Evolution of our Accent Wall in the Living Room with a Fireplace

When we first moved in to our rustic beach cottage I had lots of ideas for this grand wall in our living room. I dare say it, but I even agreed to hang a piece of taxidermy (crazy I know). Over the past three years this room has evolved into what it is today; a tone on tone blue feature wall in the living room.

Before we get to where we are today, I want to share the evolution of where this feature wall began to where it is now.

Living room feature wall with a skull mount

When I was planning this room, I knew my DIY antique fireplace mantel would fit beautifully on the wall. What I didn’t expect was there to be such a drastic space between the mantel and the ceiling. That’s where I decided to cave and allow my husband to hang his Elk skull mount over the mantel. You can see all the pictures here where I shared my rustic cottage summer mantel.

P.S. You can see how I created the DIY birchwood fireplace cover here.

Shockingly I loved the antlers and everyone else did too! This space looked like this for maybe a year and then I realized the wall needed more character and a little more color.

I found the bookcases on Facebook marketplace and decided they would be perfect next to the mantel.

Of course the color of the bookcases were awful and they stuck out like a sore thumb. Also, my style was evolving and the chippy painted look on the fireplace mantel was getting old.

So what next?

I decided to make this a tone on tone feature wall with DIY board and batten, bookcases and my old antique fireplace mantel. I could pull it all together and make it look like one seamless piece.

Tone on Tone feature wall with DIY board and batten and a fireplace

I chose a moody blue color to paint the entire wall and started by painting the bookcases and the fireplace. Once I completed the lower half of the wall I began adding the DIY board and batten.

If you are wondering, this board and batten is sort of cheating. What I mean is that I’ve installed the “boards” but not the “batten.” The wall texture is fairly smooth, so I figured I could get away with it. What do you think?

THIS was exactly what this room needed. I loved the new moody look of the accent wall. Also, the bookshelves created some much needed storage (and fun areas to style!). If you want to know some tricks on how to style shelves I’ve got you covered.

I finally felt like this room was complete. Then again if you know me you know that I can’t leave well enough alone. I had another thought…

What if I could remove the birchwood insert and add an electric fireplace. Yep, that’s what I did.

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Living room accent wall with electric fireplace

Creating a DIY electric fireplace with a raised hearth was actually pretty simple.

We purchased the electric fireplace from Overstock and hung it on the wall! For those wondering it come with hardware to mount it to the wall; almost like a TV!

After building the raised hearth and adding Air Stone, My DIY raised hearth electric fireplace was done.

Look how cozy this space looks now!

Finally this space is done! Or is it? LOL.

Here are a few looks I gave this space for the holidays.

Christmas living room accent wall with fireplace

This was from a Christmas 2020 home tour.

I don’t normally decorate extensively for Halloween, but this year I did.

Halloween living room accent wall with fireplace

What is it about a black and white picture being perfect for this spooky holiday?

I love that I can change the colors of the electric fireplace to match the mood. For this Halloween accent wall, I changed the colors to blue, green and orange!

I’m finally pleased with this moody accent wall. I feel like I can enjoy it for years to come.