Tall board and batten on the walls

August 25, 2014

I got SO MUCH DONE in the family room over the weekend – so much that I’m crazy sore today. Me thinks I’m getting too old for the days of nonstop DIY. We’ve been living with our family room half way done for a couple weeks now – I’ve gotten very little done up till now. I was out of town for a trip three days, then I was sick for most of last week with a crappy cold. I didn’t feel like doing anything.

Yesterday was the first day I felt good and had a mostly free day to get things done. I can live with half way for a while – then all the sudden I can’t handle it one. more. day. and I go into beast mode. There’s something about this time of year – I want to NEST like you wouldn’t believe. I want to decrapify my entire house, fluff everything, start thinking about fall decor…all that stuff. And none of that is happening if I have the family room taunting me. :)

There’s so much for me to do in the room, it can become overwhelming. So I’ve been focusing on a few walls at a time. I painted the walls in one end of the room already and I’m still patching some of the board and batten and touching up paint there. But the biggest area that’s been bugging me is this side of the room:

It was really a mess, as you can see. My first plan of action yesterday was to finish up extending the crown molding. This is a little trick I use to make the crown appear thicker. You all know how I love me some chunky trim!

I’ve seen a method where they attach baseboards to the wall, I think upside down? And then you install the crown over it. A few things though – I already had the crown up in the room, so I’m not taking it down just to put it back up. Also, that’s a BIG added expense in a room this size. Third – I had already done this trick in the office so I needed to continue in throughout the space anyway. :)

It’s quite easy – it just takes a lot of trips up and down the ladder. (I should have legs of steel at this point, really.) I use this inexpensive decorative trim:

beefing up crown moldingYou can find it at Lowe’s and Home Depot. I just place it about an inch below the current crown. You can use a piece of wood or something as a spacer so you have the same distance around the room – I just use my level as I go around so it’s fairly consistent.

The great thing about working so high up is when you cut the piece too short for the third time and just put it up anyway cause it’s making you cuss, nobody will know:

DIY thick crown molding

Caulk and spackle people. Caulk and spackle.

It took three coats of semi gloss white (legs of steel) until it was covered, but it looks so good! Chunky!:

making crown molding look thicker

The day we tore down the wall one of the guys mentioned how I was going to have to redo all the crown in the family room to match up with the office because I had used the baseboards underneath. It fooled him, it will fool others. ;)

So I mentioned I was in beast mode yesterday and this is where the rest of the work came in. Here’s a shot of this wall just after I finished installing the small trim:

It hadn’t been painted yet, obviously. We had to patch a few holes from the TV hanging there before and the darker rectangles on the wall were from the molding I had had up there forever. Nearly eight years – I’ve been ready for a change for awhile.

After caulking the baseboards in three places, painting them, painting the bottom part of the wall three times in semi gloss white, installing all the board and batten and most of the decorative trim, finishing up the crown and painting the walls their new color, I ended up with this:

white board and batten

And I LOVE IT. Whoa, I LOVE how the white looks against our floors and the furniture. Yummy.

OK, so this spot is still far from done. I still need to finish that small decorative trim at the top of the board and batten – I ran out:

The door trim in the background still needs to be finished and painted. And the biggest thing is caulking and painting all the boards on the wall.

But it’s closer and it looks SO much better so I’m celebrating that!:

long table world market

I’m trying not to think much about the decor just yet – but the accessories will change up on that table. It’s a bit too neutral for me. And I want to paint that mirror a fun color, I just have no idea what it will be. :)

But the wall looks a ton better and I’m SO excited about the direction of this room. I still need to patch a few spots on the other wall, finish up the board and batten on the other side of the room (there’s not much) and then I’m putting all of my attention on the fireplace. I want this space done by the end of September – that’s my goal. Sooner would be awesome!

**To see my how to install the board and batten look, go here.
**For more about that awesome table and where it used to sit go here. :)

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Comments

  1. Holy cow. Girl, it looks gorgeous. I wish that would magically appear in our family room. You always make things look beautiful.

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  2. What color is that paint? Love it!

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  3. Beautiful Sarah! love the table, lamps and of course the molding and board and batten is amazing. If I had done all of that in a weekend I wouldn't be able to get out of bed for a week lol, you go!

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  4. wow. amazing. it looks fantastic!

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  5. That is looking fantastic!! I think I am almost as excited for your family room (and kitchen!!) as you are... :))

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  6. Love it...looks wonderful. And I really like the wall color.

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  7. Wow, you really were on a roll. It looks amazing. Love all the trim and the wall treatment is fabulous.

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  8. I was tired just reading all that!! It looks sooo amazing!! The board and batten just completes it! Great job! I also lovvve that table! Gorgeous! Now go rest! Xo Kathy

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  9. OMG, I looooove it! It looks so clean and crisp Sarah! Great job!

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  10. It looks so pretty and I love the colors you chose.

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  11. It looks so great! For the mirror you want to paint, might I suggest Sherwin Williams Greys Harbor? It's the yummiest shade of blue/grey sent straight from heaven, and I think it would go great with your other colors! I can't wait to see your holiday decorations this year with all this new space!

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  12. It looks amazing! You are the queen of trim. Or goddess, whatever. :D

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  13. It's soooo pretty!!!! I love, love love it.

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  14. Looks absolutely amazing! Can't wait to see the entire room finished. I was wondering how you painted your speakers? I'm planning to paint my living room and I have the same ones.

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  15. It looks so pretty! I just noticed we have the same batten board, but you did a much better job cutting around the light switches. I can't believe you did so much in one weekend!

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  16. So so so Stunning! It really looks amazing...all that hard work will pay off when you can sit back and enjoy this room sooner than later.

    Deb
    @Seeking Lavender Lane

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  17. Oh, WOW! This looks so good. I'm really wanting to do some board & batten trim in our living room, and I hope it looks half as good as yours. If you want to, I'd love for you to share this post on my blog at Motivational Monday: http://thediymommy.com/motivational-monday-13-craft-diy-home-decor-link-party/

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  18. Wow! You are amazing. I can't believe you did all that in one day! You are a true inspiration. It looks beautiful.

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  19. Oh it looks SO wonderful!!!! I followed your whole board/batten idea a couple of years ago and put it in our son's bathroom. i still swoon over it.
    hhmm, the 1st color that came to my mind about that mirror was an orangey-red--for fall.

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    1. Yes! Exactly what I thought for the mirror! You even repaint it in the spring - maybe a green on the mossy end of chartreuse.... have a seasonally changing mirror. :)

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  20. Love, Love! We did board and batten in our girls room and we love it!
    Please stop by my 7 Year Itch link up and add this (and other projects you have) to the link.

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  21. woow ...it looks great...I like it :) and I like whole yor blog :)

    http://inspirationforwoman.blogspot.com/

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  22. I always love the idea of crown molding, however the thought of installing it terrifies me, but I do it anyway then caulk the heck out of it! I love this idea...I too have existing crown that I wanted to "add to"...my only question is, are your walls textured? Any suggestion for textured walls? Thanks!

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  23. Here's a good one for you. I grew up in Des Moines (East side) and just now found out BHG was there from you LOL

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  24. It looks so nice! I love how the sofa table fits perfectly in that spot. Chrissy

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  25. Marilou Patricia SandeAugust 27, 2014 at 1:16 PM

    That looks amazing! And it would look great in my house!

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  26. This looks so beautiful. I really prefer the style with the smaller square on top of a long rectangle as you have done and plan on doing this in my bathroom. Silly question, can't help it.....how do you keep all of those corners clean? I know it's not always the easiest to dust in corners and obviously this treatment creates lotsa corners, so I just had to ask! It was already on my mind, when the other day I went into Panera Bread. They have board and batten in the front of their counter (stained, not painted) and all of the corners had dust build up. :(

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    1. You know I don't really clean them often. ;) Sometimes I'll just wipe them down with a cloth but I tend to ignore them -- they don't get too bad for us.

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    2. Okay, cool. Good to know, thanx!

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