I knew from the beginning I wanted to bring in some sort of texture. The space is small but has 13 ft ceilings. The texture will add some warmth to the room. Because we already have a vertical wood wall and a skinny wood wall in this house, any type of wood accent walls were out. I also felt I wanted to add a very causal nod towards the nautical. So with texture in mind, I began to search. One day, while traveling in the UK, I was googling ideas for accent walls and found this wallpaper on a UK decor site by a company called Direct Wallpapers.
by Libbie B
Rope Accent Wall
3 Materials
$200
1 Week
Medium
Today I am sharing a project that we did when we renovated our Laundry/Mudspace at the lake. I wanted to add some texture so we made an accent wall made from rope. Yes, you heard that right. We DIY'd an accent wall out of rope.
Rope accent wall in the mudroom/Laundry room
Although this is photographed rope made into wallpaper, I immediately thought real ROPE!!! YESSSSSS. Hubs will love this! ;) To my surprise, he did and immediately set to work figuring out how to attach it to the wall. Side note: My Husband is an Engineer. His first instinct is always "how," while mine is to run for the glue gun, and then I am ready to go.
We decided to attach the rope horizontally after realizing it would be much easier to install the 5.5 ft x 13 ft wall in sections. We secured the rope to 1/4 inch plywood (cut into 4.5 ft wide ft x 4 ft high) with my very favorite tool, a GLUE GUN.
WARNING: This was extremely time-consuming, and we ran into a few snags.
1. The ends of the rope fray easily. So we wrapped the ends with electrical tape before cutting for each cut. We used a PVC pipe cutter to cut the rope. Thanks for that suggestion Home Depot!
2. We applied hot glue to the rope's ends after cutting to prevent fraying once the electrical tape was removed.
3. Did I mention it's time-consuming!
We then installed the plywood using drywall anchors to attach each section to the wall. It took 3-1/4 panels to go to the ceiling. That was it!! It did take several days to get the rope glued onto the plywood. It will be easy to remove if I get tired of it. I love the look of the rope against the navy cabinets.
I am often asked about how we keep it clean. I use a hand vacuum once a month at the same time we dust the cobwebs off the ceiling.
I am often asked how I keep it clean. I use a hand vac whenever it seems to need it.
I love the rope texture against the navy cabinets.
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Have a question about this project?
What kind of snags did you run into, and how did you get past them?
I would say the hardest things we ran into was working with the very high ceilings (the weight of the last board combined with the height of the ceiling was a bit of a task) and the time it took to glue the rope onto the MDF was more time consuming that I had thought it would be. Still worth it in the end. We love it.
I love this idea. I am so over shiplap and this is awesome. Do you think there is some way to seal it so it becomes somewhat humidity proof and easier to clean? I would love to do this on a small wall on my patio that is just begging for a something. This might do the trick. Although a wall in the house would be very cool, I'm afraid my cats might like it just a little too much. Thank you for sharing.
LOL. I, too, am a bit over shiplap. Luckily the kitty issue hasn't been a problem. But I am hoping she doesn't get any ideas!
What a cool idea!
Thanks, Deanna!!