DIY Wood Accent Wall - For Beginners

The day I found out we were having a boy I started pinning modern nursery pictures on Pinterest. All my pins had fun wooden accent walls behind the crib, I loved the look of it! When Cam was born we were in the process of selling our house and I didn't want to do the project there and now that we have been in our new home for 3 months I felt ready to tackle his room and make my vision come to life! This project really requires 2 power tools: a saw (I used a miter) and a nail gun. Another side note is that the pieces of wood are long so you will need some type of truck to get them home.

First up was figuring out a paint color. The nursery furniture we have is the Simmons Kids Slumbertime Monterey line from Target in Rustic Gray. We have the crib & matching 7 drawer dresser.

The color on the walls in most of our house, including the nursery, is classic gray by Benjamin Moore which you can see on this before picture below. I love navy blue for a boy's room but was nervous it would clash too much with the crib. I looked at a lot of different shades of blue, sage greens, and light grays and landed on the perfect navy, Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore. I painted a little swatch on the wall behind the crib to see how they looked together and I defiantly was nervous but decided to just go for it. TIP: I got my paint from Lowes which doesn't carry Benjamin Moore but as long as you have the name of the paint they can color match in their system to be the exact same color!

First step was painting the wall you're going to use at the accent wall. I taped along the walls, trim, and ceiling and used a roller for most of the wall and a paint brush for the edges. I only did 1 coat because I was going from light to dark and felt like it covered very well. I picked up this $15 Linzer paint kit set from Walmart and it had everything I needed paint wise for the whole project (large and small roller with refill, paint brush, paint tray with 2 plastic liners, and paint tape. 

Next up was getting the materials. I have been wanting to get a miter saw for projects around the house and when I was at Walmart I saw they had an affordable line of power tools called HART. I picked up this miter saw which was on sale for under $60! This one is the same brand just a little bigger and is $130. The HART saw was SO easy to use and it was my first time! My step-dad let me borrow his nail gun for the project because I am saving up for one! Here is a list of the other materials I bought from Lowes:

• Minwax wood filler - $7
• 12 foot 2 1/4 inch MDF boards- $10 each (Lowes will cut these for you if you bring the measurements). I got 7 of these. If you go in the store to buy these they are in the trim aisle!
• Sanding block

I painted 1 coat of paint on the wood boards prior to cutting and nailing them up. The next morning once everything was dry it was time to start measuring and cutting. 

We started with the top and bottom of the wall. Once measured we went into the basement to cut the boards to the correct size and then used the nail gun to secure them to the wall. We did the same to the sides of the wall as well. There was a small cut out needed around the door frame but we decided to just go back to that later and cut a smaller piece to add in there instead of cutting the whole board around the door. (see pic below)

Next was the boxes.. I wanted bigger boxes and with the shape of my wall we ended up with 4 boxes going across and 3 going down. We added the 2 horizontal pieces first and the hardest part for me was figuring out the correct spot to put them to make all squares equally. After some math we figured it out. The same thing was done on the vertical pieces that closed up the boxes! Once the math was figured out it was easy and quick! 

One of the last steps was to use the wood filler to fill in all the nail holes and the gaps between the wood so that it would be flush. You just use your finger to dip into the wood filler and fill the holes, super easy and quick. Once it is dry, which is very fast, a sanding block was used to just lightly sand down the wood filler so it was flush. A quick vacuum, and wipe down on the wall with a damp cloth brought us to the final step- paint touch up. I used the small roller and brush to do 1 coat over everything. It was mainly to cover up the wood filler but I wanted everything to look even. 

Once the paint dried I decided to paint the outlet covers to match the wall. I love the final look so much!! I think it makes the furniture pop which was the total opposite of what I thought would happen. All in this project cost me about $100 and took about 6 hours of work. I think it totally transforms the room and he will be able to grow with it as well! 

Any questions feel free to comment or message me on Instagram! I also saved a highlight on my Instagram called "accent wall" with more tips and videos on how to complete this wall!

Nursery product links: 

• Target Simmons Slumbertime crib & matching 7 drawer dresser
• Custom name sign is the 35" size and cost $100 shipped
• Wipeable changing pad
• Rug 5x7 size

Full nursery reveal will be up soon! Make sure to follow along on Instagram :) 

-Haley