how to create a geometric wood feature wall with absolutely NO woodworking skills

I wouldn’t classify myself as handy. Creative? Sure. Handy? Definitely not. So when I told Ben I was going to attempt a wood feature wall in our laundry room he was like uuummmmm…okay. Welp, a quarantined weekend later and I’m happy to report that 1) I did it! and 2) I LOVE the final result.

What I used:

First, I taped out the design to start to visualize my plan.

I prepped the walls/room and did a first coat of paint before starting on the wood.

I adhered the wood with gorilla construction adhesive and/or nails, using the miter box and saw to cut the edges at the right angle, starting with the long horizontal piece (you could eliminate this piece if you aren’t adding hooks). Before starting, I had no idea what a miter box/saw was…basically it allows you to cut accurate angles. Where nails were used and any place with imperfections/gaps, I spackled and sanded.

When everything was dry, I painted another coat (or 2 in some places) using a small brush to get in the cracks where the wood meets the wall.

For the finishing touch, I added hooks for coats, backpacks, etc.! The whole thing took me only a few days with lots and lots of breaks. It’s definitely a project you could do in a day or two if you had no interruptions.

This is the first thing you see when you walk in our house from the garage. I love it!

Tips:

  • Put a coat of paint on the wall before you start adhering the wood to the wall. This helps when you go to add the second or third coat of paint and allows you to be a little more imperfect with it.
  • Obviously an electric miter saw and a nail gun would have sped up this process (and maybe then I wouldn’t have been sore for days from cutting!) but I wasn’t going to buy those tools just for this project so I went the manual route! Cutting was definitely the hardest and most time consuming part of the project.
  • Tape out a design but know that you might stray from it. I used the taped design to measure how much wood I’d need. I reallllly strayed when it came time to put everything up. I just kind of looked at it and made the next cut based on what I thought would look good. TBH, my initial design was way too aggressive, ha.
  • Use Gorilla construction adhesive for smaller pieces instead of nails. But, make sure the big pieces are secured with nails in studs. Know that if you’re going to go this route, it’s going to have to be a pretty permanent installation (taking this down would be tough with lots of wall repair needed).
  • Don’t worry about perfection. In the pic with the raw wood, you can see how many imperfections I have. Paint covers more than you think!
  • PVC trim is probably lighter and might work even better than wood while achieving the same look.
  • A lot of home improvement stores are offering curbside pickup right now so this project can be social distancing-approved!

I’ll try and do a full laundry room reveal once I finish and get some pics taken! Are you working on any home projects right now? I worked on a bathroom this week as well that I’m almost ready to share!