How to Install Board and Batten

Use this simple & easy DIY board and batten wainscoting tutorial to add tons of character to your home on a budget!

Now, I know that everyone and their mother has tried Board and Batten, or at least it seems that way. And I have been semi-stalking all things Board and Batten since we moved into our home last February. But what we have here is how I installed Board and Batten. You can learn from my mistakes and hopefully not repeat them!

I installed B&B in my Living Room because it is just this wide open space with tall ceilings and I thought it needed a bit more structure. I wanted to help define the space in an open floor plan. And I think it did just that!

Let’s take a look at the before and after side-by-side shot. You know, cause that’s what we do in the blogland. Errrbody loves and good before and after. 🙂 (You can find all of the glorious details about this room in my Living Room Reveal post.)

And since, like I said before, everyone and their mom has done this in their home, I’ll just share with you what I did. I was majorly inspired by these other great tutorials: Jackie’s, Emily’s, Ana’s, Kate’s, Mandi’s and Anna’s. And while I wish I had done this project sooner, I knew it was going to be a big undertaking … and it was. Ginormous. (Of course it would take much less time in a smaller room, mine is just a big room.) I grossly underestimated the time it would take to get everything painted and nailed to the wall, caulked, spackled, sanded and painted some more. A lot of the time factor was due to having to work around a 2-year-old. I couldn’t nail up the boards while she was sleeping because her room shares a wall with the living room. And I couldn’t use my nail gun while she was awake because it’s too loud and she cries. So, that was the biggest hang up … just waiting for a time when someone else (like my hubby or my mom) could take her outside or somewhere (anywhere) else while I put the boards up. So, if you have a little one, plan to have your husband or friend take your child while you put the boards up.

So here’s how I did it:

I figured out where I wanted to place the top of my boards. This was quite the decision because I had to work with the fireplace. I had originally decided to put the boards just above the fireplace, but I’m so glad a good friend of mine helped me re-think that decision. It would have placed the boards almost in the exact middle of the wall, cutting it in half. And we all know that design works best with the rule of thirds, right? So then I decided to place the top board just below the “sticking-out-top, not-sure-what-you-call-it” part of the fireplace. I love how it still leaves the architecture of the fireplace in tact, and now divides the room not exactly in half. Design crisis averted! I think it looks so much better the way I did it in the end.

Once I decided where to place the top boards, I drew a line around the room using my laser level (those things are awesome by the way!) and painted gray on top and white on the bottom. I learned from several other tutorials that is saves a ton of time and hand cramping to paint the walls first! So glad I did my research. (Read about how I Picked the Perfect Gray.)

So at this point you have to figure out what boards you’re going to use. It’s probably best to figure out that first, but I’ll talk about it here. One night I went by myself (alone time, hallelujah!) to Lowe’s and priced out all of the options. I looked at furring strips, pine white board and MDF. Furring strips are definitely the cheapest, but it’s hard to find straight boards. I was going to go with this option (and just search for straight boards by laying them on the floor and creating a huge mess in the back corner of Lowe’s), but at my store they all had rounded edges and I wanted a straighter line for my boards. Pine boards were way too expensive for my large room, but would be my first pick if money was not a factor. And so I decided to go with MDF. I had the guys at Lowe’s rip it there. I bought two sheets and had quite a bit left over. (Perfect for my next room reveal!!)

Side note: I asked for them to rip it in 8 foot long 4-inch strips, but their saw wouldn’t cut it that way; it kept getting stuck. So, they ended up having to rip the boards in 4 foot long strips. Except they tried to rip a few 8 foot long pieces for me, and when it didn’t go well, they had to cut it the other way and I ended up with a bunch of 3 feet 4 inch long strips. And I ended up having to piece together a lot of places on my walls. (See step #8.) It made for a lot of extra caulking, spackling and sanding. I’d highly recommend making double double sure that they can cut them in 8 foot long strips before committing to the MDF. And if they mess up mid-cutting, I’d ask for them to start over with a new piece at their cost.

Once I got the MDF boards home, I primed and painted them. I used my all-time favorite primer: Zinsser Cover Stain. You can get it your local home improvement store. And then painted them one coat of paint. (They got another coat of paint once they were on the wall.)

It might be fine just to paint them once you’ve put them up on the walls and caulked and spackled them. Maybe just as easy and less time-consuming. I’ll try it that way on my next project and let you know. 🙂 Don’t look at the messy garage. It’s on my to-do list to organize it this summer. I even started a new Pin Board last week: Garage Organization. 🙂

Side note: I thought I could just grab white paint from the shelf and go with it, but when I started to use it on the walls it was like fluorescent white. I HATED it. I don’t know the color of my trim since it was painted before we moved in and our home was a foreclosure. (No extra paint samples here.) And the trim and fluorescent white looked terrible next to each other. So then I pulled out my paint swatches, my many paint swatches, and picked Benjamin Moore’s Simply White. I returned my off-the-shelf white and had Lowe’s color match to the paint swatch. Sooooo much better!!

Once I had the first round painted {I had limited space to lay the boards as they dried, so I had to do painting rounds}, I nailed up the horizontal boards first. I didn’t get a picture of this, but you’ll want to make extra sure that your horizontal boards are level with your level. {side note: I don’t know how I lived before I had a level. Best tool evahhhh!) I didn’t get pictures because it took me and my husband to help hold the boards in place while I nailed them in with my nail gun and made sure they were level. 🙂 Don’t use your baseboards as a leveling guide because chances are they aren’t level.

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