Friday, August 27, 2010

Board & Batten

About 6 months ago we moved our twins out of their cribs and into twin beds. The last 6 months have been a decorating nightmare for me! I have had the hardest time figuring out how to make a boy/girl twin two-year old room look cute. One of the biggest problem areas was this long blank wall.


It used to be the wall their cribs were up against but putting twin beds on this wall took up too much of the floor space. I came up with another solution for the beds which you'll see in a later post. I already have enough furniture in the room with 2 nightstands, 2 twin beds and a tall dresser so putting furniture along this wall was not an option. After scouring the internet I decided to try Board & Batten and my fantastic hubby willingly went along with it once I showed him pictures of it.

We started by painting the wall about 3/4 high with a glossy white paint.

We went to a hardware store and purchased 4x8 sheet of MDF and had the guys cut them into 2" strips. We also bought a 12' long pre-primed 1x6 for the top border. I layed them all out in the garage and painted away...although you could wait and paint them once they are up on the wall if you wanted. Ignore the 3 wide planks in the picture below. Those didn't work out and we went back to buy the aforementioned 12' 1x6.

My handsome helper mitred the ends of each plank so that the transition from plank to baseboard wouldn't be so awkward. My little guy decided to get an early start on learning 'boy' stuff.

In the process of this project we bought a new (and slightly expensive) toy that we need to use for other projects very soon to justify the purchase of this and the compressor.

Here's a close up detail of the bottom of the plank.

After it's all up on the wall we filled in the nail holes with wood filler, sanded and touched up the paint.

Finished product! I'm sorry the photo angle is so awkward... Remember my unfortunate camera incident? Well, my temporary until I can afford a new lens is a 35-80mm so everything is much closer than it was when we did this project. Picture me up on a bed squishing myself as far as I can into the corner of the room and I still couldn't get the whole wall in one shot!! Hopefully you can get the idea here.

Now the wall appears full without any additional furniture. I love love love it!! I think I'd have B&B or beadboard in almost every room of my house if that wasn't absolutely crazy!!

I'm linking here:
Finding Fabulous
It's a Blog Party
The Shabby Nest
Remodelaholic
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
Trendy Treehouse

19 comments:

  1. Beautiful job. I also like when people put a piece of crown along the top for a little shelf option. Cute picture of the kids.

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  2. Thanks for the close up pix! I can't wait to give it a try. I'm going to start in the master bath and see how it goes.

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  3. that looks SOOOO good! i'm thinking about trying it our dining room...hopefully i will have a willing helper.

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  4. I adore this look. Trying to decide if the BB wallpaper (which I have 2 rolls) or this Batten Board would be nice or even easier for a current project. Will be nice to see the rest of the room makeover. Your post has been featured at Creative Link Up. http://creativelinkup.blogspot.com/2010/08/friday-favourites_27.html

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  5. Lindsay you are so creative and George is so handy, love the room! I am sure the kids love it!

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  6. It looks GREAT!!! I think I like it better than a chair rail!

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  7. Cute! You and your DH did a nice job.

    I wanted to let you know about Atticmag's new linky party - Giveaway Friday! It's a convenient place for bloggers to link their giveaways each week. We've kicked it off with a fantastic giveaway of our own. Five lucky winners will win material to do a backsplash in their homes. Hope to see you there!

    Allison
    Atticmag

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  8. Excellent! I'm all for purchasing tools that you can use for many projects! Very nice...saw you on remodelaholic!

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  9. What a huge difference for such a small change! Great job =) Dropping by from Friday Remodelaholic!

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  10. I found you on the It's a Blog Party Decorating Your Home Link up and I am so glad I did! I love your blog. I love decorating and am always looking for new ideas! I am your newest follower!

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  11. Looks amazing!
    Thanks for linking up!
    Liz!

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  12. I love this! I have been wanting to do this to a few rooms in my house, but I didn't know what exactly to buy or do! I am so excited, it seems so simple! Thanks for sharing all the details!! I am your newest follower!!
    Tasha
    www.dotdotdotthis.blogspot.com

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  13. P.S. I can't get your "follow" button to work? Maybe it's just my browser? So for right now I will just list you on my sidebar under favorites!!
    Tasha
    www.dotdotdotthis.blogspot.com

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  14. @Tasha Tasha ~ that's weird about the button. I have it on my family blog and it works... but thanks for the link on your side bar! As for the B&B... it was pretty easy and so worth it! Thanks for stopping by... I'm off to check your blog.

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  15. @Theresa Thanks Theresa! Glad to have you following along.

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  16. Looks amazing. I'm tempted to do some of that in my house too when I upgrade my little guy to his big boy room. Love the look.

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