I’ve been slowly filling our living room with furniture and even though I loved the pieces in this room, it still felt a little blah. And then I saw an inspiration photo from one of my favorite pillow shops, @collectivco. They had a very similar setup to my own but had an accent wall with a simple shelf that made all the difference. So I went and bought pine boards and a quart of paint and got to work!
You will need:
3 pine boards to span the length of the room (the following order is how the shelf is laid out):
1×4”
1×2”
1×4”
Drill/drill bit
Nails
Hammer
Stud finder
Wall putty
Paint color for shelf
Paint color for wall below shelf
First you’ll want to decide how high up you want the shelf. I wanted it high enough above my daybed that I could see a significant amount of the accent wall. Then we put up the first 1×4 by pre-drilling holes into the board strategically over the studs. Finding the studs in an important step to ensure your shelf will be sturdy enough for whatever you want to put on it. We then hammered in the nails but used a nail set to set the nails in flush to the board without marking it up.
The second board to place on the wall is the 1×2”. You’ll put this overlapping and lined up at the top of the 1×4” already on the wall. Again, pre-drill holes in the 1×2 where you’ll place it on top of the 1×4 and nail in. The last board to place is the shelf (the other 1×4” board). This time you’ll want to pre drill nail holes at an angle into the shelf board and nail in. I then filled in all the nail holes with wall putty and sanded them down until smooth.
The last step is the fun part. Painting!
I bought already primed pine boards but you can also use Premium Pine boards. When I have used these in the past I primed them before painting. I painted the shelf white, Bohemian Lace by Sherwin Williams, and the wall beneath it in Salamander by Benjamin Moore.
Choosing a bold color was a bit out of my comfort zone as I am a neutral lover at heart, but I think it turned out to be the perfect amount of color.
Total cost: $48. Totally worth it to change the look of the room entirely!
Her Idea His Project 