Easy Board & Batten DIY Wall

This room has already come a long way! We ripped out the carpet, installed hardwood flooring to match the rest of the downstairs, and added a much brighter white paint on the walls. I still need to get that blog post made for you. So, that will be coming soon.

My next vision for this room was to add an accent wall with board & batten. Wait till you see the color I have picked out for it. I’m pretty much obsessed with the color I’ve chosen and will be using it in our master bathroom makeover in the very near future.

Your first step will be measuring the wall or walls that you’ll be adding the board and batten to.

You will also need to figure out if you’ll need to add MDF paneling or not. Our walls are textured (it’s a thing in Arizona), I don’t care for it, but I’ve gotten used to it.

I’ve seen some people out here do board & batten without adding the panels for a smooth surface. I personally don’t care for it, it looks unfinished to me. It is a personal preference though and you may not mind it that way, and that’s ok too.

For this project the wall we’re DIYing is 13ft. 10in X 9ft. After taking all of our measurements, deciding what thickness we wanted the trim pieces, and spacing we could figure out what we needed for materials.

Materials

• 1x4x10 Primed MDF (10) battens
• 1x5x8 Primed MDF (20) top trim pieces
• 4×8 MDF Paneling (5)
• All purpose Power Grab adhesive
• Caulk, Paint, Spackle, Sand Paper

Tools

• Tape measure
• Level
• Air compressor
• Stud finder
• Nail gun we used 1.25 in brad nails

One thing that I’m realizing while I’m writing this post for you, is…….I didn’t take enough pictures. Ha, well I need to step up my game with that. I slacked on taking pictures of myself doing the work too. Epic fail on my part!

So, back to the steps!

1. You’ll want to find and mark your studs
2. remove baseboard trim if needed (we removed ours)
3. Get the power grab ready and start putting up the MDF panels if you need to do this step.

Squeeze the all-purpose adhesive all over the section you’ll be adding the panel to. Once the panel was up we brad nailed it into the studs. Maybe overkill, but my husband insisted on doing this, lol.

This part moves pretty quickly.

The paneling is up and now we’re ready to add the top trim pieces at the ceiling.

I wanted this trim piece thicker than the rest so we went with 1x5x8 boards.

Now, this part moves pretty quickly too. We measured and figured out the spacing, made our marks, and started to add the batten boards.

Once we had all the boards up and secured we did a little clean-up with the shop vac and I was ready to do the finish work.

When it comes to our DIY projects I’m the one that does all the finish work. I think this is why my husband and I make such a good team because we both have strengths when it comes to this stuff and it all comes together.

Finishing steps

1. Find and spackle all nail holes + seams that need to be filled
2. Once dried sand and vaccum all dust
3. Caulk all seams and let dry 24 hours before painting (this is one of the most important parts to make everything look seamless

Now we get to paint!!

This is one of my favorite parts of a project because it all starts to come together! I finally get to share with you the color I chose for this wall.

I have to give this color inspiration shout-out to Regan over at The Blooming Nest. Everything she does is beautiful so if you’re not already, give her a follow!

I know I said it before, but I really am OBSESSED with this color. I knew immediately I needed this color in my life. 😍

What do I love about this color?

I love the tone, it’s cool with a little warmth, and depending on the light coming into the room it can appear darker or much lighter. It’s such a neutral color that almost any color scheme will go with it, which makes it perfect to change up decor regularly if you like.

So, here she is all done!! I’m so happy with how it came out and it’s exactly how I pictured it. All in this board & batten DIY project came in at just under $200. I think that’s pretty good for adding such a large statement piece to this room.

Now to furnish and decorate will be the next step. I’ve created a design board for this room so, I have an idea of what I’d like to do and once it’s done I’ll make sure to share it with you all!!

I hope this DIY tutorial was helpful or at least inspires you to tackle some of your own projects. I’d love to hear from you, and what projects you have going, or would like to start.