Sunday, January 16, 2011

Board, NOT Bored!

No, we certainly aren’t bored around here.  Look what we’ve DH has been up to this weekend:IMG_1584

We have officially jumped on board {get it? giggle giggle} and are keeping up with the Joneses.blog.com.  We might not be the first bloggers to put up board and batten, but I’m sure we aren’t the last. And, we’re doin’ it the hard traditional way, actually using boards. I know there are SO many great tutorials and pictures out there in blogland of people who did their “board” and batten the shortcut easy way….without actually using boards. Everyone’s pictures look so great which made it very tempting…but alas, we have a bit of texture on our walls so we decided to put in the extra step and make it look stunning. 
Let me back up a paragraph for those of you thoroughly confused at this point.  This is what board and batten looks like:board batten 2
This picture is from the ever-famous tutorial written by Karla from It’s the Little Things that Make a House a Home.  I think she’s inspired half of the blogging world to install board and batten from her posts alone! She and her husband did an amazing job, it looks absolutely beautiful.
Anyways, board and batten is a style of wainscoting treatment for walls that consists of boards nailed to the walls first and then “batten” or thin slats of boards nailed on top. It is often used on exteriors as well and the battens are installed to cover up the seams between the boards.
So Karla, and so many other bloggers, have been installing this great looking “board” and batten but without the actual boards.  They just paint the lower portion of the wall white, rather than installing boards.  And then they install thick baseboards, the battens and a chair rail of sorts. In Karla’s case, above, she installed a chair rail with a picture ledge {thin groove on top} so she could lean pictures along the top without them slipping off….
genius idea, we’re gonna do it too!
But for our board and batten, we have chosen to install the boards as well as the battens. {Something you really should consider if your walls have any texture on them}  It’s really not all that much more difficult or expensive…just one extra step, which actually makes the rest of it a bit easier. 
We’ll give a full tutorial when we’re all finished, but just wanted to give you a sneak peek of our project underway!  I’m so excited!
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Making sure everything is level and marking the location for the 2nd board.
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Liquid nails to help hold the board before we nail.
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Up goes that board! {Training –em young}
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And here’s what it looks like right now. 
My time’s up, I gotta go PAINT!!

Stay tuned!





14 comments:

  1. I love that the girls are wearing their ballet slippers for construction work with daddy!

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  2. mavis E. ButterfieldJanuary 17, 2011 at 2:38 PM

    nice work dude, can't wait to see the finished job~!!!

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  3. Hi there!
    We are in the middle of doing this too, our walls are also textured and I've decided we definitely need to do the board part too. Could you share what you're using to cover the walls? I'm assuming it's a 1/4" plywood? Thanks & good luck with the rest of your project! :)
    Jen @ Liberty Cottage

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  4. Hi Jen,
    Yes, we are using 1/4 inch plywood for the boards. I prime them once they are in place...I just find it easier. I am doing one coat of white primer and 2 coats of Benjamin Moore Semi-gloss in Chantilly Lace (pretty much as white as it gets!) I have been rolling the paint on in 12-18" sections and then laying the nap down with one quick sweep of a brush. Very happy with how it's turning out. Without doing that step of laying the nap down with the brush, you end up with texture again...like the walls had to begin with! Good Luck!! Let me know how it's going.

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  5. Thanks so much for your detailed response! We're doing it a bit different, we're going to fill in between the battens with the plywood instead of putting it on the entire wall and then attaching the battens, because we don't want to add any more depth since it would bump out the battens beyond the depth of our existing casing, we're using 3/4" thick pre-primed MDF strips for our battens. Hopefully that makes sense! ;) But anyway, I can't wait to see how yours turns out, I'll be checking back... btw - your little helpers are adorable!!
    Jen @ Liberty Cottage

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  6. Do you finish the "nap" stroke all ion the same direction

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  7. Hi following on GFC from FMW blog hop! Cute blog! Looking forward to reading more :)
    come visit me if you can!
    http://frugalscrappinmammaw.blogspot.com/
    http://myfrugalkitchen.blogspot.com/

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  8. STopping by from Follow Me Wednesday- I'm following in google reader

    www.mamalovesherbargains.com

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  9. New follower from the Wed hop! I love the Valentines decor!

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  10. Hi there. Found you on Traci66 blog hop. Please follow back
    http://3elf.blogspot.com
    Thx Lilac

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  11. I love whent the girls help you out. I showed it to my boy.

    New follower on GFC through wednesday blog hop.

    Have a great evening
    http://www.ourfamilyworld.com/blog/
    Olfa

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  12. Such fun posts! Found you through a blog hop.
    Love all the pics on here! Looking forward to following.
    Michelle
    http://www.heartfeltbalancehandmadelife.blogspot.com

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  13. A big HUGE thank you to all my new followers this week! And to the Wed. Blog Hop for featuring me! I'm not up and running like normal as I just lost my father-in-law. Bear with me and I'll have after pics of the board and batten up soon.

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