Concrete walls are the most popular thing now, widely used for lots of décor styles and for different things, from walls and floors to furniture and accessories, and many of these things can be DIYed.
If you are into concrete and want to try it for decorating your home, this roundup is right what you need because I’m sharing a step by step instructions with tips and tricks on creating this beautiful wall.
Things needed for the wall
- Joint compound
- Liquid cement color- charcoal
- 2 buckets
- Putty knife
- Drywall trowel
- Metal spiral mixer
This method is pretty much the same way shown by lowes but there are some observations we made while doing the project. These tips are definetely helpful in acheiving the exact look.
1. Apply the joint compound( with color mixed) to a small area on the wall and let it dry( use hair dryer to dry it faster) to check the final color as the color tends to be lighter after drying compared to wet texture.
2. Try mixing the darker shade first and repeat step 1 till you are satisfied with the color.
3. Repeat step 2 and step 1 to get the appropriate lighter shade
4. Apply the darker shade of the joint compound mixture as base coat and then apply lighter shade on top.
5. Make sure the darker and lighter shades blend in well and not have too much difference.
6. Use ONLY trowel and no other tool to apply joint compound mixture to the wall for getting the right texture and look.
7. If your wall looks patchy and does not look blended like below, try adding another coat and nlend in.
Before with patches
After fixing the patches
8. And the last and important tip is that once you have the wall covered the colors might not look the way you anticipated but dont worry it will get better the next day. And you can always touch up with another coat the next day too. This is how it looks after it gets dried overnight.
Wood Paneling
This project is a continuation we did after we did the concrete wall. We have added a TV panel with plywood sheet and added paneling on one side to give the modern look.
Things required for this project:
- Pine strip board
- Birch Plywood for tv backing
- Brad nailer
- Wood screws 3 inch
- Wood filler
- 2×4’s for supporting big wood tv panel
- Wood Stain
Step 1: Take measurements
Take measurements of your wall and calculate how many strip boards you would need and how many columns you need on your wall.
Step 2: Cut the wood
Cut the strip boards and the plywood based on your measurements
Step 3: Stain
Stain all the strip boards and plywood panel.
Step 4: Add supporting beams
Mark where your beams are located behind the walls using a beam locator and add a 2 by 4 to secure the plywood sheet and your TV mount.
Step 5: Install the plywood
Install the plywood sheet over the beams and install your TV over it as shown in the video.
Step 6: Add lighting
Add LED light strip behind the plywood sheet. Checkout my kids room makeover for complete instructions on how to install LED strip lights
Step 7: Add paneling
Now start fixing the strip boards using brad nailer. In order to give correct spacing between each panel, make use of the strip boards and place a strip board between each panel.
Checkout the video for complete process:
And you are all set. This is how beautiful the paneling would look on your walls.
