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Adding Board & Batten to a Bathroom

The biggest project that I wanted to undertake for Bathroom Week was updating the walls by adding Board & Batten. This look is huge right now & Sean and I agreed that it would look fabulous in the guest bathroom. Also, this room doesn’t have much wall space, so we knew it would be a great way to make a big impact in this small space.

*NOTE: I’m going to say “We” a lot in this post. Probably, that means that Sean did it while I watched. Though this was my “vision,” the nature of the sawing, hammering, and measuring meant this project fell into the “blue jobs” category, aka Sean did most of the work while I watched. And motivated *

Adding Board & Batten to a Bathroom

Here’s how the room looked before we started:

IMG_0792

Sean started by taking everything off the walls and measuring. We moved the framed art and hanging towels into another room to have better access to the main wall in the room.

We decided to have the horizontal line of the top of the boarding line up with the counter top. This would give us a nice clean line around the room.

So, Sean measured the width of each of these 2 visible walls, as well as the height of the counter. Then we headed to Lowes. We picked up:

  • 8′ long x 2″ wide x 1/2″ thing boards
  • 48″ long, 2″ wide thin slats
  • White semi-gloss paint (paint & primer in one)
  • clear paintable caulk
  • box of 200 nails (with small heads)

We got home and started cutting. First, make sure to measure again. Then measure AGAIN. You don’t want to cut a board too small and then have to buy another one.

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

Sean got cutting and held things up to the wall along the way. For the corners, if it’s an “inside” corner (like behind the toilet) you have to subtract the thickness of your board from one of the sides.

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

If it’s an “outside” corner, you add the thickness. We had both, yay math!

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

Once we had the horizontal pieces cut, we went ahead and nailed them to the wall. This way, we could measure the vertical pieces and hang them without it moving and changing. This hanging process involved hammering in the long nails about every six inches. We also did a LOT of leveling- its better to check twice now than regret later!

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

Next Sean got cutting the vertical pieces. He measured that they should be 32 inches high. However, after a lot of cutting and placing and leveling and measuring, he concluded that the floor boards are slightly uneven! He ended up having to progressively shave a little bit off each board to get them to fit, while I made bagel bites and proclaimed “that really stinks babe.” Always the supportive girlfriend!

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

We ended up placing the boards 12 inches apart from each other, for a total of ten in our small room. We liked this spacing, but you could make them closer together or farther apart.

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

Then we nailed those boards into place. They each got at least 3 nails- the ones behind the toilet were a little bit hard to get to. We did a lot of leveling (again!)

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

Next, we caulked all of the seams.

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

Once that was dry, we painted the whole thing glossy white. It took four coats and a lot of brush work, but it made all of the difference in the world!

DIY Board and Batten Bathroom - Charleston Crafted

Oh my gosh, I am beyond in love with it. It looks clean and fresh and makes me feel like I’m in a spa! and even though this was a big project, it really wasn’t that hard. It took a while, but it really was a fairly simple project. At least for me, Sean did most of the work!!

Check out our other favorite bathroom makeovers here!

I’m so excited that this room is almost complete… check back in tomorrow to see how we finished it off!

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Stefanie Godfrey

Thursday 19th of August 2021

Good job! Hey Sean I have a 45in wall with a square wall heater directly in the way. I'm having a hard time figuring out how far to space my boards apart? My measurements are 45in wide with 33in down and 1.5in panels.

Morgan

Thursday 19th of August 2021

If the heater is directly in the path and there wouldn't be any slats there, I would ignore that measurement entirely. Just base your spacing off the two open sections on the sides. If it is in the middle but you can still see wall around it, then I would just make equal measurements off the entire wall and space out accordingly, like the heater wasn't even there.

Amanda

Friday 2nd of June 2017

YESSS!!! this is the only tutorial I've seen that has simple instructions with simple tools, thank you so much, I can't wait to start this project!!!!

Sean

Friday 2nd of June 2017

Yay! I am so glad that you enjoyed it! please tag me if you do it!!

Runt

Friday 12th of July 2013

You two definitely made that look easy! We have a baby on the way and I am debating if I want to do this in what will be the nursery. I can't decide! Your bathroom looks great though. I love that wall color!

Morgan

Sunday 14th of July 2013

I think it would look great in the nursery! Its a crisp look that could really grow up with your baby!

Alyssa

Thursday 11th of July 2013

I am loving you blog and I just joined the other day!

I have a bedroom that is completely painted the same color as this bathroom, I am adding white horizontal stripes on one wall and white/yellow curtains(following your curtain blog a couple days ago) and throwing in yellow punches else where. I'm excited to see your success

Morgan

Thursday 11th of July 2013

Yay! I would love to see how the stripes turn out, I have been wanting to paint a patterned/focal wall but am a little nervous about it. Please share!

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