How to Make a DIY Board and Batten Wall with Shelf

Date
Jan, 17, 2018

When I started brainstorming the design for Hawkins’ nursery, I knew I wanted a fun accent wall but didn’t think I could commit to the whole wall. I was stuck between a dark paint color or some wallpaper and figured some board and batten would be the perfect way to break it up. It adds so much dimension to the space and it was so easy! And the little shelf is definitely my favorite part.

DIY Board and Batten Wall Tutorial

Supplies for DIY Board and Batten Wall

*affiliate links included

1x2s (select pine wood)
1x4s (select pine wood)
Paint
Paint Roller
Paint Brush
Nail Gun
Spackling
Painters Tape
Sand Paper
Caulk
Stain
Polycrylic

STEP 1

Tape off the top part of your wall and paint! I ended up going with Woodland Lichen by Sherwin Williams and I couldn’t love it more.

Paint the bottom half the same color you’ll be using for your board and batten. I used Du Jour by Valspar which is the same white paint color in most of the rooms in our home.

prep for a diy board and batten wall with a shelf

STEP 2

Cut your 1x2s to the desired length. Ours are 47″ and I just bought the 6 ft. pieces and cut them down.

diy board and batten wall

STEP 3

Measure your wall and calculate the spacing you want between each batten. Ours are about 10″ apart. Then attach them using your nail compressor. You could also use liquid nails for extra support.

Attach your 1×4 above them next. I bought one 8 ft. piece and then another shorter piece since I couldn’t find anything longer at the time. I used some wood filler to fill in the seam and you can’t even tell!

pine wood for board and batten wall

STEP 4

Use your spackling to fill in all the nail holes and then sand once it dries.

use wood filler to patch holes before painting board and batten

STEP 5

Caulk your edges. Your wood may be slightly bowed or your wall may not be perfectly straight so you may have some gaps. Caulking around all the edges will help give your wall a cleaner look!

STEP 6

Paint your board and batten! I used a small 1″ brush for the battens and a little foam roller for the board.

board and batten with a dark accent wall

A lot of you were wondering about the bottom of the battens on our base trim. For us, our baseboards are completely flat, so the battens just rested perfectly right on top of it. If you have angled baseboards or ones with some type of shape to them, you can cut your battens at 45° angles to help them not stick out so much. Or you could buy a small piece of flat trim to add just above your baseboards to allow your battens to sit flat.

STEP 7

Add the shelf! For this piece I found a 12′ long 1×4 and then had to add another little piece on the end. There wasn’t anything longer than 12′ at our Home Depot or Lowe’s in the wood I wanted but you might have some luck at a local lumber yard!

I stained them using Dark Walnut and then sealed them up with some poly.

Then we just used our nail gun and nailed into the board right below it. Since I knew I wasn’t going to be putting anything super heavy up there, this held it in place enough. You could also use some liquid nails to make it a little more secure.

add a shelf to a board and batten wallThat’s it! Really simple way to add some dimension and character to a wall. I’m already thinking about where else I could do something like this in our house. It’s perfect in Hawk’s nursery and I finally faced my fears of making a dark accent wall – no regrets!

board and batten wall with a diy shelf

board and batten dark accent wall in nursery

A board and batten wall in a modern nursery

Have you ever considered adding board and batten to any walls in your home? Which room would you add it to?

You can read more about Hawk’s room and find all the sources!

Pin for later!

DIY Board and Batten Wall

brepurposed

58 Comments

  1. Reply

    Brianna

    January 16, 2022

    LOVE this!!! Did you paint the walls and the board wall the same color??? It looks different in the picture

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      January 20, 2022

      Thank you! They are the same color 🙂

  2. Reply

    Katherine

    January 20, 2020

    Looks awesome! What type of white paint did you use in the batten? Semi gloss or matte?

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      January 22, 2020

      Satin!

  3. Reply

    Any

    December 3, 2019

    All together how tall is your board and batten from floor to top of shelf?

  4. Reply

    Lauren

    May 27, 2019

    Love this!! What paint color are the other walls?

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      May 28, 2019

      Du Jour by Valspar!

  5. Reply

    Lauren Short

    April 28, 2019

    Hey, what was the overall height of your board and batten / shelf? Are the ceilings 8 ft?

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      May 1, 2019

      Our battens are 47″ and yes we have 8′ ceilings.

  6. Reply

    Kristin Geers

    April 26, 2019

    Did you paint the bottom trim or leave it wood tone? We are debating on new trim, painting white to go with the bottom wall, or leaving it wood tone. I would also have to consider the doorframe.

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      April 27, 2019

      We left it wood tone! We haven’t painted any of the trim in our house!

  7. Reply

    Kirra Sue Sutton

    January 23, 2019

    The room looks so good! I’m hoping to do something similar in our playroom! Thank you for your help! Would you mind sharing where your light fixture is from?

  8. Reply

    Emily Seith

    November 27, 2018

    Do you have the plans to the awesome bookshelf you created by chance?? I love it and want to recreate it!

  9. Reply

    Aeron Wallace

    September 17, 2018

    What color is the board and batten?

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      September 24, 2018

      Valspar Du Jour

  10. Reply

    Abbey

    August 10, 2018

    Hi there! May I ask what brand and kind of stain you used for the shelf? 🙂 is it gel stain?

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      August 13, 2018

      Nope, just regular stain! It was Dark Walnut by Minwax 🙂

  11. Reply

    Katie

    April 1, 2018

    Did you have any regard for your studs when placing your verticals? I am going to do this for my nursery, it’s so beautiful. Thank you for the how-to!

    • Reply

      Carolyn

      May 27, 2018

      I was wondering the same thing. Doesn’t seem like it.

      • Reply

        brepurposed

        May 29, 2018

        We originally were trying to, but the spacing wasn’t working so we didn’t!

    • Reply

      Laura

      July 13, 2019

      This is beautiful. Thanks for sharing. My walls are a nice light gray with white trim. Do you have any thoughts on how I could do something similar in a gray room instead of a white room. I’m wondering if I need to go all white in the room for this accent wall to look good to avoid having gray walls with one white and green wall. Would love your opinion!

      • Reply

        Kaitlyn

        April 26, 2020

        Yes I’m totally wondering the same thing! In the same boat over here!

  12. Reply

    Holly

    March 14, 2018

    Where is the rocker from? I love your whole design!

  13. Reply

    Alex

    March 11, 2018

    Do you have the colour # of the green Sherwin Williams paint? I went to the store and they say they don’t have that colour. Thank you

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      March 11, 2018

      It’s from the HGTV line – it’s HGSW 3282 🙂

  14. Reply

    Marissa

    February 23, 2018

    our walls have a slight texture, do we need to add a backing? or just build straight on to the wall? please let me know, thanks! love the nursery!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      March 1, 2018

      I think you should be fine over the texture!

  15. Reply

    Marissa

    February 23, 2018

    Our walls have a very slight texture to them, do we need to add some kind of backing? OR just build straight in the wall? Please let me know, thanks! Love the nursery!

  16. Reply

    Erica

    February 15, 2018

    Can you provide that paint color and rug source? How big is the rug you used? Gorg!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      February 15, 2018

      Paint color is Woodland Lichen by Sherwin Williams and the rug is from http://www.swoonrugs.com 🙂 and it’s about 4×7

      • Reply

        Lexi

        April 2, 2018

        What finish did you use for battan and walls paint (flat, satin,etc)? And what paint color did you use for adjacent for adjacent walls?

  17. Reply

    Lijo Decor

    February 13, 2018

    The room is looking very pretty! I am looking forward to implement this idea in my house! Thank you so much for sharing such simple yet elegant idea to make home look beautiful!

  18. Reply

    Erika Christina

    February 11, 2018

    Where is the ceiling light from?

  19. Reply

    Ericka Campbell

    February 5, 2018

    I love the crib, can you share the details? 🙂

  20. Reply

    Jessica Baruch

    February 2, 2018

    I love this so much! I am using this as inspiration for my nursery. Where is the crib from??

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      February 4, 2018

      It’s from Wayfair but they stopped selling it 🙁

  21. Reply

    Diana | Dahlias and Dimes

    February 1, 2018

    I absolutely love everything about this, paint color and all! Awesome job. Saving this for inspiration 😉

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      February 4, 2018

      Aw thank you so much!

  22. Reply

    Kelly Mahan

    January 24, 2018

    It’s amazing how you make an overwhelming project (for me) sound so simple and totally doable. I’m definitely going to try this!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      January 27, 2018

      Aw I promise it’s not bad at all, you can do it!

  23. Reply

    M

    January 22, 2018

    Where is the tree in the room from?!

  24. Reply

    Maryse

    January 20, 2018

    Wow. This is exactly what we’ve been meaning to do in the bedroom! Found this through instagram. Will definitely follow you from now on. Thanks!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      January 22, 2018

      Thank you so much Maryse!!

  25. Reply

    Amanda

    January 17, 2018

    It looks so beautiful, Bre! I love the shelf detail, and that green color is just perfect!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      January 22, 2018

      Thanks Amanda!!

  26. Reply

    Dyan

    January 17, 2018

    The room looks gorgeous! I love board and batten and added one wall to both my bathroom and living room (though without the shelf, which I think looks amazing). Because I was remodeling and had no baseboards in either spot, I used a horizontal 1×6 for my bottom and top, and used 1×4’s for the verticals. Thanks for the detailed instructions and photos.

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      January 22, 2018

      Thank you so much Dyan! Sounds like yours worked out perfectly in your space!

  27. Reply

    Brianna andreychuk

    January 17, 2018

    You did such a fantastic job! That forest green paired with the white batten board and the rug that ties all the wood tones together. Seriously bravo! Great tutorial

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      January 22, 2018

      Thank you so much Brianna!

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Hi, I’m Bre! Follow along as we renovate our current home and share modern DIY ideas.
 

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