One Room Challenge Week 3: Wood Headboard Accent Wall

 

Holy schmoly- we’re halfway through the One Room Challenge already! If you’re here from Calling it Home, welcome! Feel free to look around : ) If you’re not, you should definitely head over and check out all of the amazing progress from both the designers, and the participants this season! So much inspiration and amazing transformations!

We have been working away at turning our guest bedroom from a blah and boring space, to a cozy yet fun place for our guests to stay. Here’s the room when we moved in!

Last week we talked paint, and how we used a mixture of leftover gray paints to get a mid-to-dark tone for the walls. Today we’re talking headboard! Well, kind of : )

Instead of a traditional headboard, we wanted to create more of a focal “headboard wall” using a method we’ve used throughout our house (it’s in our half bath, dining room, guest bath, and now here!). It’s so simple and inexpensive and requires very minimal tools.

We picked up two sheets of wood flooring underlayment for $13 each, and two pieces of trim for $10. We had the stain and nail gun at home, so the total cost of our headboard was $36!

We simply cut the 4′ x 8′ sheets into 5 1/5′ x 5 1/2″ strips, sanded any rough edges (wear gloves when handling at first!). measured to the center of the wall, and nailed them up! It took two full sheets for our 8′ tall walls, but plan accordingly if you decide to try this project : ) We used nickels as spacers, and trim that fit over the edges to give us a little wiggle room with our length.

A level was used at multiple points to make sure we weren’t shifting things as we went, and any outlets or switches were cut out using a jigsaw or oscillating tool.

Once it was up, it was time to stain! We stained the planks while they were up on the wall, and the trim pieces were prestained and then hung.

The most important tip if you are staining underlayment is to use some sort of wood prep or conditioner product, and to test stains before you commit. This type of wood takes on a totally different look than you’d expect, and the wood conditioner works wonders to keep colors as close to the can as possible.

Surprise, surprise, we chose Special Walnut, our hands-down favorite! After everything dried, we put two coats of a satin poly to seal it, and called it done! I’m thinking some unique artwork or a wreath would look perfect hanging in the middle as well, but for now we’re loving the statement it makes, and how it draws the eyes up : )

Let’s cross this one off the ol’ to-do list. Because crossing things off makes me happy : )

• Paint
• Bedding
• Window treatments
• Wood accent wall behind bed
• Build 2 nightstands
• Build a bench
• Add seating
• New light fixture
• Add area rug
• Add lamps
• DIY bedskirt
• Artwork

The budget has also remained intact so far! $36 of $300. Sounds like we’ve got some shopping to do!

Of course we’ve got a ways to go on our list still- but the room is slowly but surely coming along! Next week we will be sharing either the light fixture or nightstands, depending on which project wants to play nice and go according to plan : ) Stay tuned!

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