My wood slat wall dreams become a reality with this gorgeous DIY installation. Learn how to create this stunning look for your space.
Get caught up on my other One Room Challenge posts:
- I: Making Over My Guest Bathroom on a Budget
- II: Replacing the Bathroom Hardware
- III: The Battle of the Floating Shelves
- IV: How To DIY A Stunning Wood Slat Wall
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may get a commission if you make a purchase through one of these links, at no additional cost to you.
I have been seeing wood slat walls all over the internet recently. So when I decided to makeover our guest bathroom, I knew it was exactly what I wanted. Since our guest bathroom doesn’t have any windows, I figured an accent wall would be a nice focal point for the room. Now that it’s all said and done, the guest bathroom is giving off major spa vibes – which I love. I’m just about ready to draw a bubble bath and pour a glass of wine, but we’re still wrapping up some finishing touches. Be sure to check back in on the final reveal of the bathroom for the One Room Challenge.
Tools & Materials
Lumber
- (9) – 1x6x10
Supplies
- 1in Nails
- Wood Stain
- Polyurethane
- Paint (optional)
Tools
Get more info on my favorite beginner tools in my blog post, ‘5 Woodworking Tools You Need For Your Beginner Workshop’
Steps
1. Measure Your Wall
First things first, you need to measure your wall. I knew I wanted to do 1in wide slats that were ¾ in apart from each other. So I measured my wall and did the math on how many slats I would need. My wall was 59 inches wide, so 59in / (1in + ¾ in) equals about 34 wood slats. You can obviously do the wall any way you’d like, but I suggest using that formula to estimate how many slats you’ll need.
How Many Wood Slats: Width of Wall / (Width of Wood Slat + Gap between Slats)
2. Cut Lumber for your Wood Slats
Set your table saw to 1 inch and rip down the lumber to be 1inch thick slats. You can also buy lumber that is 1x2x10 for the same effect. It will cost a bit more, but is a simpler alternative if you don’t have a table saw.
3. Sand, Stain, and Seal your Wood Slats
Use a 120 grit sandpaper and sand down all the wood slats. You’ll only need to sand 3 sides of the slats since one side will be against the wall and doesn’t need to be sanded. Once you’ve sanded everything, pre-condition and stain your wood slats. Lastly, apply a coat or two of poly to seal everything in and protect the wood. I made sure to really seal my wood slats since they would be in a bathroom with no windows – so basically a humidity hot box.
For the stain, I chose to do Mission Oak and I sealed with a spray can of Varathane’s oil-based Polyurethane.
If you’ve never stained wood before or are looking to perfect your staining, check out my post on how to stain wood.
4. Install Your Wood Slat Wall
If you want an extra pop, pick and paint the wall before you install the slats. That way the paint color will show between the gaps of your wood slats. I chose to paint our wall Behr’s Satin Black for a moody feel behind the warm tones of the wood.
When you’re ready to install, have a scrap piece of wood handy to use as a spacer for the wood slats. Since the walls in homes are all notoriously not straight, start on one end of the wall and nail in your wood slat. Using the scrap spacer, make your way down the wall and nail the wood slats as you go.
With 1in slats, the probability of even slight warping is high, so every nail I put in was next to the spacer to make sure every slat was parallel to the previous one. The last thing you want is uneven wood slats.
The whole installation process will likely take a few hours so pace yourself and expect to do a ton of trips up and down ladders.
After finishing this wood wall, I am obsessed with the final look! The wall looks twice as long with the mirror being adjacent to the wall. I can’t wait to finish the rest of the bathroom and surprise my friends and family with the finished product!
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If you want behind the scenes footage of how I accomplished this or any of my other projects, check out my Instagram @MelanatedMakerDIY. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel!