Board and Batten or Bust!

I wanted to update the walls in my house and add character without breaking the bank. I could have painted the walls and added accent colors but I wanted something with a bit more character. I love the look of board and batten but sadly it was not in my budget. After some research, I realized I can do this myself for a lot less than it would cost me to hire someone to install it.

I told my husband my plan to add board and batten to the downstairs living and dining room and surprisingly he loved my idea. I immediately got down to business and started drawing out a plan. I decided to install board and batten in the dining room first so I could get a feel for the look. My motto for this project is “Start small, dream big.”

I have a small dining area so the space was not that overwhelming to tackle. Here are the tools and supplies I recommend to complete the project with the least amount of headache:

TOOLS/SUPPLIES:

• Miter Saw

• Air Compressor Nail Gun

• 1 1/2 inch Pneumatic Finishing Nails

• 1x4x8 furring strips
• level

• measuring tape

• paint (I used the Behr Premium Plus Ultra Minimalistic in Satin finish)
• Hand Sander

• Paint Brushes
• Wood Filler

• Paintable Caulk

*I had the advantage of having flat untextured walls. If you have a textured wall you might want to consider adding full length boards of plywood or MDF if you want a perfectly flat appearance.

The first thing you need to do before heading to the hardware store is measure the space you are placing the board and batten to get an idea on how much wood you will need. My dining room wall is exactly 8 feet in length. I decided to start the board and batten 40 inches high because I didn’t want to have to navigate around the light switches. I ran the boards approximately 15 1/4 inches apart. I ended up needing 4 boards (1x4x8 furring strips) for the entire project. I purchased my furring strips at Home Depot for approximately $2.30 per board (love that price!).

While at Home Depot I purchased the paint for the project. I have two toddlers who are always touching the walls with Mac n Cheese hands so I knew I wanted to buy the more expensive washable paint. I purchased a gallon the Behr Premium Plus Ultra in the color Minimalisitc, which is a fancy name for white. This is where I spent the majority of my money. The paint cost $32 and was worth every penny!

After purchasing my supplies I got down to work. Using my stud finder I found and marked the location of every stud in the area I would be hanging the board and batten. The reason I marked the location of the studs was so I could ensure that when I nailed the wood into the wall at least some of my nails would go into a stud allowing extra support.

I marked the location I would be hanging my vertical wood boards all the way down the wall.

I painted the horizontal top board and the two vertical end caps before placing them on the wall. This is not necessarily something that needs to be done but it saved me the headache of getting excess paint on the wall edges.

I hung the horizontal top board first. My wall was exactly 8 feet in length, which means I did not have to cut this board down (score, one less cut!). I held the board at my desired height. Once the board was in the desired location, I placed my level on top of the board to ensure it was completely level. Using my nail gun, I placed several 1 1/2 inch nails into the board attaching it to the wall.

I chose to paint the wall below the horizontal top board with a coat of paint before attaching the vertical boards because I thought it would make things easier for myself and it was a task I could do while the kids were napping without waking them.

I measured the distance from the bottom of the horizontal top board to the top of my base board for each desired vertical board location. I used my miter saw to cut each vertical board to its desired size. The vertical end cap closest to my staircase required me to complete a bevel cut so it would fit flush against my stair railing.

After completing all of the vertical board cuts, I attached the boards to the wall in the same manner as the horizontal top board using 1 1/2 inch nails in conjunction with my level.

Once all of my boards were in place, I filled all of the nail holes and seams where the boards met with wood filler. Once the wood filler was dry, I sanded down the areas until they were smooth. I also sanded down a few imperfections in the wood.

I caulked around the tops, bottoms, and edges of every board on the wall with paintable caulk to give the wall a more finished look.

Once everything was dry, I painted the entire board and batten area several times with the Behr Ultra Premium Paint I purchased from Home Depot.

The total cost of the board and batten dining room wall was $42. It cost me $10 for the wood and $32 for the paint. All of the other items used in this project I already had on hand.

It took me 2 days of intermittent work (two toddlers remember) and less than $50 to complete this beautifully elegant accent wall. I can’t wait to start on my next project!

 

*I provided buying links to a majority of the tools and supplies I personally used for this project. As an amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.