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Board and Batten Tutorial

We’ve been working hard on getting our main level redecorated and board and batten has been a major part of our redo.  While whining on twitter about how long this project was taking, some suggested I entitle this post, “Board, Batten, and Bullblank“.  However there wasn’t a blank on the end :).  I suggested, “Bored with Battens”.  And then while working on this project a few days ago Hubs was dive bombed three times by a bat in our basement and had to fend it off with a board!  A facebook friend suggested we call this project, “Board and BATten”!  (You can watch our little Bat Encounter here.)  Whatever we call it, I’m not going to lie to you.  It can be called nothing short of a HUGE pain in the butt.
I think I was set-up to believe that this project was going to be stupid simple.  I would measure, have Home Depot cut my boards, and glue them to the wall with a few nails added in for fun.
I would whistle a Happy Little Working Song, bluebirds would land on my shoulder, and all would be right with the world.  After all, my friends described doing board and batten as: so easy a monkey could do it, easy-peasy, ridiculously simple, cake walk, simple as pie, etc. Well…I would like to meet that monkey, see that cake walk, and eat that pie!  This project was NOT what I would call simple.  It’s not exactly “hard” to do but it is incredibly time consuming and took waaaaaaay longer than I anticipated.  I think a lot of it has to do with our crazy walls.  We had EIGHT stupid corners to miter due to all the little bump outs on our main level.  We also both stink at math.  Hubs has a PhD and I have a Master’s but math is not our forte’.  This project takes a lot of math skills. Be warned.
So even though I’m still not done with it all.  (I still have some hole filling, caulking, and repainting to do.)  I thought I’d show you some of the progress we’ve made so far and give you a bit of a tutorial A2Z style.
First we painted our walls using a level and frog tape.  This allows a clean line for you to hang your horizontal board across without having to worry about leveling again.  You’ll be able to just line it up to the paint line and nail/glue in place.
We used pre primed 51/2 in x 8 ft MDF boards from Home Depot (found here) for our horizontal boards.
For the vertical battens, we bought a sheet of particle board and had Home Depot cut it for us into 2 inch sections.
No real reason for 2in except that I thought it looked right for the look we were going for.  You can see in the pic below that we have very chunky baseboards.  We have 10 foot ceilings and I wanted our board and batten to go up 3/4 of the wall.  Deciding on your dimensions will be a matter of personal taste and the space you’re working with.  If you have a smaller space, I highly recommend using Sarah’s idea of using lattice for your vertical battens.  This will cut down on some of your work in the long run.
I realized after painting my first batch of battens that they really needed to be sanded. Ugh.

I got smarter as I went along and lined them all up to sand instead of working on each individually.

I also lined them up together to prime and then paint all the boards.

Everyone will tell you to get a nail gun.  We didn’t and it took longer, but whatever. We needed to keep the cost way down on this project and no one in our area rents nail guns.  We did buy a circular saw and did all the cutting and mitering of the boards in our basement.  Mitering corners is a whole tutorial in itself, and I’ll do one for you soon.

If there wasn’t a stud in the wall, I just used my own stud (sorry..couldn’t resist 🙂 to secure the battens to the wall with liquid nails and frog tape until they were thoroughly dry.  I don’t plan on doing any batten climbing anytime soon, so I think they’ll stay in place!  Measuring everything was uber difficult for us and because nothing was standard on our walls, we sort of just guesstimated where we wanted a board to go.  We used the, “Does that look straight to you?” test on most boards before we glued them up.  It seemed to work better for us than a ruler.

The big reveal will have to wait until I complete the other 27 or so projects on this level, but for now enjoy our progress!

This is our breakfast nook.  Sherwin William’s Sea Salt is on the top and Dutch Boy’s White in semi-gloss is on the bottom.  The Home sign will be hung up top with a cute square plate flanking it on each side.
The windows will be getting mistreatments soon in perhaps the following fabric combination.

Isn’t it starting to look lovely?

Below is a pic taken from the kitchen looking at the 1/2 bath and basement doors.  This just gives you a feel for what it’s looking like.  The paint on top is Ramie by Sherwin Williams and it looks fantabulous with Sea Salt.

And here is a horrible pic of my new mantel area!  Please ignore the lack of decorations and bad lighting.  I pulled my mirror from my bedroom to see if I liked it down here or not.  Jury is still out.  But what I am liking is the board and batten above!  The fireplace might get painted white in the spring time.  We’ll see.

I’ll soon reveal our new board and batten coat area and keep you updated on all the other projects I have planned for this level!  It should be good!  But for now this place is starting to feel a whole lot more like….
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Comments

  1. Wow…that looks fantastic and it does look like a lot of work but it seems like you have it going just fine. Can't wait to see the finished product….

  2. Beth, I love this look.

    It's perfect for your home architecturally!

    I follow you on twitter and have been smiling in sympathy as you have talked about the project in progress. We have installed bead board wainscoting in many rooms of our home, which was a pain, but at least it comes in sheets!

    Can't wait to see what you have to show us in 2011!

    Cheers,
    Laura

    http://www.paringdown.com

  3. Hi Kelli,
    We didn't remove our baseboards but we did cut each vertical board at a 45* angle on the bottoms so they didn't look quite so dumb sticking so far out from the baseboard. The look doesn't bother me but some might not like it.

    Stacey, I don't remember the fabric name but I purchased it recently from fabric.com. I bought a bunch of coordinating blue and tan fabrics that I am in LOVE with! Decent prices too.

  4. Your board and batten looks FABULOUS!!! I have learned through the years if people say "Oh it should only take two hours to do it", then I times it by three and I am much closer to the real time it should take. You guys did an amazing job of it, though.
    Hugs, Cindy

  7. I think it is beautiful! It will be so wonderful and worth it when done! Can't wait to see the end results! I was wondering about the fabric for your mistreatments – where is this from? This would be great for one of my upcoming projects! Thanks and have a wonderful new year!
    Stacey at http://staceyembracingchange.
    blogspot.com/

  8. Thanks Marianne! We only nailed where there were studs and glued the rest. The heavy horizontal boards are all nailed but not all of the vertical battens. Didn't seem sensible to nail if there wasn't a stud to nail it into. I am so ready for the projects on my main floor to be done but that won't happen for another month at least. I'm working hard at it though!

  9. looking really good! curious, did you remove the baseboards and then put them back on top of the boards? I am thinking about doing something similar in my mom cave but I am unsure if my baseboards are thick enough.

  10. Beth this is EH….MAZE….ING!!!! Looks like the houses from Homearama! Totally worth the wait. You'll actually have to have me over sometime to see it:)

  11. beth!!!

    omg! the color combination reminds me of some of those model homes you showed us a while ago. your black hardware door knobs against that white looks YUMMY! it looks like a brand new house! you've got to be pleased!!!

    honestly, my mouth dropped open with that breakfast area.

    go beth GO!!! and your hubs!

  12. It is starting to look fantastic. Oh if only I could my love to get into that look…
    You guys did a great job. I have a question though is there anything in between those vertical slabs or did you just nail/glue them to a plaster wall?
    Good luck on the other 10001 little things you need to do before you finish this. I know how you feel, this things are always so much more work than you think.

  13. This is going to look so classic…I can't wait to see the finished project. The bat video was great. We had them in our attic. Beware…where there is one, there are lots more.

    XO<
    Jane

  14. Wow! I thought I was the only one who cleaned and did DIY projects in my ball gown! Gald to see there is another out there who dresses up for chores! LOL It is looking wonderful. I love the two colors you chose and cant wait till you have a complete space reveal.
    Blessings!
    Tara

  15. I think your hard work is paying off. It looks amazing so far. I can imagine that when you're done, it will look even more amazing.

    🙂

  16. Wow, you're doing this without a nail gun-very impressive! (Although I totally understand using what you have). I love the look of this but it would never fit in with the age of this house.Lucky me, I can enjoy your photos:)

  18. Oh my goodness girlfriend! It's so so soooo beautiful. I can't wait to see it all finished. All that hard work is definately paying off 🙂

  19. All that hard work is starting to pay off BIG time, it's looking ahh-mazing! :0)
    Love it! You're making me want to get started on my foyer, except that you said it's really hard, I think I liked my world of denial better. (the truth is hard to deal with! lol)
    Have a great day!
    Missy

  20. I love it! I'm totally a molding girl! It think the crisp white makes everything look SO clean and fresh! 🙂
    I love your taste. You always have such great projects and step by step photos.
    Thanks for all your hard work Beth!
    ~Shelley Smith

  22. Beth, It's looking fab! 🙂 Ramie is a gorgeous color isn't it?! LURVES!

  23. Wow!! It looks AMAzing!! It is totally worth the effort and looks so chic and high-end. I love it!!!

  25. Beth- I love this projects! I can't wait to see the full reveal. I just might have to try this idea in my basement.

  26. Hi Beth, I totally agree with you about doing board and batten, it's not hard, but you learn more and more as you go along . . . I did it in my hallway, then a week later id it in my friends dining room and it looks 100 times better than it did in my own hoem, just from the lessons I learned as I went along. . . Yours looks beautiful, I love the chunkiness of it! Also LOVE your fabric choice, where did you get it? Been looking for something similar to that for my kitchen

  27. Beth, Beth, Beth…I LOVE it….

    My daughter has a degree in Math…you could have borrowed her 🙂 lol

    I am showing this to hubs tonight, I just love the look….I think you guys did a fab job…can't wait to see it with all the doo dahs

    I remember awhile back the Nester did her office…another terrific job…

    How's the weather in your neck of the woods?….we had a 50 degree week=end, so no complaints here, after 15 inches of snow last week……oh my !!!!! Did I ever tell you I think the stork deposited me in the wrong spot…I am so a warm weather chickie !!!!

    All the best Beth and thank you for your sweet email…

    xo Kathy 🙂

  28. Looks great! I do love a good board and batten treatment!

    How does the sea salt paint read in your space? I have the darker color, comfort gray, in my bedroom and in person it reads icy blue rather than gray or even gray blue. Makes me sad 🙁

    I'm planning on doing board and batten in my front room since the previous owners got a wild hare to use 1×6 pine boards everywhere as baseboard… so it's the perfect width (and no taper) to stick 1x boards on for the look. Might as well work with the space, right? 😉

  29. BEAUTIFUL. It looks like it has always been there, and that is the key to a successful trim project in my opinion. You guys have accomplished so much, it must feel really good even if it was a challenge all of the way! Take care, Laura

  31. Ahhh it's looking lovely Beth!! That hallway is amazing! I did B&B using the lattice strips too and it was really easy. But I only did 1 big wall, so no mitering or anything. Can't wait to see it all done!

    Question…does it bother you that the battens stick out further than your window sills in that pic? Only asking because I like the look of the chunkier battens as well, but had to go with the lattice strips because they sit perfectly on top of our baseboards (which are wimpy). I noticed you cut some at an angle too which would help. But I'd like to use the chunkier battens somewhere too! 🙂

  32. It looks beautiful so far! I can't believe you're doing it without the aid of a nail gun. What a trooper! I can't even imagine how much time that would take. You rock!

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