board and batten – Village & Coast

DIY Board and Batten Hallway

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Kindra

Easy Board and Batten Project for Under $200!!

So as many of you may know, I own a vacation rental property in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. (And you can read all about our adventure embarking on a vacation rental here). Is it wonderful owning a beach house? Yes, it is. It is a sanctuary for my family. Is it ALL bliss though? No, it’s not. Wait. Why, you ask? Because our dream home is rented out to folks who mostly don’t take care of it and don’t worry about damaging or breaking anything, and, in a way, I can’t blame them, they are on vacation. They aren’t worried about spilling sticky stuff down the front of the cabinets, cleaning the crusty stuff off the grill or dinging the walls as they roll their suitcases down the hall. After a season of rentals, I often feel like crying as I wander the house assessing the last 4 months of “wear and tear.” Occasionally, there are issues that take a professional intervention. For example, we recently had to have sensors installed on the exterior doors that turn the HVAC system off when the doors are open. When renters leave the doors open while the AC is running, then hot, moist air from outside colliding with cool dry air inside, not only creates monster electric bills, it also creates excess humidity and potentially mold in the house. Thankfully though, most renter rigors can be fixed pretty easily (magic erasers are a wonderful thing). In the 3 years since our rental had been built, I was continuously either magic erasering or repainting our 2nd floor hallway because it got a lot of abuse from things banging against it; suitcases, laundry baskets, coolers, you name it, it’s apparently bounced off the poor flat-painted walls of this hall.

Hallway Before Board and Batten

Board and Batten Hallway before

This past week was spring break and my family and I headed to the beach for some home maintenance and relaxation. (While projects may not sound fun to most people, I have trouble sitting still, so I need a home project to relax). I decided to create a board and batten wall down the hallway in the hopes that the finish (being a semi-gloss, interior trim finish) would stand up to the scuffs and scrapes better than ‘ol flat paint, and easier to wipe off.

DIY It!

First step, after scouring Pinterest for ideas of course, was to measure the walls and acquire the materials needed for the project. We already had decorative baseboard which we wanted to keep. The baseboard stuck out a ¼” from the wall, so we were looking for a material with ¼” thickness that wasn’t too expensive and wouldn’t require too much sanding and finishing. We found everything we needed at Home Depot…in Virginia… apparently our local beach Home Depot didn’t carry this same material, so we bought it in VA and schlepped it all the way to NC.

We used the following materials and equipment:

48” x 1.5” x ¼” vertical battens
48” x 3.5” x ¼” top horizontal battens
6’ x 1” x 2” top caps ripped in half lengthwise (since we didn’t want anything to stick out too far)
Brad nails
Brad nailer and compressor
Measuring tape
Level
T-square or Triangle square
Wood filler and putty knife
Sand paper
BIN Primer
Sherwin Williams SuperPaint Interior Latex Semi-Gloss (The color is untinted white since the rest of the trim in the house was already this color).
Paint Supplies (brushes, rollers, tape etc)
Paintable caulk & caulk gun
Construction adhesive (note we didn’t glue & nail, just nailed, but in hindsight, it may have been a bit sturdier to do both, I suppose time will tell).

Board and Batten Wood Materials

We began by measuring the walls, and determining the pattern in which we wanted to do board and batten. There are multiple variations; some with wide boards, some with thin, some with a top cap, some without. Whichever one you want to do is fine but definitely design first, construct second, winging it is not recommended. After we determined the height of our board and batten and we measured the longest / most prominent wall and determined how frequently we wanted the vertical boards to repeat in a way that we wouldn’t end up with a weird partial batten at a corner. For us, this was about 14” apart. On all other walls, which were either broken up by doors or shorter in length, we first laid the boards out at 14” apart and if they created a weird space we “fudged” the 14” pattern into 13” or 13.5” or even 14.5” apart so that all battens were visually appealing and well-spaced on all walls in this hall.

We leaned each vertical batten in the approximate area where it would get nailed to the wall. We nailed the first batten in at the edge of the hallway corner on the “main wall”, we measured for accuracy, held the level up against the batten to ensure it was level from top to bottom (nothing worse than crooked battens). Note this works best with two people, one holds and wields the nailgun while the other measures and levels. Did each 48”x 1 ½”x ½” on all walls first.

Use a level and triangle square to make sure board and batten is straight and level

Then we levelled and nailed on these same boards in a horizontal fashion across the top. Next, we cut more of those same boards into 12” sections to make the next vertical pieces.

angle cut board and batten near lights

We repeated the levelling and nailing process (which is easier with pieces that are only a foot long). Finally, we placed, leveled and nailed on the 3.5” boards horizontally across the top and topped it off with a little ledge or top cap.

Already with just the wood up I was liking how it made the hallway instantly more interesting. Next came the boring, messy parts. All gaps, joints and nail holes have to be filled with wood putty and sanded smooth. This creates a mess. In a space as confined as this we ended up setting off the smoke detectors with dust, and then forgot that our system there was connected to the fire alarm, and since we don’t live there all the time it took us a while to remember the code to shut it off. We used the caulk to fill in any long vertical or horizontal gaps between the wall and the battens. If you miss any or think that some gaps are too small to merit caulk, wait until you have a coat of paint up and if you see black space among white boards, you need more caulk.

Filling and sanding seams on board and batten

After all gaps and holes are filled, sanded and dust wiped off its time for priming and painting. Note this post is not sponsored in any way, but the ONLY primer I have found that covers up wood knots and prevents the yellow-ish seepage of wood juice (there has got to be a better term for that) through paint is a primer called BIN. This stuff is pricey, but awesome. It’s surprising, because it’s milky in consistency and goes on thin, dries fast and will need 2 coats, but it does its job. It’s really only necessary to apply this to the wood parts of the wall. After priming and letting it dry overnight, I added 2 coats of semi-gloss paint. I used a brush on all wood parts and a roller on the wall portions. In hindsight it may have been helpful to paint the walls prior to putting up the wood or to use a foam roller as that gets in nooks and corners better than a large roller. Since the board and batten is technically a trim, it looks best in a semi-gloss finish.

board and batten prime and paint

What a Difference!

The project took 1 long weekend to complete and we spent about $200 in materials, and what a difference! I can only hope that it will make cleaning up after scuffs and dings easier, or at least less noticeable. Already I like how the amount of white in the hallway makes the area seem larger and brighter than just the plain greige paint. Hmmm, if this works maybe I could continue it up the 3 flights of stairs too?

Board and Batten DIY after

Eco-Friendly Farm House

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Kindra

In this month’s edition of This Old House Magazine, they’ve featured a home that I think is almost absolute perfection (for me, it would be absolutely perfect if it were on a larger piece of land). This Old House’s 2016 Idea House is a newly built farmhouse that’s a modern version of classic farmhouse style, with lots of green features and a smaller footprint…. not the McMansion size of yester-decade, nor the tiny mouse-house size, but a Goldilocks just right size of 1900 square feet. Here’s some of what I really love about this place.

First, the outside look is just so appealing and charming, with the copper roof over the porch, the black vinyl windows and that salmon door is just so inviting! Sometimes it’s also what’s NOT present that can improve curb appeal, in this case, garage doors, which are located in a detached garage at the back of the property.

This house uses less than half the energy of what the average house of a similar size would consume, thanks in part to the solar array on the roof of the garage. Sure, it requires an investment up front, but if you plan on living in the home for a while, live in a state that offers tax advantages for eco-friendly home improvements, and idealistically want a better planet for your kids, then solar is the way to go. Plus, who could resist an adorable cupola?

I’ve always thought rain chains were a charming feature of older homes, but I never considered their eco-friendliness before. The rain chain channels the water to a bell cup and releases it in a controlled fashion down the chain to the awaiting garden, or terminates in a cistern where water can be used for watering plants later.

The inside of the home has some wonderfully modern yet charming features as well. This baluster and railing system is amazing. And can we talk about that board and batten on the interior for a minute? It adds so much visual interest, and the white keeps the room bright and airy. From a practical standpoint, the board and batten can be painted in a semi-gloss, since it’s technically a “trim” and will be so much easier to wipe down when dirty or scuffed which is perfect for a smaller space that is inhabited by kids and pets. I’ve been seriously considering a board and batten for this very purpose up and down the stairs and halls of my rental beach property, I may be thoroughly convinced now.

I’ve always wanted a reason to use penny tile and I just haven’t found the right place for it yet. I like that the designer of this space not only went with the penny tile but went bold and selected a red shade with bright white grout. It’s a classic look that shouts “farmhouse!”

It’s a small kitchen, but taking the tile all the way to the ceiling adds visual height and space and the oversized contrasting island adds all the usable storage, counter and seating space a growing family could need.

Even though most of us don’t live down on the farm, everyone these days still wants a mudroom. And if it looks like this, well, who wouldn’t? The bold citron cubbies paired with the dark wood floors and the white shiplap walls welcomes the entering family with a vibe that says, “organize your crap”, but “still have fun”.

I might actually LIKE doing laundry if it were in a laundry room like this. Ok, admittedly, I’d probably still not like it, but at least I wouldn’t cringe every time I walked past my laundry room. Now on my to-do list, revamp laundry room and include a barn door.

Navy blue and crisp white is a tried and true design trick that looks fresh and clean every.single.time. I don’t think you can ever go wrong with navy and white. This reading nook capitalizes on the navy and white perfection and takes it one step further by adding additional visual interest on the ceiling with a blue and white patterned wallpaper.

All the related articles and photos, all by William Geddes can be found at This Old House’s website, here. What’s your favorite part of the This Old House Idea House 2016?

Paneled Walls

Posted on September 19, 2016September 22, 2016 by Kindra

Probably the best way to describe the current style of home I live in is a “modern colonial”. This is designer talk for builder grade, brick front, siding on 3 sides, tract home, built in the early 2000’s that looks almost like all the other 200 homes in the neighborhood. No, not ideal, BUT it lends itself to a number of interesting decorating techniques with little risk of truly screwing anything up. I’ve been looking for a way to incorporate a paneled room. I’m not talking about creepy knotty pine paneling but a more modern but still classic look. I need to figure out how to work this into my place and found these below to be inspirational.

This one is a dark matte grey that looks (combined with the styling here too) minimalistic and shaker inspired. This would be a relatively inexpensive and easy one for a DIYer to recreate as there aren’t any mitered joints. You could affix inexpensive pieces of pine that have been ripped on a table saw lengthwise at right angles to each other.

This powder room by Ty Larkins Interiors has a black high gloss paneling that makes this small space look grand, not what you’d expect moody black paint to do. I really love the overhead light fixture since it’s a bit unexpected style for a bathroom. (I’m still on the fence with the second wall mounted light). I wonder if the homeowner is constantly dusting off the horizontal ledges of molding? Meh, it’s worth it.

So you’ve saved up enough to buy a beach cottage, but of course it comes complete with that very scary knotty pine paneling on the wall. Naturally you can’t leave it like that, so what to do? Well… paint it navy blue. While you’re at it, paint everything navy blue, the walls, the trim, the bookcases. Adorn it with some maps and cute chairs (which I wish were upholstered in something different) and it looks like you meant to put up this paneling, on purpose!

Okay, admittedly, this is a lotta look, but I think if you were the owner of this home you can get away with it. Can anyone guess? Yep, it’s one of the dining rooms in George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate. While I’d never recreate a room that looked just like this I do occasionally like to borrow ideas from classic American homes, especially those that are befitting of the style of the region (Mount Vernon is right down the road from me). So a more modern take on a vibrant green with wainscoting would be gorgeous with old refinished heart pine floors.

Jumping in with a deep paneled wall right away can be scary for some color phobes. I do adore this more traditional integration of paneling and deep color. White board and batten 2/3 of the way up the wall and topping it off with a deep navy can give either a traditional or nautical look. Best thing, it’s easy to DIY this look.

board-and-batten