Board and Batten in the Nursery

Disclaimer: This post is brought to you in partnership with 3MDIY.com. All the ideas are mine and the content is still just as awesome as ever :)...or so I would like to think lol.

My board and batten is finally done in the nursery! Now all there is to do is get furniture :) ...oh and get a baby. lol. It's nice though finally having it done...it's one of those projects that you just wait and wait to do because you are dreading it. I don't know why I was dreading it...it didn't take hardly any time to do. I think it was just the fact that its a huge space...which means a lot of painting :)....and painting just means waiting for it to dry and repainting...waiting for it to dry...etc etc...you get my point.

So, the whole idea behind this board and batten was to do it flip-flop from what you usually see, which is white on bottom and color on top. Well. I knew I wanted board and batten in the nursery.  and my first thought was to do the bottom white, but then with all white furniture I thought that might be too much. Everything would blend in. So, I figure, well, why not flippidyfloppidy it? Still get the great look of board and batten, still get my pop of white? Done and done :)

Okay. So here's how I did it. I wanted to invest a little more into this room unlike I did with my $11 board and batten in my guest bathroom. Don't get me wrong, I love that bathroom :) But...I wanted a more polished look for the nursery.

So, here's what I did to get the correct amount of molding needed:
I took the dimensions of all four walls sans windows/doors/closets. That length is what I used for the top railing (add windows if they sit high and you can put some molding underneath).
Next was to figure out how far apart I wanted the vertical molding to be and how high. I decided on about 5' and to space them every 20 inches. You can space them every 16 inches to get them in your studs, but that was just too close for me.
The molding I used was 2.5" mdf molding. It is primed on the front and sides and has curved edges on the primed side. It's super nice and ready to go :) No sanding/priming necessary. These were $4.98 per 10' piece at Home Depot. I was able to get 2 vertical slats per piece.
Now take the dimensions of your wall and divide it by the space you want the slats to be. This will give you the amount of slats you need!
Now if you have space below the window, add in an extra slat or two for that just in case :) Better have more than not enough.

Okay. Now that I got that part done, here's what you need to complete the project:
Mdf molding
Liquid nails/nail gun
Level
Wood puddy/filler
Sand paper
Paint and accessories
ScotchBlue Painter's Tape
Safety gear (3M TEKK Protection)

Okay, so there's really no reason to show you this picture of me cutting wood cuz you can all imagine what it must look like. But...first off...I think I look pretty bad-A ;) lol. Next. do you see the little mutt face hiding behind the saw? Love it....oh and I guess next again....you can compare this picture of my belly to how I now look in the video at the end :) It's grown astronomically! I was 16 weeks in this picture...and in the video I'm 24. It's amazing what 2 months can do!

Also. Remember always, safety first when using any power equipment :) 3M TEKK Protection
offers great products to keep your eyes and throat from getting saw dust in them....especially with Mdf board. The saw dust from that is really really fine and gets everywhere!

Just an FYI. To keep your sanity, you can get your vertical slats cut at your building supply center. I have never gotten charged for cuts there, even though some say they will. I think I cut about 15 to 20 boards. They didn't complain at all :) Just make sure you go during a slow time, just in case.

Okay. Once you have your vertical slats cut, it's now time to put up the molding on your wall! I always start first with putting up the railing on the top. Look at the video below for a great tip on how to do this :)

Make sure the molding is level and at the height you want:

Then secure away! Make sure you mark on the top molding where you want the vertical slats. So I put a mark every 20 inches. Plus I put a mark for where the studs were. (You can find the studs using a stud finder....or if you think like the hubs...it apparently only works when he's around ;) lol )...You want to secure the horizontal molding with the nail gun at each stud mark.

Then place the the vertical molding at each 20 inch mark (or whatever distance you chose). Make sure that is level also, and secure. If it is not in a stud, use liquid nails to help secure it to the wall.

While using your nail gun, make sure you use your safety glasses and ear plugs. Nail guns are super loud and I have had nails jam on me on more than one occasion, who knows where the next shot will send them :) So make sure you are prepared! lol. (see more info about them here from 3M TEKK Protection)

Now you have your molding up:

Next step is to make it look pretty. You will want to fill the spaces between where the vertical and horizontal molding connect. Also, you want to fill in the small hole left from the nail going into the molding. Once you fill these in and let it dry, use a piece of sandpaper to smooth it, it won't take much, just until it feels even with the rest of the molding.

Once that is done. Now time for the fun part....and the tedious part :) Painting!

First step is to make sure you use painters tape around everything you don't want painted :) ScotchBlue Painter's Tape works like a charm for this! I decided to save time and my sanity of painting over my nice white molding, to just not paint it at all :) It actually looks really good keeping it white....at least I think so. And I know it doesn't look too bad cuz the hubs hasn't commented on it yet ;)

So, it took me about 2 weeks to figure out what color I wanted for the room. You should see all my paint swatches! Good grief. I settled on 4 colors. Got samples of each of them. Left them up for about a week...or maybe a little longer. Went up in the room during every hour of the day to see what it looked like. Finally decided to go with a paint color that was pretty much the same color as the original wall. lol. figures. All of the other colors kept pulling a purple or a pink and it drove me nuts :) Thank goodness for paint samples!

Once I was done painting....I just sat there and sighed....finally, the projected I've been dreading was done! lol. Now for the fun part! Decorating :)

Here's a video on some tips and safety steps to take while putting up board and batten from me and 3MDIY.com. Sorry its a little grainy and dark, a nice thunderstorm was rolling in as we were taping it :)

 

This post is brought to you in partnership with 3M DIY. Learn how to work smart and be prepared at 3MDIY.com.