DIY: Board and Batten

Last Sunday, we decided to vamp up our fireplace wall with a super simple DIY! You guys- this was the easiest project and only cost us about $20 + paint… but it makes such a huge difference!

What you’ll need:
* Common board (I used 3.5 inch wide common board, and they came 8 feet long)
* Saw
* Nail gun
* Paint

Our fireplace was pretty builders grade to begin with. Without tearing out our fireplace, this was the easiest way to give that wall a makeover. We started at Home Depot where we bought 8 pieces of common board. They come in different widths- we chose one that was a little thicker- it’s about 3.5 inches wide. The board came in 8 foot. Of course, we didn’t measure beforehand, so we got 8, but didn’t even use them all! They were roughly $3 a piece.

I began by measuring out where I wanted the boards placed. This is totally up to you! Personally, I liked the look of it coming just below where the mantle begins. I then divided the wall by 4, and marked it (for me, it was 17 inches apart- your wall may be different). Hubby started with the pieces running vertically. Because we had floor molding, he cut each piece at a 45 degree angle at the bottom so it sat in nicely. Once he cut the pieces, he simply nailed them to the wall. He then ran the top board horizontally, and fit in the small pieces. It’s literally that simple! Measure, cut and nail!

That’s it! Once your boards are nailed, all you need to do it paint! I used a basic semi-gloss white paint, to match our floor molding and fireplace semi-gloss. It took me 3 coats of paint to really cover the paint on the walls. From start to finish, it took us about 4 hours… mostly because hubby is a perfectionist when it comes to measuring and leveling, and re-measuring and re-leveling 🙂

$20 in wood, and a can of paint later, we have a whole new feel in this room! We intended to put a board on top, as well, to have a small shelf. But, I kind of liked it without it, so we left it as is! You may end up needed to putty over the nail holes, or calk some areas if the boards weren’t cut perfectly and left a few gaps. Otherwise… that’s it!

Have any questions? We’re more than happy to answer! Leave a comment below!