It’s been 2 weeks since we closed and work has already begun. We’re spending a few hours a day over at the house several times a week and things are looking a little different already.
It’s no secret that I’m part of Lowe’s Creative Bloggers team and let me tell you, I’m sure glad of that. This month’s challenge was a before and after project and I had the perfect one in mind. I got in the fixer-upper house just in time to do this project. I had already decided that I was going to add tall board and batten in the dining room, so after I explained what it was to my Dad, he was all on board for putting it up. I took my Lowes giftcard to the store and we picked up all the supplies needed to start this project. We’re not completely finished, but I got one wall completed to show you all how we did it. Caulking and painting it out will come later.
We picked up 2 sheets of 1/2” MDF, just the perfect material for cutting board and batten. There are a zillion tutorials out in blogland on how to do this. This one will be basic and I’ll explain how we did it as I move down the pics. You won’t get to see the really pretty “after” yet, but that will come later. I can’t wait to get to the pretty stage, most of what we are doing now is just grunt work. Hard and dirty work getting ready to paint.
Now, I have to tell you a thing or two about my dad, Al. He’s old school. Extremely. If you know an old-school guy, I can assure you, there is no one more old-school than Al.
We almost got in a head butting contest over this kick-butt nail gun. With my Lowes giftcard, I picked up this wonderfully versatile rockin’ tool, the Hitachi nailgun. It’s a finishing nail gun and works with a compressor and saves a TON of time. My dad didn’t think we needed one, but I sure did! So we had discussions over the nail gun. I won and the nail gun came home with us, courtesy of Lowes. We were able to buy all of our materials, including paint and the nail gun from Lowes. Thanks, Lowes!
He is so used to nailing nails and couldn’t see that having a nail gun will save us so much time, but it totally will.
Another thing about my dad. He’s cheap. It has served him well. I can be cheap too, but getting MDF cut at the home store would probably been a time saver since they cut on those BIG OLE’ saws they have. But no, we can cut our boards at home and that won’t cost a dime. If there is even a hint of having to pay for cuts, nope that won’t do. Out came the table saw and we ripped those boards ourselves. I helped and we got ‘er done! 🙂
We ripped 6” boards and 2” boards for the battens.
Here’s our wall, waiting for a makeover. I decided that I wanted the board and batten to be tall, so I opted for 65” up the wall. My ceilings in this house are 8’ tall, so that seemed a good height to go. I also decided that I wanted to do 2 rows of boards and fill in with battens for a nice paneled look. You’ll see!
I started by painting out the bottom of the wall (below 65”) in white primer. This will help when I have to paint that wall with all white trim paint.
Primer completed.
We brought over my dad’s compressor, he does have some great tools, we just need to use them. He’s got most of the good ones: table saw, miter saw, jigsaw, and more. This one is perfect for the new Hitachi nail gun.
I went ahead and painted above the board and batten a gray color, Rockport Gray mixed in Valspar Paint and Primer in one. It covered wonderfully! I think the one quart I bought will cover all the walls I need to paint in here.
I’m really liking the gray color. I have some drapery fabric already bought that I’m using in here. It has pretty tones of gray, gold, green, brown and cream and I think will look super with my dining chairs and all this white board and batten.
Wanna see?
Some of you might remember that I picked up this fabric not too long before I moved from Birmingham back to Atlanta. I had planned to use it in my old house, but guess what? It’s going in the new one and I couldn’t be happier to have a dining room to use it in!
Can you see it coming together with my dining table and chairs? Yeah, me too!
So, we measured and leveled our 6” boards, nailing them into the wall studs. Another thing about my dad. He’s completely obsessed with nailing boards in studs. He overkills every piece of wood that gets nailed up. It HAS. TO. BE. IN.A. STUD in my dad’s carpentry book. SO, we found the studs. Sometimes I have to give in to his wishes and let him do it his way. Not always, I can assure you. There will be much head-butting getting this house done. We have gone through it before, it is nothing new for daughter and dad to see things 2 different ways. I see pretty, he sees strong and not going to go anywhere.
I totally think you can do both!
Back to the board and batten, I placed the 2nd board 12” down below the first row and now we are ready for the 2” battens to be installed.
We mitered the ends so that they would butt up against the baseboards and then I got the nailgun out and really had a ball.
This thing totally ROCKS my world! I’m going to be in love with my new nail gun. I popped nails in all those battens and loved it. The best thing, no countersinking. The gun does it for you!
We added battens in the corners and will wrap them to the next wall too. That next one from the right over to the left, we had to move it over a bit further than the others to jump the wall outlet. I read a lot of tutorials and most everyone said to do that. Jump the outlets and avoid them and you’ll never really notice the different spacing once it is all painted out. We spaced about 14 inches apart. Don’t hold us to that, we fudged a bit here and there.
Here’s that angled bottom piece, cut on a 45° angle on the miter saw. See how it rests on the existing baseboard and just makes it look better than keeping it straight across the bottom. I love this little touch.
So, one by one we added those battens. A few of the top boards didn’t get nailed in the studs, so we used Liquid Nails on the back (just a bit) as well as nails in the bottom part which did hit a stud to secure them all. They won’t be going anywhere. We used a level horizontally on the battens to keep them straight as we nailed.
It looks awesome to me! I’m so excited to get just this little start to pretty going on. We’ll continue around the room and finish this up and I’ll go ahead and paint above and this space will be on it’s way to being transformed. I’m planning to add more board and batten in the little foyer and going up the stairs. It just adds SO much architectural interest to an otherwise plain space, don’t you think?
Of course, the real fun will be when I caulk and paint it all trim white in Semi-Gloss. It will be gorgeous! It might be awhile before I get to that part, but you’ll be the first to see it all done.
UPDATE: Here’s the AFTER, with new floors installed.
And my dad is really proud of what we did. He mentioned how great it looks several times!
Here’s a little more progress for you. My sweet and tireless mama worked at getting up some of the tack strips from the carpet that we are ripping out while me and Dad worked on the board and batten. She is amazing.
Dad walled up the doorway going into the kitchen and this wall from the living room can now have furniture on it if I need to do that. It will make all the difference in the kitchen space and adding more cabinets on that wall that is not a door anymore.
Oh! And the ceilings all got a nice coat of spray paint last week, thanks to a family friend retired painter who we hired just for that reason.
Long view to the door that is now GONE. Can’t wait to paint those walls, that alone is going to make such a huge difference. After we paint the trim and walls, our next project tackled will be new floors in this living room. As of now, I do believe we are going to buy a floor nailer and put down unfinished oak flooring, then hire a refinisher to do the sanding, staining, and finishing of the floors. That will save us some money, even though it will be a lot of work. We can take our time and get it done.
Mom and I have finally stripped all the wallpaper off the walls. That was a happy day too.
These 2 people are the loves of my life. They are such hard workers and I couldn’t do this without them. We’ve had many picnics on the porch already during our renovation days at the house.
And that’s pretty sweet!
Disclosure: I received a giftcard to buy supplies from Lowes for this project.
Andi T. says
Oh fun! We need to get started on our baby’s nursery!!
Linda Shoemaker says
Wow,you have gotten so much done.Your parents are great!Can’t wait to see all this finished.It will be beautiful I know.Thanks for sharing.
Amy Gentry says
Rhoda, I am so happy for you!
I have been in my house for 10 years, and I am in the process of remodeling and painting. A gift card from Lowe’s would be awesome to win. Thanks for the giveaway!
Amy
Susanne says
I am working in my kitchen right now:)
Leah Turner says
Good start on your new home! LOVE those nail guns, they’re a female friendly tool and make things so easy. We’re putting up beadboard this week during our kitchen redo and could not imagine it without a nail gun. Having your parents working with you must be so much fun.
Tammy says
I loved your story especially about your dad…it brought back so many memories of my grandfather…he was very much like your dad..as in being cheap… lol.. duct tape was the fix all! we still have a standard staying when fixing something on the cheap…”Jim R_ _ _ _ Special!” Thanks for taking me to those past memories…brought a smile to my heart. I love the fabric you picked and can’t wait to see the end results.
Michelle says
Rhoda,
I always admired the home you had in AL,and I can’t wait to see what you do with this one. I know it will be beautiful. How special that your parents are able and willing to help you with this project.
My husband is a major DIY’er (I think because he’s SO particular about every little thing). We bought a house 2 1/2 years ago that we are STILL working on. I’m planning on B&B in our dining room as well. Also, we are adding on a master bath and a mudroom,so lots of projects around these parts!
Norma says
I need to repaint the grandkids room at my house. The gift card would come in so handy….
Carla says
Love what you’ve done! Y’all are moving right along–and I’m so excited for you! Can’t wait to see it all happen right before my very eyes–and your parents–love them!
KAs loTHYSUE says
Rhoda I am grinning from ear to ear, just thinking of you having a new home and seeing your Mom and Dad right along side of you working is a wonderful sight indeed. To say I am happy for you is an understatement. Love the new wall and the dining room treatement is looking fabulous!! So happy for YOU! xo Kathysue
Tona Haggermaker says
I am so happy for you in finding your home! I love your posts showing how it is coming along. Cant wait to see more! Thanks for giving us a chance to win the $100 Lowe’s card. I need a new nail gun, too 🙂
Tona Haggermaker
Athens, Alabama
bonnyk says
I LOVE this look…have been thinking about doing it in my family room. You have inspired me to get going on that! Thanks…looks great!
Stephanie says
Id use the gift card to help buy flooring, wainscotting, and paint for our bathroom remodel. The shower surround, stool, and vanity have been acquired and the reno is about to begin!!! Thanks for the opp to win!
katie says
Love that your dad came over to help you on your board and batten! I’ve never done the board and batten and hope to one day do it in my own home–just need to find a wall I want to do it on! I would totally spend the $100 gift card though on a new light fixture for our home… just a few more to change out!
Sandi Lee says
love following you on your new adventure – what awesome memories you are making – don’t know which project I would want to put $100.00 towards – but there are plenty waiting to be done –
Rosemary Campbell says
You are making so much progress and it’s looking good! We just bought a fixer upper as well but have 3 little ones running around so my progress is not as fast as yours is I’m afraid. Our first big project will be our big blue monster of a kitchen. I spent close to 50% of my day in there and there is no storage, no counter space and no dishwasher. The cabinets are painted bright blue and yellow and there is matching wallpaper. it’s enough to give anyone a headache. The electrician is coming next week to put in a new panel and then we will be able to get started on the kitchen!!!
Maureen says
How blessed you are to have such terrific parents!! Love the wall treatment you and your dad are creating. I can’t wait to see the finished product. You must be over the moon excited to get things going! I would use the Lowe’s gift card to spruce up my screen porch!! We finally got a Lowe’s open in our area a couple of months ago!
Sharon Hoham says
It is really happening and I so appreciate your detailed updates, they make me feel like I am working along side the three of you. And none of us can wait to see the end result, and the lesson of course, is to enjoy the journey. We have a condo and my Mother’s house I inherited that we have been working on for years. Lowes has been key to our success! Flooring, tools, paint, lighting, on and on. Our next project is the last incomplete room in the condo: the master bathroom! I will continue to look to you, our blogger friends, and Lowes for inspiration. Keep up the good job!
debbi johnson says
Rhoda, you are very blessed with loving parents. I dont know what I would do without mine either! I want a mud room soooo bad, the $100 gc would be a good start.
Tracy says
Great job! I too want a nail gun, and a paint sprayer. Those would be fun tools!