Adding Faux Board and Batten Trim to Dining Room
I was getting desperate for an update to our barn red and olive gold dining room. Here’s a photo taken after last Christmas when my sweet hubby installed the new light Santa brought for me. Red is one of my favorite colors, but after 10 years of it, I really wanted something more light and airy. Although anyone who knows me, knows I don’t make decisions easily and overthink the simplest things, which is why our dining room has been red and gold for so long.
I had been browsing Pinterest, and loved the look of some board and batten trim that I’d seen, so after much wavering decided our dining room would be a great candidate for it with the high vaulted ceiling. Sweet hubby was skeptical about my idea and color choices, but he’s a good sport and went along with my plan.
I wanted to do this project on a cheap budget, so decided we could just remove the chair railing and move it up to a higher level and re-attach it. We bought 1-1/2″ x 1/4″ white lattice boards from Home Depot for the vertical boards. These were the most expensive part of the whole project. These boards are 8′ long, so I assumed we could just cut them in half to 48″, mount them on the wall sitting on top the baseboard, then sit the chair rail on top. Well, nothing is that simple, and rooms and floors really aren’t square and even. After some trial and error we found we had to attach the chair rail and level it, then individually measure and cut the vertical boards to fit between the baseboard and the chair rail. The vertical boards could vary by 1/4″ in length from one end of a wall to the other. Well we finally got them all up, and we know where all the mistakes are, but I don’t think anyone else will notice.
Once all the boards were up, I recessed all the nails with a punch, applied drywall compound to fill in the holes, and when dry, sanded them smooth. I caulked each vertical board with white silicone down each side, and along the top to fill the cracks and voids before the paint was applied. I painted the previously varnished chair rail with DecoArt Americana Decor Chalky Finish Ultra Matte paint in Everlasting (White) as a primer, so I didn’t have to sand it down.
We painted the top of the room with Behr’s Engagement Silver (a soft dirty grey with a touch of blue-green), quite similar to but a bit lighter than the Chalky Finish color Vintage which I used on our antique desk in the entry hall. It’s also the color we painted our kitchen. The kitchen transformation is a whole other story which I’ll post at a later date. It’s been an ongoing project.
The dining room’s ‘board and batten’ bottom is painted with Behr’s Painters White (soft white that is a little greyed).
The oiled bronze curtain rod is from Tuesday Morning ($19.99). White curtains are from Walmart ($14.99).
For info on white washing the picture or mirror frame visit my blog post here.
I hope this inspires you to try some of your own decorating projects. And please share! I’d love to see them.
Oh, and by the way, my sweet hubby loves the new dining room!