Board and batten wall treatment gives this master bedroom makeover a bright modern farmhouse feel. Simple steps to install board and batten.
There are so many options to add character to your walls….shiplap, barn wood, wallpaper, wainscoting…oh my!
We decided to go with board and batten in our master bedroom makeover.
And today I’m sharing all the details of how we installed board and batten wall treatment.
Have you been following our Master Bedroom Makeover series?
This is Part 3 and the final post in the series.
If you missed Part 1 you can find that here with all the details and the before & after pictures of our bedroom.
And in Part 2 of the series we shared how to paint furniture, you can check that out here.
Here is where we started…
Oh boy!
Such a drab room right!?
I love the look of crisp white board and batten wall treatments.
So when I was looking for ideas for our bedroom update I decided it would be the perfect way to add some modern farmhouse charm to our project.
I enlisted my husband to help me with this one since it was a big project.
Our bedroom is a good size with an attached sitting room so we decided to do both rooms since they open up to each other.
And that’s a whole lot of wall to cover so with two of us working together the job would get done faster.
Step 1 – Measure (twice!)
We took lots of measurements and then with our notes in hand Chris and I headed to the store.
We wanted to keep the costs down and had heard that home improvement stores will “rip” (or cut) the plywood down for you into the exact sized boards you need.
This saved us a major step in our project!
Unfortunately, our local store was not able to cut the plywood for us.
But I was not about to give up so we went a little farther down the highway to another home improvement store and found a willing employee to help our worthy cause little project.
As the very kind man continued to cut & stack our boards Chris began frantically double checking our calculations.
Apparently, we were really off with our measurements and now had more than enough wood for our project.
But not to worry…after seeing the room completed our neighbors were inspired to do the same wall treatment in their laundry room.
And guess what?
They had all the wood they needed sitting in our garage. Haha!
Step 2 – Sand & Prime
We used 3/4″ thick plywood cut down to 4″ wide strips for the horizontal boards (the top board going around the room).
The vertical pieces were each cut to 3″ wide out of 1/2″ thick plywood boards.
I sanded & primed all the boards in my garage using a simple palm sander to sand the plywood so it was a bit smoother.
Then I primed all the boards with a basic white paint primer.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of these steps. Sorry!
But I’m sure you can imagine me in my garage painting away right? LOL
Step 3 – Installing the Boards
There wasn’t much exact measuring involved here.
We were lazy eager and didn’t want to waste time with a lot of cutting around outlets and light switches.
So we just lined the boards along each wall to determine the spacing we needed for each wall.
And honestly our easy method worked out great!
We used liquid nails on each board then followed up with nailing the pieces in with our nail gun.
Using both liquid nails and our brad nailer helped be sure that all the boards were securely attached to the walls.
Step 4 – Caulking
The next step was caulking all those pesky seams.
Not all the boards lined up perfectly…
…but a little wood putty & caulk helped with that.
Ahhh…so much better!
It’s amazing what a little caulk can hid.
Once all the boards were up.
I was ready to paint and get it done!
But my husband insisted that we caulk all the seams.
What!?!
On both sides of each & every board…not just the corners?
Yup…that’s exactly what he meant.
I wanted to just be done at that point but he was right…it looked so much more finished with the caulking.
Hopefully, he won’t read this post…because I’ll never admit he was right.
Step 5 – Painting
Once all the boards were up & caulked I painted with white semi-gloss paint.
And the final results?
WE LOVE it!!!
It was a bit of work but it brightened the room and gave it a lot of character.
Between painting the furniture black & adding the board and batten it feels like a different space, don’t you think so?
Although this project took several weeks to complete it was so worth the effort!
Chris and I are so excited about the final outcome of our room.
It’s a light and bright space with a modern farmhouse feel that we love to relax in.
Resources used for board & batten:
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Other posts in this series:
Other room makeovers you may like:
- Modern Farmhouse Bathroom Makeover
- Teen Girl Bedroom Makeover | Final Reveal
- Budget Bathroom Makeover | Final Reveal
- Master Bathroom Makeover
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