Navy & White Herringbone Accent Wall Reveal

Okay. I’ve stepped outside of my comfort zone big time with our recent accent wall project. Like I am maybe even in a new country if my previous comfort zone was the United States. Like maybe, I don’t know, my new comfort zone is in Guatemala or something.

I wonder how the Guatemalan locals feel about navy and white herringbone walls.

I felt terrified of them. (Herringbone walls, not Guatemalan locals.) I am a vanilla sort of decorator. Safe, safe. But we plunged ahead and there is no going back now. I like that it’s quirky but just a little less modern than its cousin Chevron.

Rick has also put up new trim AND gorgeous crown moulding in the entire room. He is my hero and seriously deserves an award for all of the work he is doing around the house. He also deserves an award for the most vocabulary learned in one project. He learned the word herringbone. I learned no new vocabulary.

Creating the herringbone pattern itself took us approximately six hours from start to finish, with obvious breaks for food eating and cat petting.

As for how we did it: I started typing up the tutorial and anticipate that writing it will also take at least six hours of my time, for two main reasons.

1. The whole thing initially made my brain hurt like I’d just swallowed a gallon of ice cream in 4.7 seconds time, and I need to figure out a way to explain the process without inflicting physical harm on anyone who reads about it. I am in no position to be sued for damages. And, actually, I am in Guatemala…so good luck finding me to deliver the subpoena. Full speed ahead with a mind-numbing tutorial. (I am all about getting people to come back to my blog.)
2. We finished the wall over a month ago and these days I’m doing this new trick where I say “Hey Rick” and then by the time he says “What” I have forgotten the pressing matter with which I began the conversation. So basically I will work on summoning my month-old memories and post the full step-by-step tutorial later this week, complete with pictures and diagrams.

There are only a few herringbone tutorials out there, and because of the tape we used, the process we personally ended up with is (I think) a little less complicated than the tutorials I looked at. We shall see.

What’s your favorite pattern these days? Do you have any accent walls in your home? Who’s ready to have their mind numbed?

Update: here’s the full tutorial!