Board and Batten Tutorial - Life on the Bay Bush

Welcome to week 2 of the One Room Challenge! This week I am sharing a little Board and Batten Tutorial.

In my humble opinion, Board and Batten is to Coastal style, what Shiplap is to Farmhouse. Does that make sense?

As a reminder…here is my mood board for the bathroom. You can also read the full week 1 post here.

I read several different tutorials online and used bits and pieces of each to add Board and Batten to our bathroom.

Here’s what I used (contains affiliate links):

1×6 (enough to go around the diameter of the room)
1×4 (sum of the lengths of the vertical boards)
1×2 (enough to go around the diameter of the room)
Hammer
Nails
Miter Saw
Caulk
Level
Measuring Tape
1. I used painter’s tape to mark the walls to get an idea of where I wanted the vertical boards. I knew I wanted the horizontal board to function as a towel hanger. So the height of the horizontal board was easy to eyeball, keeping in mind that it needed to be reachable by my youngest daughter who is five. I was careful to make sure the boards across the wall matched up. For example, the shower takes up the entire end of the bathroom. I made sure the first vertical boards on either side of the shower were the same distance from the shower.
2. I marked the studs on each wall with a pencil to make sure the nails in the horizontal boards (1×6) were in studs.
  
  The vertical boards (1×4) are not all in studs. I nailed them into the sheet rock and later caulked and painted around them so I hope they will be stable there since they are not holding an weight as the top board is in the studs.
3. Next, cut boards to appropriate length. I used a miter saw. For the vertical boards that joined into the baseboard, I cut them at a 45 degree angle. I was worried that this might look odd but I honestly do not even notice it.
4. Start nailing those boards. I did one section at a time for the vertical and horizontal boards, using a level. Then I added the 1×2 shelf around the top last. I hung all the boards with a hammer and nail. A nail gun would have been ideal but I managed with what I had.
5. Caulk the edges and seams. I hate caulking but it really made a huge difference in finishing the board and batten.
6. Finally, paint! I painted the board and batten and wall a white semigloss so that it looks like one solid piece of trim work. It’s amazing how much taller the ceiling looks in there now!
All done!

Pro-tip: Having a cute helper is a must!

Overall, I’d say board and batten is a great beginner project! Figuring out the spacing is the hardest part.

Pin it for later!

Now, go check out all the other One Room Challenges happening this round by clicking here. I love seeing all the rooms transform!
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