An easier and cheaper way to get a board and batten look using vertical trim.
When the Bub’s big boy room fell into place in my noggin a couple months ago, I knew from the start I wanted to use board and batten along the bottom, under the chair rail.
Before the room design came to me, I kept trying of ways to use the apple green stripes in his room – maybe repaint them in new colors, make them thicker, make them thinner…and I finally realized I wasn’t getting anywhere with the room because I was trying to work with them.
When I let go and decided to do something completely different, I was able to really get creative with the space and move forward. That’s when his new room took shape in my head and I was OK with the apple green stripes being gone.
Well, today they disappeared for good and I did not cry. I did have a lot of flashbacks to painting them years ago with a sweet Bubby in my belly. ;)
So the board and batten was in my head and I have to tell you, this is by FAR the easiest way to add character to a space with woodwork. Not even one mitered cut in the whole room! I love my wainscoting boxes, but it was nice to not have to match up corners for once. ;)
The material I used for the “board” was simple lattice wood from Lowe’s – it’s really thin and cheap – a 10 foot piece was about $6. The best part – it’s SO easy to cut! I just used my yellow miter box and hand saw to cut everything for this project.
The first step is to determine how far apart you want your lattice. I thought 12 inches looked too close together, and 18 was too far apart, so I settled on 14 inches. Just pick what looks right for your space:
Whenever I install molding with a uniform space between – I always cut a piece of wood or a yard stick to the length I need. I just hold it up over and over so I don’t have to measure every single time.
Because I already had the chair rail up in the room, and didn’t want to take it down, I started by measuring 14 inches from the door frame and measuring the length from the bottom of the chair rail to the top of the baseboards.
I had to do this because the chair rail in this space is the foamy/flexible kind of trim I like to use – and the one bad thing about this stuff is it can be hard to get it exactly straight and level down the wall. You would never notice it, but the length of between the chair rail and baseboards varied by up to a quarter inch in some places.
**Tip #1: If you are starting from scratch with board and batten, just decide on the height of your boards, and cut them all to that length. Install, then install the chair rail or header board over the top. MUCH easier and quicker!
I would mark where the 14 inches fell on the wall, then cut my wood to the right length and nail it in, using a level to make sure it was straight up and down. Then I just continued around the room using the 14 inches:
Basically, it’s a simple as nailing in a lattice piece, holding up your yard stick and installing the next piece with a level.
SO insanely easy, I can’t even tell you. All the cuts are straight cuts. Like I said, if you start without a chair rail, all your cuts will be the same. So you could knock out all of your lattice in no time at all.
I LOVE IT.
I painted it all out in a semi gloss white paint. I usually use high gloss for projects like this, but I had a brilliant idea to use the Behr primer and paint in one, thinking it would cover the stripes better.
It didn’t. 😂
I would have been just fine to go ahead with a coat of primer (that I already had) and two coats of glossy white (that I already had).
But I loved this paint for the dark blue on the walls in here, so I’m still a believer in it!
The installation of this loverly stuff took just a couple hours. The painting of it? Ummmmm…FOREVER.
Tip #2: If you have any ounce of patience at all and are going to listen to me at all – paint the walls before you install. You will save yourself SO much time. I am typing with a claw instead of a hand right now because I didn’t do this.
Again, if you are starting with a blank wall, paint everything first, measure your lattice and install it. You can finish it all off by installing a chair rail or “header.”
I was shocked and pleasantly surprised at how easy this was to install! The total cost of wood for the WHOLE room? Less than $40.
Even though it took a gazillion hours to paint it, it is SO worth it:
The lattice is thin, but it does stick out from the bottom of the chair rail just a teensy bit. But really, it’s so minor, it’s really not a big deal.
It looks just like it did in my head…I love when that happens!:
This was a biggie in getting the room close to done – now I’m onto the fun stuff! Accessorizing, a bit more art, and I’ll be done. I was hoping to finish this week, but I have a feeling it will be next week. Either way, I can’t wait to show you!
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