Board and Batten Bedroom Wall Tutorial (A DIY Master Upgrade)

Of all the areas in your home, your bedroom should be the room where you feel the most at home. It should make you feel comfortable, cozy and relaxed.

I wanted to make our master suite to be a space where my spouse and I would be able to connect and decompress from the stress of the day. A space where we felt at peace and comfortable. 

Currently, it felt cramped, and it was a little too feminine with all of the pink tones – we just didn’t love it.

Key Products Used

We used a number of products for this makeover, and the full list is at the bottom of this post. We get asked often for these three specific products and thought we would answer that question first. Here they are below.

We have noticed from time to time that the wall sconces are available at different times through Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. To check the dot-com CLICK HERE and to check the dot-ca CLICK HERE

Board and Batten Bedroom Wall Tutorial- The Best DIY Upgrade

THE IDEAS

I noticed I was saving a lot of images with green tones and after Lucas’s approval that was the direction we decided to go in. 

I’ll admit, I was scared. I am a ‘white walls and white, white kitchen’ kinda girl. Don’t get me wrong- I love the colour. But I was afraid this change would make our small room look dark and dungeon-like. “It’s just paint,” Lucas kept telling me, “you know we can always just paint over it if we hate it”. I totally needed to hear that as it made me feel so much better and confident in our decision.

For some strange reason, I was always afraid to hammer a nail into the wall to hang a simple photo just in case I put it in the wrong spot. But hey, we’re on lockdown so I had all the time in the world even if this plan totally backfired.

THE VISION

Alright, let’s dive into this DIY! Before you head out to pick up your supplies, here’s what you need to do first!

• Determine the design of your board and batten accent wall, how many panels do you want going vertically and horizontally across the wall, you will need to measure your wall to make sure that your pattern runs evenly across the wall and does not cover any electrical outlets. Otherwise, you may have to cut around them. This will help you determine the amount of batten to buy. 
• How much spacing do you want in between each of your battens? This will also determine the amount of board you will need to buy.
• How wide do you want your batten to be? Some people prefer a more narrow batten and some prefer a wider batten. We wanted the vertical boards and horizontal boards to be narrow.
• Have a few paint colours in mind. I recommend getting some samples first especially if you are unsure about the colour and want to test some out.

THE SUPPLY LIST

Here’s a list of supplies that you will need to start your board and batten wall project.

• Batten – we chose MDF for this instead of hardwood, this saved us some money (½ ” thick by 2 ½” wide MDF is what we chose for our project)
• Boards – we chose not to use boards for a couple of reasons, our walls were lightly textured and we felt that the batten looked fine without the boards, we also wanted to save time and money
• Wood Filler or Spackle
• Nail Gun
• Saw / Mitre Saw
• Paintable Dap Caulking
• Paint Brush
• Painters Tape
• Paint – (our paint is Behr and it is called Boreal from Home Depot)

THE HOW-TO

We decided that 6 sections for the pattern were the perfect amount for our board and batten wall. We used painter’s tape to mark out where the batten would go on the wall, our’s are spaced out 21″ apart and the total width of our wall is 144″ for reference. We made sure that the batten wouldn’t run into any of the outlets on the wall. It’s ok if it does, you would just have to cut the batten to fit around the outlet, so just another step we tried to avoid.

We ended up trying a few paint samples that we got from Home Depot for $5 each and it was worth it! You’ll see my paint examples below!

We used ½ ” thick by 2 ½” wide MDF instead of hardwood for the batten. It saved us some money, plus we wanted the thickness to be around ½” and could easily find that option by using MDF. Once our pieces were cut to size it was time for them to go up! We used a nail gun to secure each piece.

Pro tip: Cut a piece of scrap wood the size of space between each batten (21″ for mine) so you can easily run it between the battens to ensure it’s evenly spaced and skip the tape measure each time you lay a new batten.

At first, we chose to go with just vertical boards as seen in the first picture above, but we changed our minds and added one horizontal board across. It was definitely the right choice, we love it so much more than without. You can add more horizontal boards for a different look, there are so many options to when building your board and batten accent wall.

To prep for the painting, we used wood filler over the nail holes and over any imperfections on the drywall’s surface. You can use either wood filler or spackle for this. Once it has dried, you can sand it down so that it is flush with the wood.

We then put caulking on the seams between the baseboards and the walls. You really don’t require a lot of caulking, just a small bead around the seams goes a long way. Then smooth over it with your finger to remove the excess.

THE PAINT

Now the moment of truth – the paint. I was still nervous at this point, but after the first stroke of paint, I was sold, and I was in love!

We chose BEHR paint and the colour is called Boreal from Home Depot. We choose an eggshell finish for the paint.

AFTER

Seriously what a transformation! It’s crazy what a few pieces of wood and paint can do to create such a beautiful accent wall! The batten wall made our room look so much bigger and everyone who has seen our room in person has made the same comment! We even got rid of our queen bed and added a king and still, the space looked bigger.

We also added wall sconces instead of using lamps on our nightstands. We didn’t want to hardwire them in as we would have to commit wholeheartedly to the location of it. So we chose one that just plugs into an outlet, no hard-wiring required. We love the ones we chose as they came with a wire cover that runs down the wall in a straight line, instead of having the wavy cord hanging. I’ve linked the exact lights below under the product used.

Our room now feels so open, and installing a wall treatment is great for resale value, especially if your master bedroom is a little on the smaller side, the vertical and horizontal lines from the batten wall really opened the space up. I now want to install board and batten accent walls all over the house!

And that’s it! I hope this encourages you to take a stab at a board and batten accent wall DIY project yourself!

THE PRODUCTS – used for Board and Batten wall and to style the finished master bedroom

If you’re interested in some of the products and decor in our room, here are a few links for your viewing pleasure!

Wall Sconces – I purchased our wall sconces from Amazon. We wanted sconces that didn’t require wiring, so we chose this one that had a cover that went over the wire down the wall. I wanted the gold to be a little bit more brassy so I ended up spray painting them to tone down the yellow. They turned out exactly the way I wanted them to! I used Rustoleum spray paint in satin bronze.

They are also dimmable lights, which is what we were looking for and I highly recommend it!

You’ll notice that there is a top piece on the sconce that isn’t on ours in the picture. I decided to take them off as I like the space better without them. They come with the top piece but you can decide to put them on or leave them as we did.

Hanging Planter Basket – these are from our online shop, Watermark! They come in a 4″ and 6″ pot, both linked below.

Turkish Throw Blanket – this blanket is from Watermark

Woven Embroidered Pillow Cover – the pillow featured in the basket and the right side of the bed are from Watermark

Night Stands – are from West Elm, called the Midcentury Nightstand

Bed Frame – I purchased the frame from Wayfair, it’s called the Colette Low Profile Platform Bed

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FAQ

What kind of Skills Does One Need for a Board and Batton Project?

If you look through each of the steps that we took, you will see a breakdown of the types of skills you will need for the project. It was actually a fairly easy project to complete, but I did need the help of my husband to cut the pieces and to use his air nailer to pin nail the pieces onto the wall.

I feel like there is a number of different kinds of people that could definitely do this project from empty nesters to college kids this project is for everyone that feels crafty and wants a little upgrade.