Simple Board & Batten | Hendersonville, NC Photographer

Thought I would share a fun little weekend project with you today that we completed last week.

 

This is our very plain and boring entryway.  One thing that I really don't care for about this house is the split level entry.  But there are lots of other things that we do like about the house, so we deal with the entry.  The one good thing about it is that it has this good sized wall that was screaming for some fun and functional wall treatments!

 

If you have been reading this blog for long, you know how we love wainscoting.  We installed it in our home in Ohio before we sold it, we have beadboard throughout our kitchen and master bath here, and board and batten in our family and dining rooms.  I love the crisp clean white lines. 
It can really brighten up a room and add a lot of interest.

 

So we decided that this wall could use some board and batten with a little twist!

We wanted to add form AND function to this busy little area of our home. 

 

We started by measuring our area and deciding on the height and width of everything.  Then we headed to Home Depot to purchase our materials.  We use MDF for board and batten.  We had a couple of pieces left over from our family room project, so we only had to purchase a small 2' x 4' piece of MDF for this project which cost less than $10. 

 

For a little more detail on how to install board and batten, check out this post.  The one thing we did different this time was go to Home Depot with our measurements in hand and have them cut our pieces for us.  They usually give me a little attitude when I ask them to cut things for me, but I just wait out their attitude, and eventually they cut the wood for me.  For our family/dining room project, I managed to get them to make around 80 cuts!  Needless to say, that guy wasn't too happy with me.  But per their policy, there is no limit on the number of cuts.  They can charge you $.25 per cut after the first three cuts, but they never do.  Even if they did, it would be worth the extra money to have them cut all of the pieces and not have to do it at home. 



Once we had all the pieces cut and ready to go, we broke out our nail gun and installed everything.



 

When my girlfriend and I hung the board and batten in Ohio, this nail gun gave us fits.  When Dennis and the boys hung all the board and batten in this house, the nail gun worked fine.  When Dennis and I hung this board and batten, the nail gun gave us fits again.  My nail gun hates me!

 

 

A little evidence of it's hatred for me. 

It kept shooting holes into the wood, but no nails!

 

 

Or it would shoot the nail, but only 1/4" into the wood.

 

 

Or it would just destroy my little piece of trim.

 

But in the end, we won and all the MDF was secured to the wall!

 

The other thing that is a little different this time is this little extra row of boxes along the top.

Again, these boxes are for both form AND function.



 

After nailing everything to the wall, I had to go through with a nail set and fix a few nails that didn't sink all the way into the wood.

 

 

Once all the nails were sunk, it was time to fill in all the holes and cracks.  The is the stuff that goes on pink and turns white when it's dry.  I used a spackling knife to fill the nail holes and had to use my finger to fix a couple of cracks.

 

 

Again, more evidence of the fun we had with the nail gun.  LOTS of holes to fill!

After everything turned white, I used a little sanding block to sand down all the rough edges and get ready to paint.

 

 

Luckily I was able to repair this cracked trim piece with the spackling.  After it's painted, you won't be able to tell it was cracked.

 

 

Then it was time to paint.  I didn't take any pictures of the painting.  I figure that was pretty self explanatory.  I used Valspar paint in a satin finish to finish everything off.

 

 

Next came the function part of this treatment. 

 

COAT HOOKS!

 

Coat hooks that are at munchkin height!

 

The main reason for this whole project was to have a place for the kids to hang their coats and book bags when they come in.  That's the reason we added the extra row of boxes.  Gives us room to hang more coat hooks.



The kids were surprisingly excited about having these coat hooks!



It's so hard to get a good picture of this area.  It's too narrow to get a full picture of it, so I shot it from above so you could see the entire thing.

 

Eventually I plan to paint/stain the stairs and railing.  A project for another day!

 



 

I also wanted to share a couple of pieces of inexpensive artwork that I hung/propped here.

 

First is this little chalkboard that I bought at the dollar store and wrote a little welcome note for our guests.  Chalkboards are so popular right now!

 

Secondly is the go on an adventure print.  That is just a greeting card that I found in the dollar bin at Michaels.  I taped it to a piece of color card stock and put in a frame that I bought on clearance for $2 at Target.  I did opt to remove the glass from the frame.  This is such a busy spot, with people walking through it multiple times a day, and kids throwing their stuff around, that I was afraid that it could get knocked down and someone get hurt.

 



 

Another piece of inexpensive art. 

I took 3 or 4 colors of sample paint that I have and brushed it randomly onto a 16x20" canvas.

Easy!



 

Everything besides the chalkboard is just propped against the wall on the little ledge.

Makes it super easy to switch things out when I get bored with whats there.



So there you have it.  An easy & inexpensive little weekend project.  We spent around $30 to complete this.  We only had to purchase the small piece of MDF and the coat hooks.  We had the nails, spackling, and paint on hand already.
 

We are super excited with how it turned out!  It not only serves a purpose with keeping coats and bags off the floor, it also adds interest and color to that formerly very boring and blah space.
 

So what have you been working on.  Any fun weekend projects in your house?  Do you love wainscoting as much as we do?  Have you been making any inexpensive DIY art?  Please do share!

I'm also linking up to a fun little linky party today. You can check out more fun projects here.