Easy How To Build a Mid Century Modern Accent Wall

I love a good accent wall! Did you know you can change the look of an entire room by just adding some boards and paint to the wall? So simple. Coming at you this week with another super easy wall treatment tutorial. This one has more of a Mid Century Modern feel to it, but really could be used in many spaces. I chose it as an accent wall in my master bedroom makeover I’ve been knocking out over the last few weeks. And I love it! So, lets get to the good stuff!

Easy How to Build a Mid Century Modern Accent Wall

Measure:

I knew I wanted my accent wall to center around my new bed I recently built. Therefore, my first step was finding the center of the wall. Which of course, is found by measuring the full length of the wall and dividing by two. Next, I measured the length of my headboard to determine the width of my accent wall; knowing I wanted to add a couple inches on both sides. All said and done, my headboard was 76 inches, so I chose 78 inches for my accent wall. Next, I divided that by two in order to figure out how far to take my accent wall on both sides of the center of my wall….from the center of the wall I measured 39 inches on both sides and, using a level to keep my lines straight, I marked with painter’s tape….

Paint:

I painted a couple coats of Sherwin Williams Shade Grown (a deep green color) in between my tape lines to form a color block on the wall.

Rip and Cut Boards:

For my accent wall, I decided to go with 1.5 inch wide boards (1×2’s) cut at 65 inches long. Because I had a lot of scrap wood leftover, I decided to use that and save some money. So, I took scrap 1×5’s and ripped them down to a width of 1.5 inches, using my table saw. If you don’t have a table saw, no worries, just pick up 1×2’s and you’ll end up with the same size boards that I used. Another idea (if you have a table saw) is to rip 1.5″ wide strips from a 3/4″ sheet of plywood or mdf board. This will probably save you some money. You’ll need 28 of them for the same size accent wall that I used.

Note: If you’re going to use 1×5 boards (like I used and then ripped to the width I needed), I recommend going with 10 foot boards. You’ll be able to get 6 strips out of just one board. How? A 1×5 is 4.5″ in width, so 4.5 (width of 1×5) divided by 1.5 (width needed for accent wall strips) equals 3 strips. You’ll then cut those 3 strips down to 60″…you can get two 60″ long strips from a 10 foot board. Which in turn gives you 6 strips for your accent wall. If you have a table saw or access to a table saw, this is a very cost-effective way of doing this project.

Once you have the right width of strips, you’re ready to make your cuts. Cut each strip to 60 inches.

Build the Accent Wall:

Once you’ve finished all of your cuts, you’re ready to move the project inside to the color block wall….

First step in this project is finding the center of your color block. This is where you will place your first strip (Be sure to use a level along the edge of your strip to ensure that it is straight). Use a nail gun to attach….

I attached my first board starting at the bottom of the wall, so my next board will be from the top of the wall and then back to the bottom and so on, working my way to the end of the wall…

Note: To get the correct spacing between each strip, use a strip as a spacer next to the board already attached and nail gun the next board in….

I found it helpful to nail gun one nail in the middle of my strip, remove the spacer, straighten the strip with the level and nail gun along the strip multiple times, once straight.

Once you’ve come to the end of the wall, go back to the middle and work your way across in the other direction to the other end of the wall; alternating once again between bottom of wall and top of wall. When finished, it will look like this….

PAINT (OR STAIN) ACCENT WALL STRIPS:

Now you’re ready to paint! Or you could stain the boards. I chose to paint mine the same color as my background color block wall and went for more of a monochromatic look. After two coats of paint, here’s the end result….

Perfect! Exactly what I was looking for! And with my bed….I love it!!

And a look at it with that beautiful statement ceiling I just finished a couple weeks ago (Full Tutorial here)….

Check out the bottom of this post for links to all of the master bedroom accessories or similar.

Still to come…I’ll be sharing how I built this bed in an upcoming post; If you follow me on Instagram, I’ll be tackling a “new (to me) build”–night stands. I have the design I want to go with picked out and just need to draw up the plans. 🙂

PIN IT FOR LATER….