How To Make a Board and Batten Accent Wall

When our friends asked for our help to turn their large blank wall into something more interesting, we said YES because we love a good transformation project. 

Jonathan and our friend worked together. Here are steps if you want to add board and batten (or any kind of wood feature wall) to your home: 

1. Plan

The most important step is planning, measuring, and planning again. Before we start a project, especially an accent wall, we either tape off the wall to know the height/length we want, or we draw it up in a design program on Jonathan's computer. We decide things like how thick we want the boards to be, how far apart they should sit, any plumbing/studs that we need to consider, and more. 

There are some who just wing it and nail boards up as they go. If that works, we don't think that's bad! We just like to visualize a project before we do it. 

For this wall, our friends taped where they wanted the tallest horizontal board to sit. Then, we brought over a 1x4 and 1x6 board to show the thickness (1x6 is thicker than a 1x4 board). We decided to take off their baseboard so the board and batten would extend all the way to the floor and look seamless. We worked with MDF board for the board and batten.

2. Masonite Board

Our friends also wanted to cover up their textured wall before they nailed up the board and batten. This requires an extra step called Masonite board. It's basically gluing and nailing a large smooth board to the wall to make it appear smooth. Then, you nail the thicker board and batten boards on top of the Masonite.

For this step, Jonathan cut the Masonite and glued/nailed it to the wall. He had to make special cuts around the outlets, which was probably the "hardest" part of the whole project. 

3. Board and Batten 

After the smooth board was up, they started cutting and installing the MDF boards for the board and batten wall. Depending on your wall, you may want to work with the studs behind the wall. It's not mandatory, but it will help the boards stay on better. If you don't line the boards up with the studs, you can still use wood glue and some nails with a nail gun to secure the boards.

For this wall, the boards are spaced every 18" apart. Jonathan installed the top and bottom horizontal boards first, then made the cuts for the vertical boards and installed those after. They made a few cuts around the outlets again, and used wood glue and the nail gun in some spots to secure it. 

4. Caulking, Mudding, and Sanding 

After all the wood was up on the wall, one of the final steps is to caulk and let dry. Using a caulk gun, fill in any gaps or spaces you want to create a seamless look. For this wall, they filled in most of the "inner squares" with caulk around the edges, where the board meets the wall. You don't need to sand the caulk, because when you caulk, you wipe it down right after with a clean finger or a popsicle stick type tool. 

For our hallway board and batten, we didn't use Masonite or caulk, and it still turned out fine! I would probably go back and caulk if we redid it, just to avoid any gaps, but when I painted the wall I filled in a lot of gaps with paint. Do whatever works for your time and budget! 

Jonathan also used joint compound to cover up any lines where the boards met. This is usually called "mudding" or spackling. It's using the joint compound to hide any lines. After the joint compound dries, you then sand down the bumps or the spot where you mudded. 

5. Painting

The final step is to paint the accent wall—for this you can use a paint-and-primer in one or do it in separate steps. Some people skip primer and go straight to paint. It's really up to you! I usually use a paint-and-primer in one or just paint right away. 

Our friends chose Sherwin William's "Agreeable Gray," which I think was a great contrast for the wall—not too bold and not just plain white. Overall, I think with this giant wall they had, a board and batten solution was the right way to go. And it was all done in 4-5 hours on a Saturday! 

(I edited out the light switch here just to show the whole wall in a clean look)

You can follow these steps (and YouTube some videos) to make your own accent wall and custom design it for your home and style. 

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Fun Fact: Here's why it's called "board and batten" (from a Google answer): 

After the frame of a house was built, the boards would be nailed to it. In order to seal these gaps, wooden strips a few inches wide were nails to the outside of the house where the boards met. ... The wooden strips were known as battens, and this style of siding became known as board and batten.