How To Add a Bathroom Feature Wall

Let’s Talk Bathroom Feature Walls

Feature walls are certainly more popular than they have been in the past and they present an easy way to upscale your bathroom, or any room, without a lot of effort or skill required.

Typically a feature wall involves some kind of design elements like board and batten or simple vertical and horizontal boards of some kind and a colour that is different than the main wall colour.

Lets have a look at the most common options and the step + tools you will need to get it done.

Board and Batten

board and batten advanced design
board and batten bathroom design

True board and batten means that you are putting flat wood, usually some depth of plywood or MDF onto the wall and then adding the design elements on top. The board is either painted the same colour as the wall or a different colour.

The batten part of the design is the more intricate parts that go on top of the board to create blocks, or sections. These can also be painted in a variety of ways.

As you can see from the images there are more advanced methods of doing this that create a nice look but take more time and skill on the saw. The bathroom above has a simple square design using trim pieces ontop of the board.

If you go this way you want to make sure that you are using kitchen + Bath paint as it has additional moisture and water resistant qualities that will protect the board and the trim/battens from absorbing water over time and warping.

a feature wall with green and board and batton style design from a client
This is from a client that we helped get this done. We added the vertical boards and painted.

Time and Tools

This kind of project can usually be completed in a weekend and shouldn’t take too much effort.

Step 1 – You want to clean out your bathroom and if necessary remove anything that will be in your way. You may need to remove towel hooks or electrical cover plates. If you are doing board overtop of an electrical outlet you will likely need to do some electrical work to move the electrical box so the cover plate lines up when you put it back on. At this point I would recommend picking a different wall unless you know what you are doing. This blog post isn’t about electrical and you should either hire an electrician or get help from someone who knows what to do.

Step 2 – You want to make sure that your wall colour is the colour that you want. If it isn’t paint the wall BEFORE you put the board on. Trust me it’s just easier.

Step 3 – Attach the board over the whole area that you are covering. This step assumes that you have measured, purchased the material, cut it and its ready to attach. Yes you can paint it before attaching but you can also do it after. You need to use kitchen and bath paint for this.

To attach the board you can simply use a nail gun but I would recommend using 2-3 screws into studs just to be extra sure it’s not going anywhere especially if it’s a big piece. Make sure you couter sin the screws and nails.

Step 4 – Fill the nail and screw holes with wood putty.

Step 5 – Sand the Wood Putty

Step 6 – Paint the board

Step 7 – Put your battens on. This is where you use trim or baseboard to create your square look or design. I would recommend painting your battens before you cut them and attach them. Then paint again when they are on.

Step 8 – using caulking or dap fill in all the seams and gaps. Then paint what you need to.

Endgame

At the end of the day adding a feature wall to your bathroom can make a nice little addition. It can give you a lift on your space, and create a bit of a vibe if you are going to sell it. Don’t get too fancy with it, or too specific just keep it nice and easy.