THIS IS CALLED A BOARD AND BATTEN WALL
NOW THAT I GOT YOUR FULL ATTENTION!
Let's get to the not so fashionable part of this whole thing. If you want to add an architectural interest to a rather boring wall, here's a really great way!
Board and Batten is a super easy and inexpensive way to achieve that goal.
This Covid-19 virus had me staring at my white wall for a while. I tried to dress it up with a frame here, a mirror there, even added a console table, but ultimately the wall is just white and boring. But I didn't want to make my place look smaller if I paint it darker so I decided to research on what I can do to spruce it up. I saw a lot of DIY board and batten walls and thought it was easy enough for me to do. .
So mine is a basic white wall. It's really a longer wall than what I'm showing you but I forgot to take a real 'before' photo but here's the wall I'm speaking about.
You get the idea!!!
So I did what every bored & crazy New Yorker in the middle of a pandemic would do, emphasizing on the 'crazy' - I put on my mask (doubled), brought my backpack with hand sanitizer, clorox wipes, hand wipes and gloves and go to the hardware store.
But here are a few things to know before you jump to doing this whole thing.
Make sure that you measure your wall both vertically and horizontally.
Here are the things that I needed to make this a #boardandbatten success.
MATERIALS NEEDED:
Level
Tape measure
Painter's tape
1/2 thick MDF cut down into 4 x 8
Nail Gun & Brad Nails
Liquid nail & caulking gun
Saw for additional cuts
Wood filler & caulk or spackle (I only had spackle but both work well)
Sand paper (120-150 grit)
Electric Sander (if you have one)
Paint & roller brush
Step ladder for the hard to reach area
I bought primed MDF boards which are so much cheaper than moulds. Try to lightly sand all cut edges of MDF boards. If you skip this step, you will notice the tough edges after you're done painting!!
I mapped out the wall with a pencil so I can get a really good visual of how it would look like. Nope I didn't get a photo of that either. I know I know, leave me alone it's my first post! After I finished my map, I started installing the vertical boards first because less cutting was involved. I used liquid nail to help secure the boards to the wall together with my nail gun that way it's more secure.
Then I moved on with the horizontal boards. I had to cut each of this horizontal boards with my circular saw - yes I own one :) and that was quite tedious.
Then I finished up by filling in any gaps and nail holes with spackle. Caulking or spackling really makes a huge difference so make sure you don't skip this step.
After I finished caulking all the holes from the nail gun and all uneven areas I spotted, I taped the floor and ceiling using a painter's tape then started painting. Since the wall is already white I only had to do two coats of paint. THANK GOD!
It took me around 3 days to finish this!I could have finished this project in one day but I mean what else would I be doing after this since we are all WFH. But I’m really excited about that way it all turned out. If you’ve never taken on a DIY project, this Board & Batten Wall is an easy one to start with...
And here's the finish project!
Okay now we can go back to the fashion part of this blog.
DIY but make it fashion!
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