DIY Board and Batten: Our Hallway Update
September 3, 2016This post contains affiliate links.
Do you have a hallway that just looks & feels a little builder-grade and boring? We did, but we decided to upgrade it by installing some board and batten. The process was really relatively simple. It only took a few hours of work (we have a pretty small hallway) and I am absolutely in love with the result!
DIY Board and Batten: Our Hallway Update
DIY Board and Batten: Our Hallway Update
Supplies:
1″x3″ MDF boards (this is the “board” part)
wooden lattice strips (this is the “batten” part)
nail gun or hammer & finish nails
miter box & miter saw
white caulk
white latex paint
paint roller or paint brush
1. First, we figured out how high we wanted the board & batten to be on the wall. We chose a height of about 50″ from the floor. We drew a very light pencil line at this level.
DIY Board and Batten: Our Hallway Update
2. Next, it’s time to attach the MDF board to the wall at this level. We used a basic hammer and nails. It was quick work and I love the way it was already coming together. Even though our MDF board wasn’t long enough for one of the walls, we knew we would be able to take care of that shortly.
DIY Board and Batten: Our Hallway Update
3. We used our miter box to create nice, smooth corners. Here is an example of an inside corner.
DIY Board and Batten: Our Hallway Update
4. Next, we attached the lattice strips to the wall. We cut them to fit the length from our baseboard to the horizontal strip. We spaced the battens about 15″ apart from each other.
DIY Board and Batten: Our Hallway Update
5. We also had to add some caulk to diminish any gaps between the board & batten and the wall. We also used caulk to smooth out the gap between two individual MDF boards on the wall.
DIY Board and Batten: Our Hallway Update
The last step was to simply paint the whole thing white. I used a paintbrush to get in the gap between the boards and a roller brush to fill in the large areas. I am absolutely in love with our hallway and how the board & batten turned out! It really makes our hallway look so much more refined and elegant!
DIY Board and Batten: Our Hallway Update
I already told my husband that we have to do this same thing in our dining room! If only there were more hours in the day!
DIY Board and Batten: Our Hallway Update
I hope you enjoyed this fun hallway update. If you’re looking for more inspiration on home projects, check out some of my favorite posts below. Just click on the picture & you’ll be taken to the post! Happy remodeling, friends!
Sprucing up the Baseboards- on a Budget!
DIY Wall-Mounted Copper Pipe Planter
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You have the right idea here but the execution is a bit shabby. First of all the boards you used look more like 1″x3″ pine and not MDF. MDF is a man made material and that does not look man made. Secondly, you should have used boards that are “one piece” and not to be piecing things together. It just doesn’t look right. It looks like you don’t care about the outcome.
I definitely care about the outcome, but I have never claimed to be a DIY expert. I agree with you that keeping the boards as single pieces would result in a cleaner look. If I tackle this project again in another room, I will definitely use single pieces of wood. That’s one lesson we learned during this project.
It’s not wrong to have to “piece” together 2 pieces of wood. The trick to making it look like one piece is to: First, sand the two pieces down so they are the same height when you run your fingers across them. Second, use wood putty instead of caulk. When the wood putty dries, then sand it until it feels like one piece of wood with your fingers. You could do this now to your hallway piece… just sand down that area removing the paint, then pry out the caulk and replace with wood putty, then sand and repaint just that area. I learned from my mistake of using caulk versus wood putty. I like what you did, and thank you for the instructions on measurements! 😎
Thanks Mary! Good tips!
Loved what you did to your hall,it makes such a beautiful difference.
Wow, gorgeous! I love what you did here. Happy new year
Happy New Year, Ivory! Thanks so much for your sweet comment!