Over the past few weekends, Anita and I have been busy updating our spare bedroom. We use the room as our home office but even that is a stretch since the only thing in there is our printer and WIFI cable box. We don’t even have a desk in the room so it’s been more of a holding area for the antiques she sells online and a table for packaging things up to ship.
She got tired of the drabby feel of the room and wanted to give it some style so she asked me if I could cut up some wood for board and batten trim work. I went out and bought two sheets of 1/4″ mdf and ripped 4″ wide slats for the top of the trim. We nailed the top boards about 5 feet from the floor.
Next I ripped 3″ wide slats and nailed two of them next to eachother in all four corners of the room. I knew the fit in the middle wasn’t going to be perfect due to the bow of the wall so, the gap in the middle was going to have to be filled with caulk.
Playing around with painters tape, we calculated the spacing in between the slats. We took the measurement between the two slats in the corner, minus the 3″ per slat and divided by the number of slats we wanted on the wall. It took a little bit of time to figure out how many slats per wall looked the best, but in the end, the slats on each wall were around 18″-22″ apart. Obviously, each wall had it’s own measurement so no two walls were the same. On a couple of walls, we had to fudge number a little bit so that the slat would miss an electrical outlet but, your eye will never see the difference.
After the slats were nailed up, I ripped some pine 1/2″ thick x 3/4″ wide and nailed a ledge on top of the top board. This finished off the trim with a nice clean look. We played around with molding at Home Depot trying to determine which molding would look the best, but in the end, simpler was better.
Once all the nail holes were filled, everything was lightly sanded. Then Anita caulked and painted the bottom of the walls an off white color.
She decided on a color called Carbon Copy for the top and applied a couple coats to the top side of the wall. The room has a lot more style now and it only took about $200 in material and paint to do. Now we finally have an office that looks like an office, except we still don’t have a desk or any other office furniture.
UPDATE: Here is the bedroom furnished.
MVFlaim Furnituremaker 
Clean look, but I would call it “paneling”, like the old school real stuff not the sheet goods. When I read “board and batten” I was expecting eight or ten inch “boards” and maybe one inch “battens”, which would not have looked all that great. The paneling effect is nice, good job!
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Yeah, you’re probably right. I don’t know what it’s called. I just do what she wants me to. Haha
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Like the look and the job is well done, but where the verticals intersect the existing baseboard does not look good.
The top of the baseboard should be square and as thick or slightly thicker than the uprights.
Just one man’s opinion.
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Hmm, never thought about that. My wife scans instagram and pinterest for inspiration so whatever she likes, I build.
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Your reply shows that you are a wise man indeed.
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Haha. I’ve learned the hard way over the years.
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