DIY Vertical Board & Batten
Board and Batten is when thin strips of wood molding—or “battens”—are placed over panel boards. If you’re looking to save some time and money, an easy way to achieve the aesthetic without the price tag is to eliminate the boards and just use your existing walls instead. There are some exceptions, but for this vertical floor to ceiling application I chose to skip the boards and apply battens directly to the walls. Although we have textured walls, this was the best budget friendly approach to get the vertical board and batten look.
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Materials Used:
TOOLS Used:
- Miter Saw
- Brad Nailer
- Tape Measure
- Caulking Gun
- Utility Knife
- Crow Bar or Trim Remover
THE BEFORE
Before we jump into the “how-to”, we have to see where this room started. And really, this before looks amazing compared to the wallpaper that covered the walls when we moved in. Frankly, my husband refused to sleep in the room until the wall paper came down—it was pretty horrible. Before the project, we had original baseboards and trim and a unattractive blue-grey paint color.
Project Overview
- Remove Baseboards & Trim
- Paint Walls & Ceiling
- Install Door/Window Casing & Ceiling Trim/Baseboards
- Install Battens
- Wood Filler & Caulk
- Sand & Finish Painting
STEP ONE:
Remove Existing Baseboards, Trim and/or Molding
You can use a crowbar and hammer, but in subsequent jobs I found this tool to be super helpful for removing baseboards and trim—it also reduces the chance of damaging your drywall.
Use your utility knife to score where the baseboard or trim meets the wall. You’ll be cutting through the existing caulking, helping to release the trim from the wall, making it easier to pull away. Our baseboards were original to the home (1960’s), so they were only attached with nails—no adhesive—which makes removal a lot easier! Use your crow bar or trim removal tool to get leverage behind the trim, then pull away. You may need a hammer to push your crow bar behind the trim. Work your way along the length of the trim slowly—pulling the trim away from the wall where the nails are secured is usually easiest.
If you have an older home like ours, some nails may be left behind after pulling the trim away. Go back with a hammer or some pliers to remove the remaining nails.
STEP two:
Paint: Choose a Color
Choosing a paint color can sometimes be the hardest part of a project—or maybe even something that prevents you from getting started. I always put up samples on every wall, so that you can see how the paint looks at different times of the day and under different lighting—walls with windows will look different than walls across from windows (as you can see below). I also recommend living with these samples up for a while.
In my case, I decided on Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace, bought two gallons of paint and was then laid up in bed with a stomach bug for an entire weekend. It gave me so much time to look at the samples that I ended up changing my mind to Sherwin Williams Pure White. There’s honestly barely a difference—they are both beautiful white colors—but I was pregnant, so I went with my gut.
Paint: Ceiling & Walls
There are two options for painting trim or feature walls: rolling or spraying. A lot of people opt to spray because it leaves a more consistent, even finish and tends to be a faster application. During the time of this project, I did not have a sprayer, so I went with rolling, but it wasn’t all bad—for the first time, I used an 18-inch roller and it was a game changer!
I chose to paint the ceiling and walls first to get an even coat on and then paint the trim and individual battens after they were installed. Using the larger roller allowed me to get through the room so much quicker.
quick tip:
For the smoothest application with a roller, start at the top of the wall near the ceiling and take strokes all the way down—these long strokes, up and down, will create more consistent coverage.
STEP three:
Install Door & Window Casing + Ceiling Trim & Baseboards
Surrounding trim needs to be installed before any of the battens—I started with the doors and window. There are a lot of different casing styles out there, from simple and modern to decorative and traditional. I have always loved craftsman style, so I chose a style that is reminiscent of craftsman and farmhouse.
A big challenge with our project was that our home was built in the 1960’s—we encountered walls that were not square and nothing was level—not the door framing, the ceilings… nothing.
In instances like this, make sure when you’re installing trim pieces that it is level to the eye—at the end of the day, that’s what really matters. For this room, we had to approach each ceiling/wall joint and door frame differently. On our longest wall, we put up our ceiling trim first and then made small adjustments to make the door casing look level to it.
When you have your trim held in place where you want it, use your Brad Nailer to attach it to the wall. You have the option to apply liquid nails to the back of the trim, before nailing to the wall. This adheres it extremely well to the wall—the only downside I found is that if you want to remove the trim, you’ll be pulling the drywall off with it. For our project, we only chose to apply liquid nails to our ceiling trim, because they were large and heavy and needed to ensure they’d stay put.
TRIM USED
Ceiling & Baseboards: 1×6 MDF
Door Casing: 1×4 and 1×2 (turned horizontal) MDF
Vertical Battens: 1×2 MDF
One thing to note about MDF, or medium density fiberboard, is that it is not suitable for wet areas like a bathroom.
STEP FOUR:
Install the Vertical Battens
Before you can begin installing battens, it’s important to plan how many battens you’ll be using on any given wall—they can be placed as close or as far apart as you’d like. There are a few different measurements you have to take into account: the length of your wall, the width of your battens, and any doors or windows that you want visually balanced trim around—for me, this is where I started because three of my four walls had either a door or window.
I visually mapped out my battens in Photoshop, however there are a lot of great B&B calculators. This allowed me to make sure the battens around my doors were symmetrical, and then I adjusted the spacing for the remainder of the wall. Just as I made sure the trim was visually level, the battens should be evenly spaced—visually.
Because of our doors and window—plus light switches and outlets, which is optimal if you can avoid these—each of our walls has slightly different spacing. You may think it makes a huge difference, but visually they all look equal. For example, on one wall our battens are spaced 14.5″ apart, the other wall’s battens are 14.25″ apart and on the last wall the battens are 14.75″ apart.
As I previously mentioned, our walls are not level. The only issue this posed for the batten install was to measure the height—in between the ceiling trim and baseboard—for each batten placement before cutting. They all varied slightly, but the smallest gap you can have between trim pieces is ideal.
STEP FIVE:
Wood Filler & Caulk
When you get to wood filler and caulk, you know your project is almost complete—just a few final steps.
CAULK
Wherever wood or MDF meets your drywall, use caulk to close up the seams. Using a caulking gun, apply a thin line of caulk to the seam and then spread evenly using your finger. I have found that baby wipes are super helpful for cleanup during this step.
WOOD FILLER
Nail holes created when installing the trim or battens to the wall will need wood filler, as well as wherever wood or MDF meets other wood or MDF. I used a putty knife to apply the wood fill, but for nail holes they do have squeeze tubes of wood filler.
Another big difference between wood fill and caulk is that wood fill gets sanded after it dries, caulk does not.
STEP SIX:
Sand & Paint
I didn’t have an excessive amount of nail holes and seems, so it was easier (and more controlled) for me to use a sanding block versus an electric sander. After all wood fill was sanded down to a smooth, even finish the battens could be painted.
After your last coat of paint dries your project is complete and you can enjoy your new oasis. I chose all white because it gave the room a very fresh, relaxing vibe. In contrast, you could chose a deeper color and create a very cozy, moody vibe. Whichever color you go with, this DIY vertical board & batten wall treatment is timeless and can makeover any space without breaking the bank!
After finishing the vertical board and batten wall paneling, I realized our doors needed a refresh—check out that project here.
BEDROOM SOURCES
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