Living Room Updo

Since we moved in, our front living room has been Matt's office (aka The Man Cave). As people came into our home, they would see clutter and a mess. I was embarrassed, so we decided to move Matt to the spare bedroom.

Lately, I have been itchin' for a project, so Matt and I decided to class up the room by adding board and batten to the walls.

We bought the MDF Hook Board at Burton Lumber. They come in .5" thick, 3.25" wide by 17' long. Each board cost about $4.50. We had to go this route since our baseboard is .5" thick. Unfortunately, you can't buy that thickness at Home Depot.

Board and Batten How To:

Cut vertical boards to the length you want. Nail each board to the wall. Just make sure you get your spacing right.

Next, add a horizontal board on top of the vertical boards.

Instead of leaving the board and batten like the picture above, we added another layer of vertical boards.

Next, add another horizontal board on top of the smaller vertical boards.

We also trimmed around the window. We wanted the window trim to look like the door trim that is throughout our house. Again, we had to special order that trim as well. The special trim costs a little more, but it's worth having everything matching and looking good.

If using raw MDF, prime the board and batten before you paint.

Before, painting the board and batten the final color... CAULK. Believe me, it looks a lot better if you do this.

Finally, paint the wall above the board and batten. Fortunately, we kept the wall color the same (Garden Shed by Martha Stewart), so we only had to do touch ups.

I think the room turned out great! The board and batten definitely added class to the room. Honestly, I walk by just to stare at our new beautiful room...

Next up, curtains, furniture and decor.