In today’s post I’m going to show you this really simple faux board and batten wall treatment that we added to our mudroom!
So, today’s post is going to be a little less of a “show-and-tell”, and a little more of a “just tell” kind of scenario. What happened was this: While we were doing this project, I was casually snapping a few photos of the process with my phone, thinking I would share them with you if the project turned out really well, which it did. Then, a few days later, my phone started to act up, so I started cleaning it out as much as possible to see if that would help. Of course, I deleted the photos and ended up needing to order a new phone, so they were deleted for absolutely nothing. Luckily, I was able to steal a couple of photos of the process out of my stories archives. It’s such a simple process, so the photos aren’t really super necessary, but this faux board and batten wall treatment definitely needs to be shared! This project cost us around $20 and really changed the feel of our entire mudroom, where we installed it.
I’m sharing this project for this month’s instalment of the Thrifty Style Team. I’ve taken a few months off, but I’m back in gear this month and excited to participate again! Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of this post to see the other team members’ projects for this month! There’s always so much inspiration to be found in this group!
Starting on the Faux Board and Batten Wall Treatment
When we first built our mudroom addition a couple of years ago, I just painted the walls the same basic grey that I had everywhere else. It was great. I was loving the clean, smooth, brand-new drywall that we don’t get to enjoy very much in our old house with all our different types of walls. But after a couple of years it was starting to feel really boring and unfinished. I had originally thought I wanted to do wallpaper, but that seemed like more of an undertaking than we really needed right now. Then this idea came into play! This is the perfect way to add a little architectural interest to a plain wall, it’s extra affordable, and it only took us an afternoon to do! Definitely an “instant satisfaction” type of project. 🙂
I first painted the walls in the room a warm white, then Chris headed to the store to pick up one single 2×6 board. He made sure it was super straight, as always. That, along with a table saw, some construction adhesive, and a brad nailer are really all we needed to get this done. And a level. Always a level!
Making the Strips of Wood for the Board and Batten Wall Treatment
We elected to go super simple and just put single strips of wood running from the baseboards all the way up to the crown moulding. We didn’t using an “across piece” of wood 3/4 of the way up the wall the way you often see board and batten done. We just went all the way up, so we started with an eight-foot-long 2×6 board.
We cut seven long strips off the board, about 1/4″ thick using the table saw. This meant we ended up with seven strips of wood that were two inches wide x 1/4″ thick x eight feet long.
Here’s the photo I stole from my stories archives from that point in the process. 🙂
Attaching the Strips of Wood to the Wall
We attached the strips of wood to the wall 16″ apart using the adhesive and the brad nailer. We wanted our strips of wood to be at certain points behind the console table, so we actually put the table in place where we wanted it, then measured where our strips of wood should go according to that, rather than just starting at one wall and working our way across the room.
We filled the nail holes and painted the strips of wood, which took no time at all since they were so small and the rest of the walls were already painted. The white that I always use around our house is the same white I’ve been using since we moved in. It’s a discontinued Martha Stewart color called “Picket Fence”. I just keep going back with my paint can lids and getting them to mix me up more of this same formula in both eggshell and semi-gloss every time I run out. I’ve tried other whites in our house, but I always come back to this one. It’s just the perfect soft white.
The Final Result!
And here’s how the walls turned out! It’s a subtle effect, but still makes a big impression. It really changes the feel of the room and makes it fit in more with the age of the house. It almost feels like this room has always been here now, which is really what we want.
This was just so quick and effective that I have to admit that I’m starting to think about a few other walls around the house that could use this treatment. 🙂
Now it’s time to visit all the other team members and their clever ideas! Keep scrolling down to find all the links to those!
