Board & Batten Tips and Tricks

Before taking Mr. A's room from this:

to this:

I did A LOT of research.  I surfed tons of blogs, and found some AWESOMELY (is that a word?) helpful tips out there. 

I'm going to compile a few of the most helpful things I found for DIY Board & Batten.

Tip #1:  Paint EVERYTHING before you start putting up vertical slats, or your horizontal board.  EVERY blog I read recommended this, and it is sound advice.  Paint the bottom half of your wall a shade of white you like, and paint the top half too.

Tip #2: When painting a room, you are going to wind up using painter's tape to tape off the ceiling.  Put up the tape a small section at a time.  Paint that section of the wall, and within 10-15 minutes remove the tape.  I am so surprised how many people don't know this.  If you wait until the paint dries to remove your tape, you will pull of the new paint. (true story, has happened to me!)

Tip #3: When painting any room, it will probably take a few days to get it done.  You don't have to rinse your brushes and rollers every night!  Get out some Saran Wrap (plastic wrap) and tightly wrap all your brushes and rollers.  It will keep your rollers and brushes wet and moist for up to 4 days.  I read this tip online years ago, and have done this with every paint project in our house.  It might be THE BEST TIP I can give you!!

picture courtsey of Kyra @ Racks and Mooby

Tip #4: Paint all of your boards before you put them on the wall.  This means your vertical slats, and your horizontal boards.  This will save LOADS of painting time later!

Tip #5:  When painting all those vertical strips, put them all together, and paint them all at once!  Like this:

 Just use a roller, and you can paint a bunch all at once!  I had 31 lattice strips to paint, and this saved A LOT of time!

Tip #6:  For the vertical slats, I used "lattice strips".  They are super cheap, and super easy to cut!  I read about these over at Thrifty Decor Chick.  I would highly recommend using these as your vertical slats.

Tip #7:  Decide how far apart you want your vertical slats.  Cut a piece of wood that length and use that as your "measuring guide".  This way, you don't have to measure every time you put up a slat!

Tip #8:   For my horizontal boards, I used a 1x4 (it's technically a 3/4" x 4").  I was concerned about the weight of the boards on the wall, but so far they have been fine!  I thought a 1x4 was the right "look" that I wanted.  My advice for horizontal boards is to wander up and down the lumber aisles at your hardware store, and find the ones that "look" right.  There are really no rules here.

Tip #9: I used liquid nails for the horizontal boards, and then used a nail gun to secure the board to the stud.  A good stud finder is helpful!

Tip #10:  After you have everything painted, and glued/nailed to the wall, it's time to caulk!!  This step doesn't really take that long.  I caulked on both sides of every vertical slat, and along the top of the horizontal boards.  When caulking the horizontal boards, you will want to use painters tape to create a sharp edge.

Place your tape a little ABOVE where your board is:

 Caulk, and smooth with your finger.  IMMEDIATELY remove the painters tape.

You now have nice, clean lines!

Helpful Board & Batten Posts:

Delight in Decor (Amber was SUPER helpful to my emails and questions!)

     Boys Room

     Play Room

 Craftify It

Thrifty Decor Chick

Centsational Girl

Linking up @ DecorChick!