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If you follow us on snapchat (you can find us at “diyplaybook”), then you’ll know that a couple of weeks ago Bridget & I added some board and batten to my hallway! We finished the project in a day, and I’ve been going gaga over it ever since.
But before I go ahead and show you guys how it looks today, I want to walk you through how we came up with our plan for the wall. Because it’s one thing to see something and say “I want to do that in my house!”, and it’s another thing to see something and figure out how to actually execute it in your space.
So back to the space at hand. In our condo, we have 2 entrances. The front entrance in the family room, and a back entrance that takes you out to our patio and garage space. We’re chatting about the back entrance here today. In order to make the hallway look a little better (as well as less plain & boring), I decided that I wanted to add some board & batten to the walls. I also wanted to add a few hooks on there for jackets, purses, etc. so it could also be a “mini mudroom” and we’d have a spot for essentials when coming into our condo.
In a perfect world, I would add board and batten to both sides of the wall. However, our circuit breaker box lives on the other side of the wall….so there was no way I could add board and batten over that. Instead, I made the decision to add wood to the large wall with hooks, and then keep the wood wrapping around the next 2 angled walls on the way to our bedroom.
With a general gameplan, I started to gather inspiration. How many pieces of wood did I want? How thick should they be? Should I add a piece on top to make a picture ledge? Should I stagger the battens or make them all the same? Sooo many questions. I found that browsing Pinterest and other blogs was really helpful to determine the exact look that I wanted.
Photo via Home by Ally
Photo via Hello from the Natos
After ooohing and aaahing over lots of gorgeous walls, I figured out the way I wanted my wall to look. I decided on 2 thick pieces of wood to go horizontally, and they would be the same width. Then I would do thin vertical pieces that would line up evenly down the wall. I decided to go with thinner pieces that wouldn’t jet out past the baseboard on the bottom (because taking the baseboard off is a whole project in itself and taking it out and making it thicker would then make that section of baseboard different than the rest of our home). Because of the small space, I also decided to forego the ledge on top for pictures and also decided that I would add black hooks onto the wall for everyday function. Boom. Wall plan complete.
But even though I had a general gameplan for the wood, I still had a few things to do before Bridget & I could get to work.
- Remove Security Box on Wall
- Buy all of the Supplies & Wood
You’ll see in these pics that we have a big ol’ security system on the wall. Fortunately we don’t use that security system (it was from the previous homeowners), so I was able to remove it.
Rookie Tip: Be sure to call the security company to let them know you’re removing the box. I didn’t want to trigger a silent alarm when I removed it, so I took the extra step to call the security company ahead of time and they were grateful for the call.
With the big box removed, I patched the hole (easy tutorial here) and got it nice and smooth so the wall was uniform.
Next, shopping for the wood. To be perfectly honest, I made a couple of trips to our local Lowe’s. The first time was to just check out the wood & primed MDF selection and figure out what I liked. It’s one thing to see a 1×4 online, and another thing to actually check out the width when it’s physically in front of you.
After seeing the wood, I decided that 1×3.5 would be good for the horizontal boards, and pine lattice (1/4 by 1.75) would work well for the battens. Then, I made another trip to the store to actually purchase the wood.
This time I brought Finn around because he is surprisingly good at spatial organization. You give him a small car and tons of supplies…and I can betcha he will figure out a way to maneuver everything into a spot. And let me tell ya..the man figured out how to fit all of the wood in our tiny little car.
Here’s a pic of it from my spot in the way back holding onto the wood on our drive home. I’m telling ya, the man has a gift (& we’re lucky it was less than a mile drive back to our house!)
Just like when we tackled the wood wall in the guest room, we purchased this wood a week before beginning the project. That way the wood can acclimate to the humidity of your home, and it won’t bend or buckle when you add it to the wall. Just a tip if you’re thinking about tackling a similar project.
So with the wall prepped and all of the supplies on-hand, the only left to do was get to work! Don’t worry, I’ve got the after pics coming your way soon. And when I show those pretty pics, I’m also going to share a budget breakdown…because this baby was friendly on the wallet. Can’t wait… I hope you love this refreshed space as much as I do!
Casey
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