This year I am on a mission to add lots of Character to our home. When I think of a home with lots of character I think of trim, mouldings, old doors and floors, unique features that set a home apart. Although our home does still have all its original wooden floors- the old trim and doors were replaced I am guessing in the late 70s/80s when they did an addition. We do have these amazing old solid wood doors that are in our basement so I’m thinking they actually were up in the main part of our home.

I decided to start in the bedroom with adding floor to ceiling board and batten. I purchased these 1x2x8 mdf board from Lowes for 2.13/ea and did our entire room for under $100.

I spaced them out 11″ ea. and with a level making sure they were straight I used a nail gun to secure them into the wall. I used this caulk to fill in each side of the board and batten to be sure it had a seamless finish. I always cut the tip of my caulk on a angle and point the angle down while I am pressing the trigger. I use my finger to wipe off the extra and a nail or screw to be sure the caulk doesn’t dry out before I am ready to use it again.

I decided to remove this peel and stick wallpaper accent wall to make the board and batten seamless.

Next I went through and caulked all the 1x2s, nail holes and then sanded down all the walls in-between each board.

Flood (here) is my favorite pain additive to give you a baby smooth finish free of roller or brush strokes even if your walls are old like ours. Sanding them down before helps to remove the old bumps and fills etc.

I also went through and filled in some nail holes. I went through with a brush and edged out all my boards and then started rolling. It was quite the process but it was so worth it.

We used Black Pepper by Behr.

I mean look how smooth these walls are. I am going to go back through and paint all the baseboard trim, door trim and window trim the same color in semi gloss for a seamless moody look.

If you have been wanting to try board and batten- do it! If I can do it, you can too!

Ali