My inspiration:
 |
| Love of Family and Home Blog |
My current situation:
 |
| My dining area in all its messy glory. (I didn't bother cleaning for the photo.) |
My plan of attack:
I have seen board and batten that has more detailed molding and very simple molding. It seems the very square, simple molding lends an either mission or modern style (depending on the the wall color and rest of decor). The more detailed the molding the more formal and traditional it can sometimes feel. Although I find detailed white molding very beautiful and elegant, I don't think it would work for our current style. If I decide to go the route of replacing all the molding in the house I may look for a molding with a little detail, but it will be fairly minimal. However, for the board and batten I am going to stick to straight boards with no flourishes.
I plan to have the height at 60 inches, since my ceiling is pretty tall, anything less might look out of scale. Then the vertical pieces I will place roughly 16 inches apart. I might start by having pieces at either end of the wall and then finding the middle and working out from there. Hopefully, that will work around our outlets and vent.
Stay tuned...work will commence hopefully this weekend : )
UPDATE:
So, trying to get anything done that requires making some noise in the house is next to impossible when you have a child who still takes two naps a day. Therefore, the project is taking a little longer than I first anticipated. Throw in a girl's weekend, which I am about to embark upon, and a family trip to Chicago next week, and you get a three-week-long project (which probably could have been finished in a few days). Oh well. Good thing I am not on a particular timeline!
This is what I have done so far. I was originally going to use wood boards but it was near impossible to find non-warped boards. After doing more research online it seems that many do-it-your-selfers used MDF. After making several trips to both Lowes and Home Depot, I finally decided to purchase two sheets of MDF from Home Depot ($33 ea). I bought the 8 x 4x 3/4 sheets. Since we still don't have any power tools besides a drill I had the extremely patient and helpful worker cut my boards for our long wall (I stupidly didn't take measurements for the short wall).
I decided on 6 inch baseboards, 4 inch boards going across the top and 3 inch boards for the batten. I mentioned before that we have a tall ceiling so I wanted the wall treatment to be a little meatier.
 |
| Short boards |
 |
| Long boards and extra pieces |
Before installing, I sanded and primed the boards. I found it easier to roll them out when they were flat instead of on the wall. After priming, we were able to borrow a nail gun from a friend and with the help of my husband (and the kids at a sleepover) we nailed up all of the boards on the long wall. We started with the baseboard and then played with the measurements of the batten pieces so that we wouldn't have to make any special cuts around outlets. After the batten pieces, the last to go up was the top piece.
After the boards are installed, comes filling the nail holes and caulking between all the boards and the wall. Caulking allows for a cleaner finish, no gaps. For filling the nail holes I just used a wood filler and for the caulking I used a white paintable caulk. Remember to get PAINTABLE or the paint will bead and look awful.
Caulk usually needs about 40 minutes to cure and then you can paint. Here is the long wall with one coat of paint. We just added the picture shelf, which is a pine lattice board (about 2 inches wide). When I get back from my girl's weekend all that will be left is completing the short wall (which you can see a little bit in the picture above), adding the decorative molding under the shelf, and painting a second coat.
Come back to check out the finished product!
....And here it is!...I am trying to get better angles and lighting but I wanted to post some pics today. I will try taking some in the morning when there is better lighting. You can see in the first picture our new French doors and the much anticipated light fixture from Inmod. I absolutely love the result of the board and batten along the wall. It gives the dining area (which is attached to the kitchen) a separate more distinct feel. I have always wanted a separate more formal dining area and this was a cheap and relatively easy way to get that feel without having to buy a new house!
Here is a closer look at the board and batten. You can see we added a picture ledge with a little extra detail molding underneath to give it a more polished look. I still have to add my other molding on the far wall and I have some touch up painting to do, but the bulk of the work is done! |
| Completed board and batten! |
No comments:
Post a Comment