simple, inexpensive board and batten

10 September 2010

I do realize I’m about the sixty eleventh blogger to talk about board and batten. It is such a simple way to give a room a big pop of texture and character. I also love the big fat pieces of board, but we were on a tight budget since we had just paid to have our basement finished.
This is how we did it:
Our Lowes had these lattice strips in a 10 pack for 7.68.
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In my store, they were at the end of the lumber section above the white lattice panels next to the house wrap. The Lowes people all know me now as the crazy lady that comes in and takes pictures of lattice strips and mirrors.
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june 2010 041  june 2010 040   Now, some of these bundles have some crazy warped, ugly boards in them. The nice guy at my store said I could bundle the bad ones up and bring them back for a refund and that’s what we did. If your store doesn’t have these nifty little bundles you can buy the lattice by the foot like Sarah did.
We decided on a height for our chair rail when my dad was visiting…I can’t remember how we came up with it, (it wasn’t scientific though) and he helped put that up. We didn’t get to the strips for about a month and a half later,  and then it was simply a matter of placing the lattice strips in an equal distance that didn’t run into a light switch or outlet. We cut the strips down to size and used my handy nail gun from Black Friday to attach them. We sanded down the boards that were rough and used lots of caulk to fill in gaps between the wall and little imperfections on the boards. june 2010 145 1
Total cost for the lattice strips (we used 35 in the playroom):
$26.88 plus tax
We used the leftover paint from the rest of our trim and doors downstairs, and I think the chair rail cost around $30 in materials…
So, I’d say about $60 can make a big impact. 
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I’m sure I’m leaving something out..feel free to ask any questions in the comments!
I have to tell you I’m so sick of the playroom now since it’s been a project we’ve let drag out all summer. I’m excited to move upstairs to the next project: living room! Of course, we’ll be back down to finish the other rooms, but I need a change of scenery.
Don’t forget that the GroopDealz $25 Target Giveaway ends tomorrow! Enter here~
Happy Weekend~