When we moved into our current home ten years ago, there was one kid's room that was quite a bit bigger than the rest. Since our kids are far enough apart in grade and age that they just kind of trickle out, we decided to let each kid have a turn in that room, starting with the oldest. It's seen a little bit of rock n' roll for our musical oldest and then transitioned to a grey and glam bedroom for our daughter and for the past year, our youngest son has anticipated his sister moving out and has been formulating a plan for the day the room would be his! I mentioned one day that I think it would be cool to put in a geometric feature wall and he agreed! So I'm sharing how we changed a very girly glam room into a masculine teen boy room with some boards on the wall!

DIY Geometric Feature Wall on Textured Walls

Accent Wall on Textured Walls: Everything You Need to Know!
What is an Accent Wall?

An accent wall is an interior or exterior wall with a different color, shade, design or material from the surrounding walls. It becomes a focal point of a room.
What Wall Should a Feature Wall be on?
The accent wall should be where your attention naturally falls in the room. For example, if the room you're working on has a fireplace or built-in bookshelf, that will naturally draw your eye so you should consider that wall your accent wall. In a bedroom, it's often the wall that the bed sits on. 

Can You Do an Accent Wall on Textured Walls?

Textured walls have been the bane of my existence in this house. Wall textures are a common way to finish off the imperfections in drywall. I am fairly certain that textured walls {and in contrast smooth walls} are a regional thing. Maybe because I grew up in the Midwest where smooth walls were more common, or maybe because I'm such a fan of millwork, but the textured walls in our house drive me crazy!

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How to Texture an Accent WallWhat Kind of Texture Should I Put on My WallsDo Textured Walls Add ValueHow Do I Paint a Wall to Make it Look Textured

I hate textured walls. I wish all my walls were flat and smooth. I am no help here. But if you have textured walls, and you want to work around them, this post is for you!

Don't miss this True Board and Batten Tutorial-especially if you have textured walls!
Most of us are familiar with popcorn texture, but there is also orange peel texture, smooth texture, knockdown texture, and sand texture paint. Our house has an orange peel texture. It's a subtle splatter texture that's created by spraying plaster onto drywall. The texture often looks like an orange peel, hence the name.
When we installed board and batten, the textured walls didn't allow us the luxury of skipping the board step. That's generally the more expensive and time-consuming step, and many of the DIY tutorials you'll find out there have skipped this step. But in order to create a smooth backing for the boards, we needed to add the board. 

What to Know Before you Add a Feature Wall

Before you add a feature wall, you are going to want to know if your walls are textured or not. You may not have ever paid them any attention before, but this is an important step because so many bloggers/DIY'ers live all over the world, and if you follow a tutorial from someone who has smooth walls and you have textured walls, the result is going to be different. 
It may not be bad, it will just be different. 
That said, when you follow a tutorial, also know what there is often fancy editing that happens which could change the look of a project. Have you ever asked for a paint color recommendation from a blogger only to find that the color was totally different when you actually used it? Yep. The filter strikes again!
Again, it's not bad, it will just be different. Remember your house, your results. I want you to be happy with the end result.

Just a little side by side of the girl's room feature wall and the boy's room feature wall.

How Do You Know Which Wall to Make an Accent Wall?

This is generally personal preference. You probably already have a wall in mind. There are a few questions to keep in mind: What wall do you look at first when you walk in the room? What one is holding the majority of the furniture? What will do you want to make into an accent wall? Keeping these questions in mind will help you make the best decision. 

What Room to Add an Accent Feature Wall To?

The possibilities are endless! You can add an accent wall to a living room, bedroom, nursery or even a bathroom. Heck, you could even add an accent to the ceiling! Accent walls add depth and interest while adding a good interior design element to a room.

Do I Really Need to Do Math for a Feature Wall?

This is a loaded question.

Exhibit A:

See that small white piece of paper? That was something I drew to show my husband what I was thinking. My husband is an engineer. My random design wasn't cutting it for an actual plan he said. So, he took out graph paper {who knew people actually used that past the 7th grade??} and he designed a plan. {Let's all look at the part that says "scale" and laugh and laugh because that's some nerd talk right there.}
Anyway, I appreciate my nerd husband. If it were me doing this DIY, I would have literally just nailed some boards up on the wall in a cool pattern. 
Obviously, this would have been wrong. {reader, no it wouldn't have been. It would have been fine.}
Instead, there was a well thought out plan in place with each board receiving a number so that it could be easily cut and put together. 
Was it faster? Probably. But only if you understand math.{shaking my head, this is not me}
Which is why I tapped out and let my husband and son nerd out on numbers.

How to Get Started on Your Geometric Feature Wall

Every wall will be a different size and will require different measurements so I can't share ours with you. 
This wall is large {about 15" wide}, so we knew we could use the larger MDF pre-finished casing boards. The ones we used were 9/16"x 2 1/4"x 7'. The wall used 10 of the 7' long boards.
The first cut required a little trigonometry. Listen, tap out now if you want. I get it. This DIY is REAL user-friendly right?
I read a lot of tutorials and watched a lot of Instagram Stories with people making feature walls and friends, they were literally slapping boards on walls, much like I would have.
I also heard from people doing tutorials that these feature walls would take them all day. With the measurements in place and the coordinating numbers to boards that my husband drew up, the wall went up in about an hour. So a little planning {and math} goes a long way.

You are going to need a square. This is a non-negotiable if you are doing a geometric wall. 
{side note, why do they call them squares if they look like triangles??}

You are also going to want to make sure your wall is prepped.
This wall was a feature in my daughter's old room so we had to start by ripping off all the old wallpaper. 

Want to see more of the Girls Glam Bedroom makeover?

Once we removed the wallpaper, we could prep the walls. Once you prep your walls, you are ready to get started!

After the first bit of math was done {see above}, the measurements were done so the first board could go up. 

The rest of the boards just quickly fell into place.

You could use a regular old hammer and nails, but a nail gun makes this job go so much more quickly. 

This is the wall, totally nailed in, but without caulk in the nail holes and in the seams. 

The Longest Part of the Process

Stay with me friends. This is a pro tip from experience with creating our board and batten wall. You are going to want to use drywall compound in the nail holes and on all of the joints. Caulk will often shrink too much. Drywall compound will need at least two coats and about a day for it to dry, and you'll want to sand it in between, but this will give you the smoothest transition so everything is seamless.

All of the seams have been caulked {where the boards meet the wall}.  You have to do this before you paint. 

This part of the process will take the longest because caulk shrinks and will need sanding between applications. You'll need to wait for it to dry as well. This part of the process is what makes the whole thing feel long and drawn out.

But if you skip this, your wall will look ug-o. 

See how much smoother those joints are? It makes the whole thing look seamless.

Choosing a Paint Color for a Feature Wall

Friends, this is all personal preference. We went back and forth if we wanted to paint this wall a different color than the rest of the room to help it pop, but in the end, we had a hard enough time finding a true gray color that my son liked that I didn't want to rock the boat and add another option in there.

Some people will choose to go with a darker color for a feature wall. For us, we wanted the geometric feature wall to be an extension of the rest of the room and decided to keep it the same color as the rest of the room. Plus it was easier. 
Honestly, the easier reason was why we did it.

We used Behr Dolphin Fin paint and love how it turned out.

My son quickly added LED lights around the top of the room and under his bed. He's a teenager after all. 
But this teen makes his bed EVERY DAY!!! You guys, this news is earth-shattering. I have had two other teens at home who I thought were incapable of having clean rooms, but this child, he makes his bed on the daily, which I think makes his room look so much cleaner!
I mean, his room is clean anyway, but want to know the secret?
He has Beddy's. The sheets, blanket, and comforter all go on the bed like a fitted sheet and they zipper! It takes him under 30 seconds to make his bed. They are expensive, so you have to really brace yourself for that, but honestly, I think they are worth it.
I'm obsessed with these now and wish I'd found them sooner. You can purchase anything from twin to king size. 

Does it matter if you have textured walls when you install a DIY geometric feature wall? I don't think so. I think you can add a feature wall to your existing walls and you are going to love the change it brings to a room!

Give this a try and let me know what you think!

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I'll be doing a full bedroom reveal on Thursday and you aren't going to want to miss it! 
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