Faux Board and Batten

Alright, I am jumping on the Board and Batten train and I LOVE it!  This little project is now known to my hubby as "Wayne".  When I first described this to my husband I used the term wainscoting.  He'd never heard of any of it, and decided Wayne was just easier.

So, here's how "Wayne" came together:
 
Sherwin Williams Paint - Satin - Color: French Roast - (we had some left over)
Behr Premium Paint and Primer in One - Semi-Gloss - Color: to match molding (P&P in one = pure awesomeness!)
7 - 8' 1x4s cut to 54"
2 - 8' 1x4s cut to 7'
1 - 16' molding peice cut to 14'
1 tube Liquid Nails
1 tube white caulk (make sure it's paintable)
Elmer's wood filler
Finishing nails (we used 2" nails)
Blue painters tape

When picking out your wood look for smooth pieces.  Also, if possible, make sure the board looks straight.  One of our boards was pretty warped and didn't set completely flush with the wall.  We My hubby used quite a few nails on that one to get it to lay right.

What started this whole project:

Notice the big empty space?? Yes, our wedding picture used to be hanging there.  We heard a loud bang one day and could not for the life us figure out where it came from.  About a week later we noticed the missing picture! lol  That really wasn't what started it, but was just sort of a kick in the rear to get going.

You know those projects that are looking so great and then you keep going and wish you would have just stopped while you were ahead???? These walls were one of those projects.  For some reason they just didn't turn out quite how I envisioned them in my head.

Three years later I decided it was time for a change!

We started out my marking down the wall where the two paint colors would come together.  I chose 5' tall.  This is no magic number it's just what I thought looked best in relation to the bed etc.  We painted chocolate on the top (because I love it) and white on the bottom.  (Tip: I am very glad we painted the bottom BEFORE we got the wood up.  Rolling was much easier this way)

We used one of the vertical 54" boards for placement, and attached the 2 - 7' horizontal boards the length of the room. (We had to use 2 boards together since we have a 14' room.  Tip: we used wood filler where the boards came together to give it a smooth finish.)

We spaced our vertical pieces approximately 17.75" apart. (be sure you check out where your outlets are)  Put a generous amount of liquid nails on the back of each piece and finish up with the nail gun.  We probably used 6-8 nails in each piece.  And yes I did use the nail gun!! (after my hubby assured me there was no way it would backfire ha!). It is loud though!

We put up the rest of the boards. Precise measurements are SO important here or the pieces won't come together right leaving you with gaps OR you will have to trim the boards. (I speak from experience)

We used the wood filler to cover the nail holes, and also fill in where the pieces of wood came together.

Last, attach your molding piece, which will serve as your shelf.  (I chose this mainly because it came in 16' pieces, so we wouldn't have to join anything together in the middle). 

We caulked every open edge so you would not be able to see any gaps between the wood and the wall.  Some places took more than others - we used enough to fill the space completely.

We used a few coats of paint since we were going over such a dark color.  We definitely needed a gallon.  If we were going over a white wall we could have gotten by with a quart easily.  

Now the fun part...

It really transformed the whole room and brings in so much more light! 

Check out additional tutorials here and here.