Looking for ideas for wall decor behind your living room sofa? Here is a Board and Batten Wall DIY project you can do in a weekend that will transform your space.
Time is flying by…and dare I say?
Bring it on!
Not because I want my girls to grow up quicker than they already are…
No no, that’s an entirely different flying by topic for an entirely different day.
But definitely one that I have been massaging in my mind recently, as our oldest daughter, Eve, inches closer out of the middle school doors and into the high school doors.
Gasp.
I am not ready.
No, I don’t want that kind of time to fly by at all actually…but this girl right here?
She is ready for Spring!
Anyone else?
Yes, I am ready for Spring and all the Springy things…
Tulips, bunnies, eating outside, simply opening the windows and the French doors in our kitchen for that fresh air feeling, and chatting with girlfriends on trail walks!
Speaking of girlfriends…
On Thursday night, I had the blessing of having dinner with my high school besties. As I was getting ready to meet them I realized, that we graduated 25 years ago. 😮
Um hello 1998…
Turns out you were a long time ago…even though you also feel like you were yesterday.
Anyone else feel me on that?
I feel so grateful to still be close with the girls who knew me when I wore glasses, (fun fact I now need bifocals – stay tuned on that one) ate peanut butter crackers every day for lunch and drove a stick shift black Celica while Journey‘s Open Arms, blared out from the sunroof.
This dinner…was good for the soul.
When it was time to go home, and we had not even scratched the surface of all the things we needed to cover…we each pulled out our cellphones and planned our next dinner date.
Promising that we would not let years go by again without connecting eye ball to eye ball, all together.
Do you know what else is good for the soul?
Loving up on your home.
Whether that be leaning into a little intentional Spring cleaning right now, by re-organizing a pantry or purging a closet and donating what you no longer wear or need…because donating is always good for the soul.
Or refreshing a room by adding new throw pillows or bringing in fresh flowers.
Loving up on your home doesn’t have to be complicated.
Simply loving up on a small space of your home is life-giving and energizing and that energy and feel good satisfaction?
It builds forward momentum to do more loving up on your people and your personal spaces in your life.
Sometimes, purging clutter and closets leads me to editing room decor.
As seasons change I find myself often re-thinking the room and giving myself permission to remove items, evolve and re-style as I feel led.
Today, I am sharing how we loved up on our home last weekend and how Shawn installed a DIY board and batten wall in our living room with a picture ledge on top…for guess who to decorate with. 🙂
This is literally a project that Shawn started on Saturday at 5 pm and finished on Sunday at 5 pm.
In other words?
This is a DIY home project you can do in a weekend that makes a BIG impact!
Also?
My husband is amazing. 🙂
Now, are you ready to come and see this DIY board and batten wall that is ready and waiting for new art and all the pretty things?
Follow me friend!
How To Make A Board & Batten Wall With Picture Ledge
First, let’s review with a little living room history…
It all started when I took the picture frames off the living rom wall, that I had hung during Christmas with Winter scene art prints from Lindsay Letters.
You might remember me sharing pictures of our living room decor, during Christmastime HERE in this post.
This living room wall behind the sofa has evolved over time.
Looking back, at pictures from a few years ago, I used to be more into farmhouse decor, than I am today.
Below, is a picture from when I gave a little update to the old gallery wall by changing out the round mirror for this woven round mirror and gave this room a Fall decor refresh HERE in this post from 2 years ago.
And last year, our living room received a Spring refresh, when we hung up these amazing pinch pleat faux linen curtains from Amazon, that I shared all about HERE in this post.
And last weekend?
This is what the living room wall looked like on Friday, when I removed the wall art and went into clean slate mode.
(I share what clean slate mode is and WHY I do this, HERE in this post.)
The reason I love to strip a room down to clean slate mode, especially during the change of season’s, is because…
it gives my brain the opportunity to breathe in new inspiration and form new ideas for the space.
Removing all of the extra decor, is the best way to be able to SEE fresh opportunity without all of the clutter blocking your inspiration.
Embracing clean slate mode is what allowed me to go from our living room wall looking like this…
To looking like this…
Here’s another comparison:
Needless to say?
We are in LOVE with this board and batten accent wall with a picture ledge!
Now, because I am not the mastermind behind creating this beauty, I am going to do my best at sharing HOW Shawn built this living room board and batten wall in one day.
But of course, if you have questions that we fail to explain, simply leave a comment or send me an email!
How To Build A Board & Batten Wall With A Picture Ledge
In shawn’s words 🙂
1. Measure the wall and input the measurements into this converter pictured below, along with the actual board width and how many panels:
*Make sure everything is in inches and not feet.
At this time, you will also need to decide how far up the wall you want the board and batten to go.
Our DIY board and batten wall extends up 53″ from the floor to the top of the picture ledge.
After you figure out how many panels you want and the size of each panel, you are ready to buy your material.
We bought all of our material from the local Home Depot.
A commonly used size is 1×3 for the vertical boards and bottom and top can be 1×3/1×4.
I have listed the exact measurements for our particular design of the board and batten wall, at the bottom of this post.
2. Prepare the wall for installation.
Our living room wall already had box trim molding, which I removed first, along with the baseboard trim.
You can leave the baseboard attached. However, I decided to replace it with taller, primed pine baseboard.
Pop the baseboard off and make sure that your wall is in good condition.
Spackel any nail holes or small divots.
**If you wall is “jacked up” (can you tell these are Shawn’s words yet! 🙂 you can buy 1/8’ drywall (super thin) and hang sheet rock to start with a fresh wall.
We decided to hang sheet rock to give us a clean, smooth wall to work from.
Make sure you screw the drywall into studs and fill with spackel after it is hung.
3. Lightly mark where your studs are (16” on center).
Set your baseboard, make sure it is level and nail baseboard to studs.
We used an air compressor with 2 inch x 16-gauge straight finish nails.
Repeat with the top board as well and nail into studs.
4. Measure your spacing between your vertical boards, make sure they are square and then nail them, starting in center first.
From the center, I started on each side of the board. Moving from right side and then left side, measuring from the side edge of the vertical board, to give me the exact spacing.
5. Attach the picture ledge trim piece.
Lay the picture ledge trim onto the top horizontal board and nail the picture ledge trim onto the top board.
6. Spackle and fill in your nail holes, then sand flush.
Caulk all seams and the area between the wood and drywall and the baseboard.
Allow caulk to dry for 24 hours. (If you know Shawn…then you also know that he didn’t wait that long.)
7. Paint the Board and Batten wall.
We painted our board and batten wall in Pure White by Sherwin Williams.
Put the room back together and Ta Da!
I know you will find this hard to believe…
But, I’ve already started playing with photo frames and how I am going to decorate the picture ledge that sits on top of the board and batten.
I am currently waiting for new Spring art prints to arrive from the order I just placed with Lindsay Letters, and I also plan to sprinkle in family photos as well.
Once I have the layout for the picture frames figured out, I am going to sit the frames on the 2 1/2″ picture ledge…
Then, I will use these Command Hooks to also secure them on the wall, in order to keep them from falling forward and off the picture ledge.
The Board & Batten Measurements
The top horizontal board that is under the picture ledge trim is 5″ wide.
The vertical boards are 3.5″ wide.
The bottom, horizontal board that sits on top of the baseboard is 2 1/2″ wide.
The picture ledge that runs on top of the horizontal board is 2 1/2″ wide.
There you have it friend!
I can’t wait to show you what this board and batten picture ledge wall looks like, after I have it decorated!
Stay tuned and if we missed anything or you have a question, please leave us a comment and we will be sure to reply!
Living on a prayer,
Heather
*Special thanks to my hubs for going along with my weekend projects on a whim! Love you babe!
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Local Friends!
Join me for a free social event, where I will be a guest speaker!
Thursday, March 2nd at the Coffee Bar on Main Street, Bel Air featuring “Home Trends” hosted by Kim Sweat from American Premier Realty!
I will be sharing tips for decorating and refreshing your home for Spring!
