Easy DIY Accent Wall

If you know me you know I love a good DIY and my DIY-heart was itching to create something. So my eyes landed on our entryway wall. My entryway wall is what I like to call a “solo” wall AKA a wall that stands alone (I have no idea if that is the correct “carpenter’s” term, but I’m going with it). Since this type of wall has defined edges, it makes for the best accent walls.

I had created my DIY Barnwood Wood Coat Rack on this wall previously, but now this space was calling for something bigger! So I bring to you my Easy DIY Accent Wall tutorial:

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Supplies:

• Wood
• Nail Gun & air compressor
• Stud Finder
• Miter Saw OR laminate cutter
• Nails
• DAP Light Weight Spackling
• Primer-I use Sherwin Williams Interior Primer
• Paint (I love Pure White from Sherwin Williams in this type of paint)
• DAP Caulk
• Sanding sponge
• Power drill
• Hooks: these OR these
• Pencil, paper, & hammer

1-Create your wall Border

I chose to use material I already had at home to border my wall (3/4 round pieces). Honestly, you can use anything you want to border your wall, I would just recommend it be thicker than the material you use for your panel pieces.

BEFORE BORDER:

AFTER BORDER:

Let’s talk about the wood material:

For this project, my DIY Board & Batten and my DIY Hall Tree I used a material called 5mm Poplar Plywood for the panel pieces. This material is thin (.197in), SUPER affordable and turns out nicely if you do the proper sanding. I chose this material because I am on a budget, it’s easy to work with and I can cut it with my laminate cutter instead of a miter saw. You can choose any material you want, but this Poplar Plywood is by far the most affordable route.

This is what the Poplar Plywood sheet looks like before it gets cut down. It is 4ft x 8ft:

I chose to cut the plywood sheet into 3 inch thick panel pieces. Lowe’s will make these cuts for FREE. You can choose any thickness you want. In my DIY Hall Tree we used 6 inch thick pieces to look more like shiplap.

Tip: Make sure to thoroughly sand ALL ends of the poplar plywood before nailing any panel pieces to the wall. Sanding is SOOO important.

2-Measure and Nail Panels Pieces

Use your stud finder and mark your studs every 10-15 inches up the wall with a pencil.

Now that we have the border, measure the space in between the borders and cut the panel pieces the size of that width. Then use the nail gun to nail each panel piece to the wall where the studs are.

Tip: I used our laminate cutter to make the cuts. It saved me lots of time by not having to go back and forth to my saw in the garage!

I used nickles (the silver 5 cent money pieces) to create the spacing between each panel:

3-Spackle & Caulk

Once all of the panels are up, I used DP Leight Weight Spackle to fill in all the nail holes and then DP Caulk to caulk the ends of the panel pieces where they meet the border pieces.

4-Sand

Now it’s time to sand everything and make sure the accent wall is smooth and ready for paint. I love using these Sanding Sponges with a medium/fine grain to get that paint ready finish.

5- Prime & Paint

Sherwin Williams interior primer and Proclassic Paint is what I prefer for this type of project. I did one coat of primer and two coats of paint in Sherwin Williams: Pure White over the entire accent wall.

6-Hang Hooks

These hooks are my absolute favorite! I have them in our bathroom, our bedroom and now here. I chose to put four hooks up on this wall because of the space I was working with. I like to create my own template on paper when hanging hooks like this:

Tape your template to your wall, but make sure the template is straight by using a level.

X marks the spot! Use your drill and drill into each of the X’s you created on your template.

None of my holes landed on a stud so I had to use wall anchors:

Screw in your hooks and you are done!!

AFTER:

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