Wood Feature Wall: Nursery Edition

Wanting to do a wood feature wall but lack the tools to carry it off? No need for your own cut off saw or a nail gun with this amazing wood wall. Here are tips and tricks to carry off a successful wood feature wall in two days time.

Backstory:

Originally I was to accompany my husband on a business conference for a long weekend. Once his trip was cancelled it was a no-brainer to keep my travel plans but visit two of my sisters instead. If you are a DIYer, projects pop up at any time. My sister asked if I could help her with her daughter’s nursery. Um, no need to twist my arm there. Of course I said, YES! We knocked this project out in two days, with minimal tools, and with three small children in the house.

The Great Flood 2019

With the quick visit we ran out of time to get the final pictures with the room put together. No problem, my sis could snap a few for me. That is until the Great Flood of 2019. Holy smokes guys, if you think your morning was off to a rough start, imagine waking up to a waterfall of toilet water from the upstairs bathroom! Her family had to move out of their house and have flooring torn out, walls torn out to the studs, furnishings thrown out. It was traumatic for her since she had spent so much time and energy making her home so cute. Fortunately, one of the few walls that survived was the nursery wall we worked on just a month before.

I am so happy to say that she has her house back together and we now have pictures of the finished nursery.

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Supply List

For Planning:

• Tape Measure
• Graph Paper
• Pencil
• Calculator

 

For Wall Prep:

• Interior Paint for wall and wood strips
• Paint Tray
• Roller
• Roller Cover
• Paint Brush
• Painters Tape
• Paint Key
• Stir Stick
• Tarps/plastic

 

For Wood Feature:

• 1″x3″x8′ primed MDF board
• Liquid Nails for Interior Projects
• Caulking Gun
• White Painter’s All Purpose Acrylic Latex Caulk
• Level
• Pencil
• Tape Measure
• Fine Grit Sand Paper
• Hammer
• Small Picture Hanging Nails
• Saw Horse-optional

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Instructions

Step 1:

Measure the height of the wall by the left corner, middle, and by the right corner. Sometimes houses are not built perfectly square or they settle unevenly over time.  Write down the measurements on your graph paper to sketch it out later.

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Step 2:

Measure the width of the wall at the top, middle and along the baseboard. Like the wall height, write down these measurements also.

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Step 3:

Draw out a rough sketch of the wall to determine how many squares across and down you want. The nursery wall worked out to get close to 2’x2′ squares. Keep in mind that you want a board across the top to frame the look.

BUDGET TIP: We opted to not frame the entire wall perimeter to keep the project costs to a minimum.

TIP: If your wall measures an even number of feet, divide by 2 and that will get you the number of rows. Example: the height of the wall was 8 feet, divided by 2, we would have four horizontal rows of squares. The wall was almost 10 feet wide, divided by 2, we would have 5 vertical rows of squares.

TIP: Be mindful of any electrical outlets and plan your grid to accommodate.

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Step 4:

Decide how wide you want your furring strips (mdf board) to be. My sister was unsure so I figured out cuts for both 1×3 and 1×4 sizes. When we were at Home Depot, I laid out the different sizes on the floor in a grid pattern so she could visualize it. We went with the 1x3s to make the wall and room feel a little bigger with more open squares in the grid pattern.

BONUS: When shopping with three littles in tow, the grid pattern makes for an awesome hopping game.

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Step 5:

Using your measurements, plan out your wall grid on the graph paper. We had a solid length of wood going across the top of the wall which had to be cut from one longer piece. Being that my sister did not have a cut off saw, we had the cuts made at Home Depot. Compile a cut list and shopping list before going to simplify the process.

TIP: When planning out your cuts, keep in mind that the 1″x3″ is the nominal dimensions for the wood strips. The actual wood strip dimensions are .669″ x 2.5″. It seems confusing, but when cutting, the saw blade removes a portion of the wood and the final product is therefore smaller. Why not just cut it so the final product is 1″ x3″? Yeah, I don’t know, I guess that would make too much sense.

CUTTING TIP: Be sure to communicate to the person cutting wood that the measurements are to be the finished cut size. The blade takes off about an eight to a quarter inch of wood, depending on the blade size.

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Step 6:

Once the wood was cut and supplies purchased, we headed back the house for wall prep. Having two people working definitely made things easier. My sister lightly sanded any rough spots on the wood, pretty much just the cut ends, and then she painted the strips in the garage. While she painted the wood strips, I prepped the wall. The wall and wood strips were both going to be a light gray, so that made things much easier for painting.

TIP: Be sure to paint the sides of the wood strips as well, not just the tops!

TIP: Label the back sides of the small wood strips to keep track of which ones are short and which are longer.

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Step 7:

Dust baseboard, tape off, lay down tarp and cut in with paint. I did not have to cut in perfectly near the top of the wall because a wood strip was going to be placed there. That saved some time. Once the wall is prepped, roll on the paint. Two coats is recommended. The timing worked out well that once my sister was done with the roller in the garage, I needed it to paint the wall. We took a lunch break while things were drying.

Bonus: When you are helping someone out with their house, they don’t mind washing out the brushes, etc.

 

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Step 8:

Using a cut wood strip as a spacer, figure out the placement of the long vertical strip of wood. The level is essential to making the grid straight. Mark with the pencil where your board will need to be. Use the liquid nails to glue the wood pieces to the wall and secure with painter’s tape.

TIP: Start at the corner that is most visible when you enter the room. We worked from left to right across the wall.

TIP: The best method to secure the wood strips ended up being to use small picture hanging nails just underneath to keep gravity from pulling the horizontal pieces slowly downward. Once glue sets up, remove the nails. Any small holes are filled later when caulking the joints.

 

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Step 9:

Continue gluing the wood strips to the wall by applying dabs of Liquid Nails to the back of the wood strips and pressing firmly to the wall. Tape was used to hold the horizontal strips in place while small brad nails were hammered partially into the wall to support the wood pieces. Finish off by adding the long wood piece along the top.

TIP: Time breaks when needed or when they can naturally occur between steps. We may have done a little dance session to a Tiffany song at some point in the process.

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Step 10:

Once all of the wood strips are attached to the wall, let the glue set up before removing the tape and nails. We took a dinner break at this point. I wanted to get the caulking done that night so I could paint it first thing in the morning before my afternoon flight.

Run a bead of caulk at each joint and seam, smooth with your finger. Our caulking was white and would stand out against the gray. After drying overnight, I painted over the caulking with the paintbrush and same gray color used on the wall and wood pieces the day before.

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That is all there was to it. My sister was happy with the results, this was a good gift to my baby niece (totally made up for my lack of producing a crocheted baby blanket, or the likes) and it looks fabulous. This simple wood wall feature added great texture and personality to an otherwise normal, possibly ho-hum room. What really makes this room look good is the cute accessorizing done by my sister. When her little girl is in her nursery, look out, cuteness overload!

If we can get this wood grid wall feature completed in two days time with no power tools, small children, and a limited budget, you can too! You have so got this. Enjoy making your house a home. 💙

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