Budget Bathroom Makeover with DIY Wood Slat Wall, A Before and After.

Last updated:  February 2026

“Hey, have you seen what I was working on?  I finished it today.”

(See, the hall bathroom was boring as hell, so I gave it a DIY wood slat accent wall makeover for under $40 and wowie, it completely transformed the space, big time.)

(And, just so we're clear too:  this transformation follows the process from The $100 Room Glow-Up Guide.  Watch what happens when you know what you're doing.)

Mike:  Huh?  What?  No I ....

Becky:  (flips on hall bathroom light)

Mike:

B:  You didn’t   ....

M:  (staring)  (flips hall bathroom light off)  (flips hall bathroom light back on)

B:  You  ....

M:  (staring)  (flips hall bathroom light off)  (flips hall bathroom light back on)

M:  When....?  How....blrifbhfoireuiblrrrt?  What?!

B:  (starting to panic a bit, omg) Do you uh, do you not like it?

M:  (staring)  (flips hall bathroom light off)  (flips hall bathroom light back on)

M:  I...wha....when did you do this??

B:  (panic now afoot)  Uh, here and there over the last few days?  Do yo--

M:  (cuts me off)  Uh, yeaaaahhhh (turns to me with an incredulous-you-are-nuts look on his face and ambles off in a shocked stupor)

B:  Really, you uh, you like it?  You’re scaring me....

M:  It’s wasted on that room.  Wait, hang on, I gotta go back and look at that (goes back down the hall, pause), I mean, what the.... (pause)

B:  (hears a muffled “wow” and/or “huh”)

B:  (fist pump) (wipes sweat off brow) (passes out)

Must say, that was the most unnerving response Mike’s ever had to something I’ve done.  He did a great job of freaking the daylights outta me, wow.

Ooophfff... Thank goodness he likes it, oh my gosh!  Wheeewwwww....

So, for under forty bucks I transformed a wall and changed the entire feel and direction of the room.

Where is this coming from?, you grill.  I know.  I'm terrible.  I can't leave anything well enough alone.

When I worked in theater, I'd work on a show for oh ya know, eight weeks-ish on average-ish maybe.  Bam, the show opens, move onto the next one.  The pattern so ingrained into my soul.

Or, since it's me we're talking about, I'd be juggling anywhere from two to five shows at one time at any given time in some form of overlap-ness during my freelance years.  At Steppenwolf, the pace much more relaxed at one to three shows at a time.

Heh, relaxed.  Right.

Why do I make mention?  I think because I treat our poor humble abode like a theater project.  Do some stuff, eight to ten months elapse, vvvrrrppp, time to change it.

Maybe I should get out more, see new things.  Maybe I should get back into theater and stop abusing our house.

Whatev's.  Back to the house....

Now the hall bath, I was never, I didn't feel done nor remotely satisfied with it.  Anything I was doing felt like a pile of bandages upon each other and not-right-yet.

No worries.  Time has elapsed, the winning ideas have landed.  Look out.

What did I use for this lil' project?

• bundles of wood lath (two of fifty plus a few loose extras for this particular wall)
• quart o' Golden Mahogany stain*
• paint thinner
• 1" brad nails*
• nail gun*
• hand saw*

Yeah, not much.  So between the lath, stain, and a pack o' 1k 1" brad nails, just under forty bucks.  I kid you not.  So doable.

Lath?  Lath, you say.  Why the f did you use ratty ol' inconsistent lath?

Well.  Because 1x2 cedar (my high end swoon) or even plain ol' 1x2 pine were too pricey.  Besides, 1x2 pine has rounded edges, bleeh.

Trust me, it took a while to resolve the look of lath in my head (would it be too rustic?  too knotty?  too rough hewn?  too [ack] country?  too sauna?) but I am not sorry in the least.  In fact, lath was perfect.

The biggest shock (heh, for me) with this project?  I got the math right.  Hallelujah, I got the freakin' math right for once!!  OMG no way!!  Yessssssss.  Cause for celebration on its own, amiright?

Because, see, I took the time to calculate how much lath I would need.  But most importantly, I got it right.

Anywhooooo.....!!

All in all, an easy project, one that can be done in a weekend, or less depending on the speed-of-drying-time stain one purchases.  Or paint, yeah paint would work too.  Or paint thinned with water for a faux stain effect, yeah.

Hot tip:  know that when you handle bundles of lath at the store, it stays all nice and packaged tight but right when you get it to the car and then out of the car?, forget it.  Holy unruly mess.

Yeah, you were neat and tidy, then I touched you.

To begin, stain the lath.

How did I pick Golden Mahogany?  I know, seems an odd choice given my usual bent.  I dunno, I found a mini can in my stash. tested it on a strip, dashed upstairs and it yeah, looked good.

Oddly, it matched the Target shelves I had purchased eons ago, like wow, so many eons so I thought it might be spiffy if it all blended together.

Now, I tested the quart can and it was coming out darker so I made my own mix.  Do not ever be afraid to change the color of something coming out of a can.  Just don't mix oil and water based together and expect them to blend.

Original test strip on the right, the new quart on the left.  Hm, darker.  Don't forget, things will dry to a different shade.  Always test, my friends!  

The winning look was a combo of fifty/fifty stain to paint thinner then a rag wipe immediately.  Matched my sample stick, matched the shelves, good to go.

Aaaaamd here we go!  Three done of uh, um, uh, how many?

So it was a stinky process.  Which is not good when the weather requires you to keep the windows closed.  And it was a lengthy, tipping into tedious process.  Took a few hours here and there over the course of a few days.  Make sure to hit the edges and ends.

All ya gotta do next is tack 'em to the wall.  Easy, right?

Before I got to that though, I had some paint touch up's and a sink unit to remove.  Done, done, go time.

Wall before.  Well, before touch up's and sink removal.

By the way, nifty tip:  use red and blue Sharpies* to mark which water line is which temperature so you'll always and forever know.

As the chosen wall is about eh 6'-5" wide, the thought crossed my mind, should I, how should I, should I line things up or no or what or.....Winged it.  I did know I wanted an eighth inch gap between each strip horizontally.

The best way to consistently (well, -ish enough considering lath is kinda wonky) hold that gap:  paint stir sticks.  Yep!  Sweet!

Paint stir stick, a perfect 1/8" thick spacer.  Sweet!

Mmk, power up the compressor in the hall bedroom, run the air hose into the bathroom, shut bedroom door because Finn is unhinged over the noise, and it is on, people.

(Hey, by the way, if you don't have a compressor or a nail gun, don't be sad.  Borrow from a friend, rent from Home Depot or wherever.  See?  Problem solved.  Or you could, oh!, use like extra long upholstery nails* for a cool look!  Do they make those....?  Yeah I dunno.)

Right off the bat, I gotta contend with the water line to the toilet, neat.  Ok, cut short piece, wedge it behind the metal cover ring thingamajig, tack tack, move on to full four foot piece.

I finally removed that dumb tag too while I was back there, heh, four years later. Lame.

For the next horizontal row, I rested the paint stick on the lower strip and pushed the lath in my hand down tight to meet it, tack, sliding the paint stick between across as I went.

In some areas, I randomly cut the lath to break up the pattern of vertical joint lines.  In others, I didn't.  And up the wall I went.

Day one stopping point, two hours in.

For the outlet...because I never remove switch plate or outlet covers when I paint a wall (which I get incessantly derided for over on Hometalk, eye roll) (I usually miss the covers I've been painting for so long but if I don't, holy bejebus, the paint scratches right off people, goodness) (I hate wasting tape and money and time and I don't want to get a wet paint brush near hot electrical things, jeez louise) (Don't get me wrong, I love Hometalk.)..........

Ok, for the outlet, because I hadn't removed the cover, the paint outline was a perfect guide.  (See?!)  Otherwise trace a line around the cover with a pencil before removing it.

See?  See?  Knew exactly where everything was.  Mmm hmm.

I cut the lath in such a way as to sit behind the cover but far enough away from danger zones.  I later purchased more of those spacers* that I used in the kitchen after I installed the funky backsplash to bump the switch and outlet out.  Foam sealers went back on too, yep.

Then moving right along, up the wall, ho-dee-ho.  Some of the lath was warped or curled or bowed or whatever so those got tossed aside temporarily, cut and used as smaller fill pieces thereby taming their unruly shapes.

Be sure to bring along extra stain or whatever finishing you used to touch up cut ends or edges before the strips go on the wall.  Yep, you're welcome.

Lovin' that nailer.  Won that saw from Instructables thanks to you guys!

Seriously, how Mike missed all this, I dunno.  He walks past here every day.  Well, that's ok.  I still love him.  Worked out though because I got a good surprise in on him.  Unless....unless that was an Academy Award winning performance....he is sly like that.  Hm...

End day two, hour and a half of time.

Second to last obstacle was that recently-ish installed Ikea light, my goal to work it similarly to the outlet.  Remembering that it was a smidge of a hassle to install thanks to my blog post, I loosened it as much as I could from the wall without having to take it down.

By the way, turn off the electricity when you do these things, mmk?**

Freehand measuring and cutting and trimming and nipping, I got lath pieces wedged behind the fixture without getting too close to scary parts.  Tighten the light back on and bingo, ho-dee-ho, up the wall I went.

Last obstacle was the final horizontal row.  A quick measure in a few spots, a dash downstairs to the band saw with two lath strips in tow to cut the full length across, and I was set.  But duh, of course the ceiling isn't square and true so it's a wee bit albeit unnoticeably off.

Last skinny row left to go!  Woo hoo!  So but yes, to answer your question, my stupid shoulder is at about 97%, or enough that I can do things like this again with zero issues.  Finally.  Thank goodness.  Stupid shoulder.

Tack tack tack, done!  Step back, oh wow, yeowza, damn girl, right on, that's kinda righteously cool if I do say so myself and I will.

Nice!

Boy, was I ever pleased.

New chrome outlet cover.  Not sure yet if it's gonna stay or the white will go back on.  Or get a wood one, hmm.

In the end, I had five full strips left and a handful of cut pieces.  *Cha-ching* with the math, baby!  Woo hoooo!  Oh yeah, go Becky, go Becky!

Later that night, the finished wall was revealed to Mike, as you read above.  And he likes it, yay, he really really likes it!  Butt wiggle dance!

"You outdid yourself on this one.  I don't even know how you're gonna to write about it," he said.  Well.  Babe.  Heh.  Goodness.  *Blush.*  Thank you!

Who knew the stain would match the mahogany of my quick and easy picture hanging thingie?

This is not the end for this bathroom.  Oh no.  More is gonna happen.  Oh yes.

Currently I'm battling with stupid flipper sh*t getting in my way, namely the cheapo dumb shower crap is kinkin' my plan, namely the seemingly permanently affixed stupid tub filler.  I do not take no for an answer soooooooo.

You will succumb to my wishes, you pile of sh*t, oh yes you will.  And it will surely be ugly.

But regardless, more is on the docket, stay tuned!  Dancing away....

Take this energy and transform your own space.   I’ll show you how for $100 or less.  Get The $100 Room Glow-Up Guide. 

(Jump to the next in the bathroom series here!)

*The Golden Mahogany stain and nail gun are Home Depot affiliate links while the brad nails, hand saw, Sharpies, upholstery nails, and electrical spacers are Amazon affiliate links.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.

**Disclaimer:  Electricity is dangerous.  It can hurt you.  It can even kill you.  Always always turn off the electricity at the breaker box before ever opening up a light switch cover, outlet cover, or messing with a light fixture.  It's best to hire a qualified electrician if you don't know how to deal with wired things.  Do not electrocute yourself or burn your house down.