DIY accent wall

This little project was done a few days before Christmas. It was a total I have an idea, I want to try this, spur the moment kind of thing.

Remember about a year ago I had put some floating shelves up in the playroom? Well, they annoyed me all year. Floating shelves are tricky! I could never find the perfect balance between them not looking empty, and them looking cluttered. So off the wall they came (and will go up in the bathroom to put towels and stuff on). That left me with a bare, white, empty wall.

Of course being a huge wallpaper fan, I wanted to wallpaper that wall. But it's a large wall to wallpaper, and would have been very expensive. So I decided to fiddle around with some painters tape to make a pattern on the wall instead.

To get the pattern that I wanted, I first had to test it out on some paper. So I put painters tape on a piece of paper, in the pattern that I wanted, then coloured over top with crayon. It took a few tries, but finally I got exactly what I was looking for. In hind sight, I'm sure I could have googled or looked on pinterest to help me find a pattern, but I didn't think of that until after I was already done.















First of all, if your going to attempt this project, you will need to prime your wall first. If you don't, the paint will peel off the wall when you remove the painters tape.

Here's what I did. First decide how big you want your squares. I made mine 12 inches, which made a lot of small squares on the wall. Next I cut a TON of pieces of painters tape, all measuring 12 inches long. Then start putting them on the wall.




I started at the top of the wall, and worked my way down and out from there. For the over-lap squares I measured 2 inches in, and 2 inches down (if that makes sense). For the first half of the wall I actually used a ruler to measure, but eventually my little helper stole my ruler, so I just eye balled it the rest of the wall. Then once your entire wall is covered in tape (and your nearing the point of going insane) you can start painting! Use a roller and paint just like you would any other wall in your house. I did two coats, and after the second coat you couldn't even see the tape on the wall anymore. Once it's fully dried, peel all that painters tape off, and reveal your new accent wall!

Pros: looks awesome! Has the same sort of effect as wallpaper, but is much, much cheaper.

Cons: it's a tedious project. If your a perfectionist, I don't recommend you attempt this. It would take you FOREVER to make sure every single piece of tape is completely straight and would drive you bonkers.

So after I completed the wall, I did some rearranging. Moved the desk and bench,and the room now feels so much more open. Then Coral and I went on a date and she got to pick the accent colour for the room. She of course chose pink.