Wow! I can’t thank you all enough for all the positive feedback from all our recent home post! It’s so nice to hear after all our hard work. One specific area that we’ve heard the most about is the board and batten in our dining room (and kitchen). So we figured why not share with you just how we transformed the space. I swear this board and batten was the best decision we’ve made when it comes to a room transformation. And I think it was pretty easy to do. But let’s be honest guys I didn’t do any of it. So let me turn it over the the man that makes all the makeover magic happen and all my crazy creative dreams come true.
Before (dining room)
After (dining room)
Hey hey! I hope you’re not getting bored with me and my italicized font because I’m having a ball writing to you all.
So let’s talk about board and batten. In a previous post (which you can read here) I talked about how I added board and batten to our kitchen – but my favorite project of all is our dining room. Here I created what I call a “double decker” – a 4ft vertical board and batten with a 8in crown. It’s more traditional, yet chic with its vibrant bright white color and striking appearance that not only takes over the dining room, but the adjacent living room. It truly takes your breath away…if you’re into this sorta thing.
I’m sure you’re wondering how I created it, and lucky for you, I’m sharing a little bit about that. First I began taking inventory of the millwork (wood) I would need for the entire space. I already had the new baseboards installed so there was only a need for the vertical boards and horizontal chair rail and top cap. I took the height of our base board (5.5in) and and height of the chair rail board (3.5in) and subtracted that from 48in (4ft) to get 39in, the approximate height needed for the vertical boards. I then measured each wall in feet and divided divided by 2 – the math here is this: take the total footage and divide by two to calculate how many boards you will need if you’re installing every 2ft. If you want a wider board and batten, divide footage by 3 to space out every 3 ft. PLEASE NOTE: for a finished look add an additional 2 vertical pieces for the corner of each wall (you’ll see why in the pics).
Given the height I went with 8ft boards, which gave me 2 vertical slats and enough left over material to complete my vertical slats on the crown.
Once I was back from Home Depot (the only place I shop for home supplies), I began measuring each wall from the floor to 4ft and marking every 2ft or so. Taking my large level I struck a line across the wall – this would be the line where the top of my chair rail would align. I then made a few marks every 2ft for my vertical slats to be place – may want to get another set of hands for this step as measuring tapes can be flimsy when measuring a large wall.
Once everything was marked, I took my chair rail board and cut to size for each wall. NOTE: I like to cut the ends at 90 degrees for a tight fit, and when complete, caulk for a finished look. Taking my brad nailer (I have both cordless and air powered) I installed my chair rail piece by piece across the entire room.
Now came the time to measure and install the vertical slats. Our home is a 1950 bungalow, which means NOTHING is level unless I’ve made it that way. Being as particular as I am I made sure that even 1/16 of an inch was accounted for in each piece for a very tight fit. I measured each board individually, cut, installed and repeated throughout the room.
Repeat the process for adding a crown.
Caulk each seam whether it be wood or wall, and fill each nail hole with wood puddy. This will create a polished final product. Sand the puddy after it’s dry (usually an hour or so), vacuum up all of the debris and it’s time to paint!
And that’ pretty much does it. I could go at great lengths about these topics, but it gets boring to read. So if you have questions please reach out! Always happy to help.
enjoy
much love-
danielle (and michael)
xoxo
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