I’m so excited to share the latest project from our One Room Challenge: a DIY accent wall with grasscloth wallpaper and wood planks in our main bedroom! The overall style I am going for in this bedroom is modern rustic, and this accent wall is the perfect way to add a touch of texture and warmth to the space.

Read on to see how we created this easy DIY accent wall!

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What is Grasscloth Wallpaper, and why is it a great choice for an accent wall?

Grasscloth wallpaper is made from natural plant fibers, such as seagrass, jute, and bamboo. It is backed with paper or fabric for stability. Grasscloth wallpaper is durable, textured, and naturally beautiful. I know I say this all the time, but texture is my love language, and grasscloth is the ultimate way to add texture to a space. The Wallpaper I chose has a paperweave (upper right-hand side). It’s from a company called Grass Cloth + More and is Slate Blue, not the greenish color shown on their site. Grasscloth is expensive, so always order a sample.

Close-up of the actual color, which is a slate grey and blue.

Why add the wood planks?

Fun fact: my original plan called for grasscloth wallpaper with 1-inch boards about 4 inches apart on top of the paper. But when the Wallpaper arrived, I realized I had not ordered enough (🤦). I was about 12 square feet short, and the Wallpaper was on a two-week backorder. Since I was on a budget and a deadline, I had to adapt. I decided that if I switched from the thinner boards to larger boards, I could make it work with the amount of Wallpaper I had.

DIY Grasscloth and Wood Plank Wall Tutorial

Here is where we are started.

BTW, My husband is in all the pictures, but I contributed my share of sweat equity as well (😉).

Wood Planks:

I started by whitewashing the 1×10 boards with gray paint. To whitewash them (which was to soften the yellow tones slightly), I mixed an old can of sample paint I had on hand with water in a 50/50 ratio. You can see how I whitewashed here on another accent wall.

For reference, we used to have a wood accent wall in this space, which we took down and moved to one of our short-term rental properties late this summer.

Grasscloth Wallpaper

We were then ready to paste the wall. As the paper was pretty heavy, we were generous with the paste.

This was when I realized that using the wood planks along with the grasscloth wallpaper was going to be a happy accident, as we didn’t have to trim the fringe that is common with grasscloth.

Installing grasscloth wallpaper can be challenging, but this installation was as easy as hanging regular Wallpaper. The wood planks will cover the fringe.

Once the boards were whitewashed, we measured where they would go. To gain a few square feet, we did not paper behind the boards.

Then, we worked our way across the wall. Carefully smoothing out any bubbles as I went. We let the paper dry overnight. 

The next morning, we applied wood glue to the boards and used a pneumatic nailer to secure them.

I wasn’t too concerned about removing the wood planks in the future, as the wall was already filled with nail holes from the previous project. It will need to be skim-coated if I decide to change it at a later date.

I was surprised at how fast the project went, and I truly love it. Grasscloth is the ultimate way to add texture to a space.

The finished accent wall:

This is week 5 of the One Room Challenge, so we still need to finish a few more projects and style the room, but I am so excited with how the space is coming along!

Next up is the sliding door, so stay tuned for next week’s update!

Until next time,

Libbie

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