When I was pregnant with Myles, I was using Pinterest for all sorts of inspiration for our nursery. It was so fun to get things put together for that special time in our lives.
The biggest change we made to the room was taking off the two sets of sliding closet doors. I can’t stand those types of doors. They drive me nuts. While they do serve well for hiding things, I think they are cumbersome and hard to maneuver. They also make it hard to access anything really easily. I prefer a more open-concept so that I can see everything without the need to rummage and switch sides.
In that space, we cleared out the old hanging rods and shelves. I wanted a more open feel to the room so that we could use that space more efficiently. Our nursery was going to double as a guest room, as well. So, I didn’t want the room to feel too childish.
One way we achieved this was to add a herringbone accent wall on the back wall of the closet. I used our “Woodland” theme colors but kept it fairly neutral.
It was a super fun project, and it only took about a day and a half with both my husband and I working on it together.
TIP: I would highly recommend having a partner with this project. Two people (especially in a smaller space) works really well. It made things go so much smoother. If you need to do it alone, it is absolutely possible, it just may be more tedious and time-consuming.
the process
The first step for this project was to clear everything out of the space and get the drop cloths laid down (if you care about your flooring).
Then, it was time to do the base primer and paint. We did white paint for our base coat.
taping
After you let that coat of paint dry, you’ll need to start the taping process, which will also include a lot of measuring. This is the most time-consuming portion of the project – prepare to be patient. For simplicity sake, we used the painter’s tape as our border throughout the project and specifically picked the thicker/wider tape to match how we envisioned the spacing between blocks.
TIP: Don’t skimp on the painter’s tape! With a project like this, you want as little bleeding as possible so that your lines are crisp and clean. Using better tape will also mean less touch-up later. We used the multi-surface Frogtape. It did really well. We still had a few spots of bleeding due to the texture on the wall, but nothing worth touching up.
We started by taping off the top, bottom, and side edges. Then we determined what width our columns would need to be to look the most aesthetically pleasing. This is where having two people (one being math smart! haha hint: not me) becomes key. We decided on 16 inches, from the center of each column.
Then you have to determine the angles, and once you’ve got that nailed down is simply just measuring and taping. We worked our way from the bottom to the top. I wanted to do it this way so that if lines got messy or uneven, it’d likely happen up where no one would be able to see. This way everything in view was square and even.
painting
After you get everything taped off really well, you are ready to paint! We chose three colors. Again, I wanted to keep it fairly neutral, so we used our neutral greige in each column and just off-set it with the other two colors – a deep gray/charcoal/brown and light teal.
Just so we didn’t screw anything up, I went through and put a sample of the correct color on each block as we worked our way through. We did one color at a time. It didn’t really take much time at all… the blocks are fairly small, so you covered it and moved on fairly quickly.
There are a couple of different theories on when to pull the tape off. One is to wait until it’s completely dry. The other is to pull it off when the paint is still a bit tacky. We went in the middle of these two. Since we bounced around doing all of one color at a time, some of the tape was still a bit tacky and some of it was completely dry. Use your own judgment. It turned out fine no matter which way we did it.
As I mentioned before, our walls are textured, so there was a bit of bleeding in some spots, but there were no major touch-ups to do. I am so happy with how it all turned and feel so artistic and creative! ha!
the finished product
It was a lot of fun working on a creative project like this with my husband. We each had different strategies and strengths that we brought to the table, but it turned out fantastic and we ended up having a bit of fun with it once we got the hang of things.
And, the great thing is that this is a relatively affordable DIY project. If you don’t like it, just buy more paint and cover it up!
Once it was all dried, we cleaned things up and started putting shelves in. We did one long shelf up on the top that you can’t really see unless you are standing right by the closet. Then we made one side a little play/reading nook, and the other side serves as a true closet with more shelving and a hanging rod for little human clothes!
Overall, this is a great DIY project to bring the walls of your home to life!
Have you tried an accent wall like this before? How did it turn out? I’d love to hear from you. Comment below or shoot me a message!
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