I've been a bit MIA on the blog lately and this post is the reason why. Taking on a DIY Panelled Wall was a bit more challenging than I expected but in the end totally worth it. And despite being scared of my newly purchased mitre saw, I completed this project in two days with all fingers in tact.

This post is part of my work for the One Room Challenge. It's week 3, are you following along? Be sure to check out the participants progress here and the guests participants here.

I began this project by doing a bit of research. A few of my blogger friends had already taken on their own panelled wall projects and I found their posts super helpful - check out Rambling Renovators post and Sincerely Sara D for more info.

Here is the list of items I used for my Panelled Wall:

• 9 pieces of 2.5" x 10ft mdf molding (I used primed because I knew I wanted the wall to be white)
• 2 pieces of 2.5" x 12ft mdf molding
• mitre saw
• brad nailer 
• level
• hand-sander
• all purpose construction adhesive
• crack repair
• wood filler
• paint

I decided I would leave my existing base boards (some people remove this but I couldn't do that without affecting the rest of the room plus I prefer this look). So taking that into consideration I measured the width and height of the room and built my grid on paper.  Just by eyeing it I felt I could fit 5 boards horizontally and 5 boards vertically. To make the calculations easier to understand I will focus on the vertical boards (you can repeat the same process for the horizontal). Multiply the number of boards across by the width of the board (5 x 2.5"), subtract this from the width of the wall, and then take that number and divide it by the number of spaces on the wall (4).  You're left with the width of each square (repeating this process for the horizontal boards will give you the height of each square).


I used my sons sidewalk to mock this up on the wall. I had to make a few adjustments to account for a few light switches and the thermostat (ugh).


Once I was ready to cut I decided I wanted to frame the wall then do the vertical boards and then the horizontal (mainly because I would be doing this on my own and knew I wouldn't be able to hold up a long horizontal board). I measured each board individually because I found my wall wasn't perfectly square. I cut each board with my mitre saw (unplugging it after each use).


I used construction glue on the back of each board before adhering it to the wall (this helped me make slight adjustments to ensure it was level before nailing it in).



I used a cordless brad nailer (rented from the Home Depot). I was curious whether or not it would be as powerful without a compressor, the help at Home Depot said it was a amazing and they were right!


Once all my boards were hung, I filled the cracks and nail holes and let that dry overnight.


Finally sanded everything down, primed and painted.