Create A Gorgeous Rustic Accent Wall For Any Room In Your Home With A Simple DIY

Wood accent walls are a beautiful way to bring interest and warmth to uninspiring blank white walls. These rich and detailed walls are an excellent alternative to paint, wallpaper, and traditional paneling, not only making the wall a focal point, but adding additional texture and architectural detailing. While there are many new types of wood to consider for your accent wall, internet DIYers are finding clever ways to put repurposed wood to use in their pursuit of the perfect accent wall, recycling everything from old barn wood to deconstructed wooden shipping pallets.

The results are stunning accent walls that give a rustic and cabin-like feel to any space. The rich recycled wood is not only an eco-friendly way to decorate, but can sometimes be more budget-friendly than new lumber or planks. Salvaged wood often has a distressed look and unique coloration, making it perfect for the rustic look favored by farmhouse, coastal, boho, and cottage style spaces. It looks especially stunning in entryways, home offices, and behind the bed in bedrooms. When sealed for weather, it also creates endless outdoor possibilities.

Finding the perfect reclaimed wood for your wood accent wall idea can be one of the biggest challenges of these DIY projects. Great places to look include architectural salvage yards and recycling centers, where structures that have been torn down often end up to be reused in other projects. You may also have some torn-up flooring materials or leftover wood from other projects in your home that can be reused on the walls. Alternatively, you can purchase salvaged wood from retailers, like Rockin Wood, that specialize in connecting buyers with reclaimed building materials.

One great option to create a budget-friendly wood accent wall is shipping pallets, which are plentiful, inexpensive, and easy to disassemble into planks for projects like these. Another source is flooring planks, which typically have a slender profile that is good for adding to walls, sometimes with a convenient tongue and groove design that makes installation easier. Other sources include barn wood, fence planks, and driftwood pieces. All these varieties of wood can be left as they are for a rustic look or stained/painted as desired.

To create your reclaimed wood accent wall, first prep the wall with primer. Many recommend painting the wall behind an accent wall black, particularly if you are using spacers instead of tongue and groove boards. This not only disguises any gaps that may be visible, but can help if your wall shifts or is imperfect to start with. Using a nail gun, attach the boards to the wall with nails the requisite length to drive through them and into the wall studs. Then assemble the boards in your desired configuration. You can also attach some trim around the edges in the corners, which will help close any gaps and give it a more finished look.

Keep in mind that adding wall paneling accents in high moisture rooms may require additional steps, including sealing the wood finish to prevent damage over time. You could also use a sealant like caulk around the cracks and crevices to prevent moisture from getting between the wood and the wall. You may also want to use more moisture resistant woods like teak, redwood, and cedar.