This little modern feature wall project has been a little dream in the back of my brain for a while now. Visions of moulding would creep up on me while I was running, geometric designs would surface again while I was relaxing before bed… but I just couldn’t seem to find the time to make it happen.
So, instead of waiting for the right time, we just made the time. For the record, we mayyyy have a habit of just making reno projects fit our crazy schedule. But, we pulled our dining room apart for a weekend (plus a couple extra days… because toddlers) and we made it happen!
Here’s a quick snapshot of the “before” – including, for your viewing pleasure, a messy sideboard, and a blank wall (or maybe a blank canvas?).
And here’s the AFTER!
I’m so excited with how it all came together, and I wanted to share a few tips and tricks we used to bring our modern feature wall to life, and that helped make the process run smoothly.
Materials We Used:
(spoiler alert – we bought everything at The Home Depot Canada)
Alexandria Moulding casing 8’ x 1 ½ “ x 5/8” (it’s pre-primed and the dimensions worked perfectly for us)
Levels
Speed Squares
Painters Tape
Finishing Nail Gun
Brad nails
Mitre Saw (or a circular saw with a build-your-own jig… more on this later)
Tape Measure
Paint
Paint Brush and Small Roller
Putty
Putty knife
Sanding block
How We Did It:
It all started with a plan. I drew out 3-4 design plans before landing on one that I loved. Then my measure-everything-three-times husband transferred my design drawing into a version that wouldn’t make his brain hurt!
Then it was tape time. Because I need to see everything laid out to know if I like it, we wanted to mock the design up on the wall using painters tape. The tape was exactly the same width (1 ½ inches) as the Alexandria Moulding that we were using. Perfecto! We used levels, a good old measuring tape and my eyeballs to get the design just how we wanted it. And yep, I moved things around more than once.
Once we had the layout looking just right using painters tape, we started measuring and cutting the moulding. I’d highly recommend using a mitre saw to make all the angle cuts clean and easy. We didn’t have one handy, so Mike ended up making his own jig. Totally doable, but the mitre saw definitely simplifies the process!
We used a finishing nail gun and brad nails to attach the moulding to the wall. Though if you’re working with lath and plaster walls, you may want to use construction adhesive instead of nails.
Once the boards we up and the painters tape was down, we used putty/joint compound and covered all the nail holes and joints. After the putty was dry, it was a quick sand to remove an excess putty (all the joints and nail holes should be smooth and flat!) and then a wipe down with a damp rag to remove any dust from sanding. Now we let everything dry thoroughly overnight before painting!
Painting was a bit of a process for us. We used white paint in Polar Bear from Behr which was fabulous to work with, but we were covering grey, so we knew we’d need a few coats to make it perfect. Painting the moulding was a breeze – it’s already primed and covers beautifully. But we needed to cut the edges of the wall with a few coats of white paint, and then use a combination of paintbrush strokes around the edges of each wall section, and a small roller in the larger sections to smooth out the colour application. We used a paintbrush on the edges of the moulding, and a small roller across the top to get a nice smooth application!
And that’s it! After that we pulled the furniture back in the room, added a new light fixture to keep the space feeling open and to keep the sight lines clear to the fabulous wall detail, and pulled in a few plants… because you know I need them in every space!
Tackling your own modern feature wall? We’d love to hear about it! Send us a note, drop a question or comment below, or just send us a photo! You know we love a good moulding-inspired wall!
Note: This project was completed in partnership with The Home Depot Canada and Alexandria Moulding. We received product and compensation as part of our partnership, but the design ideas, product selections and opinions are all ours!
