolutely love the room!
I’m about 90% sure it’s Satin that we went with! Lol
This is so gorgeous!! so you finally went with 1/2″ or 1″ wide? and deep?
thank you!! trying to do this for my bedroom and so excited about it!
We settled on 1/2” deep and 1” wide! I’m excited you’re building it! Can’t wait to see :)
This wall is gorgeous! I want to do this in my master bedroom. How did you make sure you hit a stud with every piece? Also, would this look ok with knockdown textured walls? Thanks!
So you really don’t have to hit a stud every time with these designs. The MDF will stay attached the wall easily with the nail gun -if you’re concerned you can always glue the wood down as well. You could do this on a textured wall, but the wood may not adhere as well and it may not look as clean – my personal preference would always be a flat wall.
Hi
Dark colours are always hard to paint. can you provide any painting tips for this wall with the wood?
Thx.
My best suggestion is just to edge very nicely with a small brush. If you’re very concerned, you can use a very small brush to edge first in the corners and then another thicker paint brush to edge over that. Also, make sure you use the premium brand of paint (the more expensive Behr paint goes on much nicer!).
1) What made you decide to paint all at once after nailing the design down?
2) did you opt to spray paint or roller paint and why?
Btw beautiful job, this wall has given me so much inspiration. I love diy projects as they are so fulfilling! I’m moving into my new home i had built and can’t wait to try this in one of my guest rooms.
Thanks for the info!
Hi! I’m so glad you love the project! You should definitely tackle this one! You could paint the boards ahead of time. I wish we had painted the back wall first, we did that for our second wall and it was much easier. The boards we didn’t paint ahead of time because we knew we would have to nail, putty and then prime all of the boards again, so we thought it would be easier to just do it afterwards. We used a paint brush and roller to paint the wall. You could use a paint sprayer easily, if you can close off the room and protect the other walls, etc. Good luck!
I saw the same thing in better homes and gardens a few months ago. My wife and I did batten boards in our dining room and saw the article in the magazine but haven’t attacked that project yet. I like the lines. Nice job. Was it tough to get the mdf to fit tight on the wall?
You should definitely do it! We didn’t find it hard to get the MDF pieces tight, but if you have a larger gap then you wanted, just fill it with drywall compound and sand it down and it will blend beautifully! For really big gaps you can put caulking underneath too.
hi, looks great! we’re planning on doing something similar on a larger wall in our living room. we have already marked it out on the wall. questions: 1. whats your view on framing it i.e. around the edge of the wall and 2. how did you decide the depth of the slats you used. we were thinking it should it flush with the skirting / door frame but then the pieces are quite deep (20mm). is this something you thought about?
Hey! I personally like the look of the walls without them being framed on all sides, but it would definitely work if you like the look! We made our slats so that they were the same thickness as the mouldings on the bottom. We didn’t meet any door frames, but that would’ve been about the same depth too – for us that was 3/8″ deep or thick (9.5mm). It’s just baseboard moulding (4″ tall or 100mm). 20mm deep sounds very deep for baseboards, if yours really is that deep, I probably would not make my slats that deep.
Do you have any templates for your feature wall you did & painted the dark green afterwards? I would so love to do this, however coming up with the actual design feels impossible. Thanks!
I don’t have any templates, but many people have done the exact same design and it looked beautiful on their walls too! There are also many examples on Pinterest, so you can look for a wall similar in size to your own.
What’s the name of that green wall color?
It’s called Black Bamboo by Behr! :)
Absolutely love this design! I’m inspired to try this (fingers crossed lol). Can you let me know which type of laser level you used? I’m in the process of getting all the tools. Thanks!
Hi LOVE ALL the walls! we just tried to do this in a bedroom. My question is we put MDF board over the wall first as it is a textured wall and then the 1″ pieces on top. Hired a professional painter and when he was done the wall had a bunch of warps in it. Did you not put boarding on the wall first with yours?
No, we didn’t have textured walls, so we didn’t put a board up first. Did you glue the 1″ strips to the MDF board? If not, then painting them afterwards definitely could’ve caused it to warp! We always recommend using the construction adhesive.
could you please let me know what size nails do i use on the MDF board to nail them to a dry wall? is 1 & 1/2 inch brad nail enough to secure? or smaller? or would you recommend adding some construction adhesive also?
Yes, we used 1 1/2″ brad nails! I would recommend the construction adhesive to hold it in place.
Love this and did something similar in my dining room. Question how did you mount the ikea mirror. I have the exact same one and I’m wondering did you put a piece of wood behind the mirror for the screws to anchor into first then the wall or are you doing something else ! Thankyou
We used wall anchors and long screws!