Home Renovation/DIY March 21, 2024

Tales of the Board and Batten Wall

Tales of the Board and Batten Wall

My home has a very open kitchen to living space floorplan with a very blank wall on one side. I knew I wanted something to visually break up the wall, but artwork would be too small on this large wall, shelving would take up too much space, and just painting did not seem like enough impact on such a large wall.

I decided to add a color board and batten wall with a top ledge.

 

Get the surface READY

I started by REMOVING all of the baseboards and measuring how high I wanted this build to go. I knew that I wanted to have the top ledge sitting right under the light switch.

My walls have a KNOCKDOWN wall texture that I did not want showing through the back of the board and batten. So, I added panels of Hardboard from home depot and built the board and batten on top of it.

I used a circular saw to cut the panels to size, construction adhesive to adhere to the wall and using a nail gun, I added few pin nails on the edge of the panels to hold them in place flush against the wall as the adhesive dried.

 

 

 

Make sure to measure TWICE and cut out spots for the electrical outlets. I used a drill to drill a hole and then used a jigsaw to cut the square out for the electrical outlet on the panel. Make sure the electrical cut out is large enough not to impede the outlet, but small enough to be covered by the outlet faceplate.

*Important* cut the panels to the right size so that a vertical batten will cover the seam of the panels butting up to each other.

 

 

 

Next up, building the board and batten

 

 

I used MDF boards (width is all preference) to build the battens and secured them with pin nails using a nail gun.

I added the top ledge using a pine board. I used pin nails as close to the wall as possible to nail into the top piece of MDF board on the board and batten.

Once in place I used a bullseye primer on both the panels and boards to ensure the MDF was sealed and both the panels of hardboard and the MDF boards all have the same surface for paint to ensure the paint looked uniform.

 

 

Once all of the MDF boards were in place, I used wood filler to fill in all of the adjoining seams and pin holes.

While this is a tedious step, don’t skip it! You want to make it look seamless once painted.

Once the wood filler dried, I gently sanded down the wood filler so that everything was smooth and flush with the boards.

I used a orbital sander with 220 grit sandpaper to ensure slow, even and smooth sanding.

*Make sure to clean off the excess wood filler on the 90 degree angle where you used wood filler on the seam – you want that edge to be crisp while still having the seam filled*

 

 

Prime and Paint

Once the wood filler is sanded, wipe off all of the dust particles using a microfiber cloth or a rag. Any missed dust will get trapped in the paint.

Aint NOBODY got time for a imperfection like trapped dust!

Finishing priming all the boards and I added a TINY bead of paintable caulk to where the board meets the panel to ensure that even the smallest gap was filled. Slide your finger along the bead of caulk to press into the gap and remove the excess.

Let everything dry and you’re off to PAINT with your desired paint color using a small roller for smooth surfaces and a small brush for those tough to reach corners.

 

FINISHED – now enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Added the Board and Batten detail under the peninsula bar to tie the room together

 

 

 

 

 

Added large prints with shiny gold frames to coordinate with the ‘Shipyard’ blue paint color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TIPS and Tricks

  • The hardest part about this project for me was ensuring that the seams of the adjoining panels were covered by a vertical board. It takes a little math and planning to make sure that not only is your vertical board spacing even, but also that one of those boards covers the seam.  Take the time to make sure its right!
  • Use a level as your best friend, especially if you’re using longer boards. You don’t want to go through all of this work, only to realize your battens aren’t straight or your ledge is not level.
  • There is quite a bit of cutting with this project. To ensure you don’t waste material, as the old saying goes ‘measure twice and cut ONCE!’

 

Paint Color: SHIPYARD by Behr

 

Best of luck and reach out to share your own Board and Batten Tales!

-Kellie