Everyone’s heard of a board and batten wall by now. Board and batten is boards attached to a wall, with both painted out one colour, to give the illusion of a boarded wall, when in fact, most of it is drywall. It’s a great trick for added character at a low cost!
I’ve done a few quirky board and battens in my house already, but this round, I wanted to do a more thorough job, as well as add something unexpected, new, fresh, quirky or all of the above.
Hence, the attic styled board and batten was born. Here’s how I did it!
How to make a board and batten feature attic wall.
You’ll need:
primer and paint for the walls
random standard sized pine boards / I used 1x1s, 1x2s, 1x4s and 1x6s.
a level
measuring tape
nail gun with 1 ¾” nails
crack fill (dry wall compound) and caulking
1. Crack fill and prime all your walls. Then choose a wall for your feature wall.
I chose the one I did so it could become a floor to ceiling towel wall.
2. Sand boards well, then using 1x4s, create a crown moulding. (after you plank the ceiling!) No miter cuts in sight, just fit them straight on.
2. After locating the wall studs, use a level to position the boards upright. I actually just levelled one, then measured off that one to ensure they looked aligned against each other.
For placement, I chose random sized boards, randomly spaced. Each board still hit a stud, however I attempted to move them a little closer, then farther apart with the next board for an ‘unplanned look.’
The boards were just straight cuts along the baseboard. I didn’t feel a need to angle them upwards. I tried a test piece but I preferred a boxy look.
3. Crack fill the nail holes and caulk the seams.
Prime the boards, then coat the entire wall with 2 coats of paint.
I nearly preprimed and painted the boards before they went on the wall, but I was running tight on time so I just did everything installed. It was fine, because I would have had to paint the caulk anyway.
Paint
Kitchen / bath quality eggshell in white, straight out of the can.
4. Paint the other walls your desired colour. I desired something light, yet warm, so I decided to stick with the colour used throughout the rest of the house, but at only half the strength. This way, the room still blended in with the rest of the house. But now of course, I want to PAINT the rest of the house with this new tone!
Paint Colour:
Bamboo Beach, half colour strength, by Cloverdale Paint in Canada.
All finished painting! And now comes the fun part!
5. Decide where you wish for your angled boards to be placed, cut to fit, then nail them on.
Fill nail holes with drywall compound, caulk the seams, paint, done!
The boards offered the perfect stability for all the randomly placed black hooks. Quirky, unexpected, fun, and very attic feeling, don’t you think?
Well, if you’ve never had an old farm attic before, this may not make sense. Our attic in the farmhouse was pretty ramshackle. Loose boards along studs on a floor, the swaying lightbulb turned on with a metal chain, dusty, murky and very quirky. This is just a cleaned up version. 🙂
I’m so in LOVE with this bathroom. It feels like you’re walking into a tiny little spa. It’s light, yet it’s warm. And that’s the beauty of a white feature wall teamed up with coloured walls. Everything was super easy to do using standard sized boards.
The unexpected part is that the sound is very muffled in the room. I think that has to do with the ceiling being sealed. I’m not sure! So if you add all these boards and caulking and sealing and thick beefy towels and luxurious bath mats, you’ll definitely lose any hollow sound you once had. It’s like you can hear yourself think! Who knew. 🙂
I’ve yet to do the shower surround and the storage closet so there’s still a little more to come. I may even show you how I prepped the vanity myself if you’re interested. Yes, ME! 🙂
Hope my instructions made sense! Feel free to ask additional questions in comments if you have them.
Related highlights to this series:
Salvaged farmhouse bathroom makeover
How to plank a popcorn ceiling
Checkerboard toilet paper holder
Visit ALL Master Bathroom 2014 posts to date HERE
Love this idea, thanks for sharing. This bathroom looks awesome, coming together quickly for sure.
Donna, your transformation of this bathroom is splendid! The board and batten looks like it’s always been in this room and your how-to guide is simple but comprehensive. Well done and thank you!
Can you tell me about the toilet paper holder in your bathroom?
Hi Angie! I just edited the post to reflect that tutorial. Thanks for asking! They are two checkerboards attached to reclaimed wood. Super easy to make! 🙂
Such a transformation! I thought I couldn’t love this bathroom more than I already did!
That looks awesome..!! I love how you put your stuff together..!!
Love!!!! Love!!!! Love!!! your work made simple but just beautifully done
i am going to use your unique ideas for my place, and please show the shower,closet & vanity
Thankyou
This post brings back memories. I have used the tongue and groove planks on the ceiling in three rooms in our house so far. Our bathroom was the first and i did it exactly like you did and I was very meticulous, filling every hole perfectly, caulking the seams perfectly, perfect paint job and touch-ups and then crown. As is yours, it is flawless, but it is only a five by eight room. I just did our kitchen ceiling this summer and all the perfection went out the window. It is about 12 x 15 and I knew there was no way I could stand to caulk every one of those seams above my head, so that room has a little more rustic look to its ceiling, but still beautiful. And we totally noticed the noise thing in the kitchen. We initially had those yuck ceiling tiles on the ceiling from the previous owners and when we took those down before putting up the new planks it was almost like an echo going on in there. Thank goodness the new planks helped to muffle the noise like we were used to.
This is the yummiest bathroom, your choices are superb. I had my husband make me a white towel ladder very similar to yours for our towels and I’m loving it. Our “loo” is so tiny there’s no wall to make into a towel hook wall like yours. I think the very best thing you did in this room is the window trim… that is fabulous.
You switched ladders! Did you have this white one somewhere else? Where did the other one go? It all looks fantastic! Congratulations!
I have a few ladders ‘in stock’. A girl’s gotta have options, right? haha The black one is in my bedroom holding jeans at the moment. Now I need to revamp my bedroom to make it look right of course! 🙂
Thanks for the tutorial. The bathroom looks great!
Hi, what is crack fill? Thanks.
I used a drywall compound. I’ll edit my post to reflect that, thanks!
The batten wall looks really good. I like the quirky angles of the overlaid boards. Much easier to attach hooks etc to the boards. Love this idea.
Beautiful! Half-strength paint – does that mean diluted with water 50%?
Ohhh… no, I meant half the strength in colour. I’ll update my post to reflect that! Thanks!
It looks fantastic! I really love the casing around your window too. Your bathroom is beautiful.
Love love love this! Awesome job Donna!
Look awesome! I’m drooling over your ceiling. Our mudroom has board and batten and a bead bead ceiling has been on my list!
I just love this! I’m considering a board and batten wall in my kitchen for coats and bags. This was a fabulous, easy-to-understand tutorial. Thank you!
Can you share the color and brand of paint in this bathroom….love the color. The room is PERFECT! Great job….you inspire me!
Thanks Toni! All the bathroom details were on the link to the reveal within this post, however, the colour is called Bamboo Beach, with the colour half strength, by Cloverdale Paint in Canada.
Love the ladder, I have acouple of those myself, going to go dig one out of the shed when the snow melts.
What a great job! I have to get over my fear of saws. If I don’t, my projects will never happen. You inspired me : )
This looks v pretty but all that work time effort to hang one towel and a wreath
If it was actually used as a storage wall like you indicated its purpose, it would look like a utility bath.
And I do wonder if someone walking into such a narrow space might hit one of this hooks – ouch ouch.
A better hook in that case might be one that’s hinged.
I’ve never seen a hinged hook before C, thanks for the idea! It’s working beautifully, and I’ll admit, the extra work was for ‘style’. The look truly transformed the room. I’m so glad I did it and wish to do the treatment in other parts of my home now too!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOUR Bathroom……………………………….
My daughter calls me a hoarder,(pack rat, yes, hoarder no!:)heehee) because i keep stuff that i can envision in my head of giving them a home,something kool.
Ive only scratched the surface,last year. Im down with a cast on my leg due to ankle surgery,so i will be getting my plans ready to get started in february, hopefully. But I am ready to get my plans set.
I put up 2 pallet walls, 1 in my den and the other in my masterbedroom.
Absoltuely LOVE it, exactly the look i was going for.
My house is a ranch style house on the outside, not so much on the inside.
So I want to give it the ranch style feel inside too.
i love the bathroom, I plan on using that idea in my main bathroom.
I cant wait to see what you have in store for us next!
You have a New FAN……………………………………
Happy New Year 2017
Where did you get the floor to ceiling “ladder”?
Hi Kathy, I believe jt was a thrift store find many years ago. It would be easy to make one with 2x4s and wooden dowels!