Colorful and Rustic Plank Headboard Wall
A headboard is often the focal point of the bedroom, and the decorating choice that sets the style of the room. And an accent wall brings so much character into any room. So why not combine the two and make a full headboard wall?!? Kristianne from Pearls Pinstripes and Peanut Butter is here to show you how she and her husband built a fabulous beach-inspired plank headboard wall — check it out and then link up your headboard at the link party at the bottom of the post!
They paired their headboard wall with a simple upholstered headboard, but this would look just as chic without it. And so easily to personalize to your favorite color or finish! Here’s the tutorial from Kristianne:
How to Build a Colorful Rustic Headboard Wall
by Kristianne from Pearls Pinstripes & Peanut Butter
We were blessed to be able to build our home about 2 years ago but we didn’t want to have to pay for all of the detail that we wanted in it. So this is how our bedroom started out. We liked the size, but it was pretty blah! Tony knew I was anxious to do SOMETHING with it. So he built the new Beach Headboard Wall for my birthday. So sweet!
We both knew we wanted to do some sort of accent wall. When we went on a work trip to Las Vegas we saw this cool one at Outback Steakhouse.
Then we saw this awesome picture & frame at the Bellagio which I absolutely loved! I especially liked how the paint colors matched the photo perfectly.
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With this inspiration, Tony had a feel for what he wanted to create & he started collecting wood. Most of it came from a friend’s fence that had blown over (FREE is always good 🙂
The first step was to tear apart the bedroom & make a big mess 🙂 then frame the wall with 2x4s so the accent wall would add dimension to the room. He started by cutting off the baseboard with a dremmel. Then he drilled the top & bottom horizontal 2x4s into the studs so the headboard would be nice & sturdy. Next he secured 5 2x4s vertically, attaching them to the horizontal ones. To make sure each of the separate planks would all be level, he added a thin plank (the same depth as the fence planks) about 18″ from the bottom.
We took this photo a few years ago when we visited La Paz Mexico. We loved the vibrant colors in it so we chose this as our color palette.
Tony used a Natural Stain to bring out the natural tones in the wood. He also used Behr paint samples from Home Depot ($3 each) for the painted planks. The dark blue color is Restless Sea, the green hue is Royal Orchard, the bright blue is called Caribe, & the white is Polished Pearl. He randomly painted different planks before measuring them precisely & cutting them with his table saw. Each plank started out being 6″ wide but to add more variety, he decided to do 4″ planks & 2″ planks. Then he measured & cut each piece to line up perfectly with each stud. Finally he secured each plank to the studs using a finishing nail gun. He didn’t have a consistent pattern, only tried to separate the colors.
Another intricate part was the time-consuming detail of each side.
After finishing the woodwork, the last step was to add the Beach Photo. We had it blown up on foam core so it would be sturdy. Then we drilled holes in each of the corners to fit 4″ bolts behind it. We wanted the picture to hold stiffly so we put 3 nuts behind it (it was cheaper than buying one giant one or getting custom ones).
I love how it pops out of the wall for more dimension!
Overall the project took Tony 1 full workday, without children at home– & yes that makes a big difference! The cost ended up being about $55: paint & stain = $15, picture blown up on foam core = $30, nuts & bolts $10, wood = free! (except for 2x4s which we already had). It has been worth every penny!
There you have it! Now all you need to do is go find someone who has an old fence to get rid of 😉


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Thank you so much for joining us today, Kristianne! Love the wall, love the cost, and love the colors!
Remodelaholics, we still have more great Headboard Week features for you! If you’ve missed any of the previous headboard tutorials, you can get caught up here. And tomorrow we will have your ultimate guide to headboard shapes and sizes — it’s a good one!
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The headboard is stunning!! The first time I saw it, I thought of the beach. Love the colors. Love it!!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
This is awesome, really dig the colors! I’m going to HAVE TO try something like this soon!