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Hey friends! Craig and I recently completed the DIY Wall Moulding in the Nursery and I got some questions about how we did it…so this post is going to outline that. I knew I really wanted an accent wall of some kind, but wasn’t sure initially which direction I wanted to go in. I was *this close* to getting a wallpaper, but since we just spent SO MUCH TIME (ok and some money too) getting the previous owner’s wallpaper taken down, it was just not something we were mentally prepared to do on our fresh walls.
So, instead we added our own DIY wall moulding and it was overall a pretty easy and relatively inexpensive project! We did the moulding itself in a day. Paint came later, so we didn’t include that here other than priming the moulding pieces. That was our very first step, in fact! We primed them first, let them dry (which was pretty quick) and then got to work.
Here was my vision…I sketched it out on paper and did some math to figure out how far apart we wanted everything to be, etc. so we had a game plan going in.
Basically, I took the overall height and width of the wall. I decided to have the moulding pieces 6 inches apart on the perimeter as well as in between, so I kind of just worked my way in from there to make everything even. Mostly just some basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division will get you what you need for your space. As with most projects, we had to slightly pivot when the distance I had originally measured actually ran right into the electrical outlets on the wall because that wasn’t something I accounted for with my measurements.
Since we were trying to minimize cuts in the moulding as much as possible to keep the project as easy as possible, we ended up keeping them 6 inches apart on the width but about 4 inches from the ceiling and floorboard trim. The outlets were, in fact, in some pretty inconvenient places for us (lol), but we made it work. I had Craig hold up some pieces so I could visualize it before committing to it.
We basically measured everything out first using a level (you definitely want to use a level so that everything is even and your cuts will go together seamlessly) and made little pencil marks on the wall where each piece would go before we nailed it in.
From there it was just about cutting the 45 degree angles on the moulding and nailing them all to the wall. We used a miter saw to make our cuts.
Here’s some progress…
Were there some mess ups along the way? Of course. A few we just measured slightly off so when we made the cut it wasn’t long enough, which would have made it not level. Just double check each one before you nail it in to make sure it’s level. For this reason, I recommend buying a few extra pieces of moulding just in case you mess up. We bought 2 extras (11 total) and that worked well for us.
Once they were in place, we caulked the seam of the moulding to the wall and filled the nail holes with caulk as well. You could also use wood filler or spackle if that is your preference, then let it all dry. Craig sanded the caulk over the nail holes once it was dry and then we were able to proceed with the next step: paint!
Here’s the finished look of the wall moulding, with a sneak peek of the paint! If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve already seen this little sneak. The color is Sherwin Williams “Oyster Bay” in eggshell sheen. We aren’t finished with the paint just yet. I plan to paint the floorboard trim the same color for a complete color drenching of that wall. Stay tuned for the finished look.
DIY Wall Moulding – What You’ll Need
- Wall Moulding
- Measuring Tape
- Hammer
- Nails
- Level
- Caulk Gun & Caulk
- Wood Filler (if you prefer this over caulk to fill small nail holes)
- Sandpaper
- Miter Saw (if you don’t have one of these, you could instead try using Miter Shears and wall moulding that can be cut with them, like this kind which also already comes primed)
DIY Wall Moudling – The Steps
- Measure height & width of walls, determining how far apart you want your moulding to be and how far away from the ceiling and floor. From there you should be able to do some basic math to find the even measurements for your room.
- Prime mouldling pieces, if not already primed
- Use level and measuring tape to mark off where each piece of trim will go. We just used a pencil to make a small mark for each piece
- Next you will trim to fit the size you need using the miter saw or miter shears.
- Double check each piece is level and the right length before nailing it in, but then just go piece by piece and install them all!
- TIP: We found out after the first box we made that it was easier to cut all the vertical pieces at the same time (this way we only had to measure one, then cut them all the same to fit) and then we did the same thing with the horizontal pieces.
- Once all are nailed in, caulk the seams and fill the nail holes with wood filler. Allow those to dry, sand the wood filler smooth, and then you’re ready to paint!
Since we had basically all the tools and equipment we needed minus the wall moulding itself, this project only cost us about $95. Even if you have to invest in the other tools, they can be used for so many things you’d definitely get more use out of them later on.
TIP: If you don’t consider yourself to be very handy and don’t want to do a project like this but love the look, there are pre-made kits you can get on Etsy (like this one) where they will do all the math and frame out everything for you, and send you a peel & stick version. All you’d have to do is peel it and stick it to your wall. I’d still recommend caulking after so it’s truly seamless. This is a more expensive option, but another option nonetheless!
Hope this helps you with your DIY wall moulding project! Let me know if you give it a try. I actually foresee doing a few other spots in the new house so I’ll be sure to share those, too!
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xo,
Bess
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