Have you always wanted to completely transform a room with a modern accent wall, but you thought it would be too much work?  I’m here to tell you that it’s not! It’s relatively easy and it only cost around $100 total in product! 

You may have seen my blog posting on how I transformed my guest bedroom into a home office.  Remember those orange walls?  Well, I painted them white and that was about as far as I got.  The bedroom side of the room of this space was in need of help.  Major help.

I had the honor of winning an Instagram contest where Sarah Randall came to my house and taught me how to design and construct a beautiful paneled accent wall and I’m here to share it with you!

Here’s what you need:

There are so many different abstract designs that you can bring to an accent wall.  My guest room was rather simple and could handle a will with diagonal abstract design.  Take a few minutes to look at the wall and make a sketch of how you want the boards to lay via a design.  I just love how it turned out!  

We used 2-1/4” MDF wood and cut it at a 45 degree angle for the edging with the chop saw.  You can improvise here and use different widths of wood and different cut angles.  Do what speaks to you!  You simply need to hold the wood pieces up to the wall and mark with a pencil for the cut mark.  The chop saw will magically do the rest.  This may or may not have been my first time using a chop saw, I felt pretty powerful!  

When you have a wood piece cut that is ready to place, go ahead and use a nail gun to attach it to the wall.  Make sure to secure the edges and then put a few in the middle throughout the length.

Use caulk around the edges of the wood panels to make a smooth transition to the wall for painting and use spackle to fill the holes where the nails are.

Use a light sand paper to make sure that the wood and the caulk is smooth for the paint.  After sanding, lightly wipe down with a damp cloth to remove any residual dust.

Don’t be sloppy here.  The last thing you want is for a dark paint color to bleed into your ceiling or surrounding walls.  A good trick is to use white paint around all wall edges first so that it’s the first bleed.

We used Sherwin Williams INKWELL which is a cross between a very dark grey and a black.  

If you’re doing a dark color over a light wall, 2 coats of paint will be good.

Here is a quick video showing the work from beginning to end:

I love, love, love how it transformed my guest room!  It adds depth and a touch of class. 

If you are reading this blog and it inspires you to transform your wall, let us know by tagging Rebel Villa's IG in your post!  For other blogs and inspirations, go to our website.