Adding Board and Batten

If you’ve read my about me page you will know that our house is over 20years old and desperately in need of some love and character. It has no redeeming features at all!!! We are making it our mission to add some interest to each room and make this house a home that we love. This time we set about adding board and batten to the bedroom.

Master Bedroom Makeover

Like the rest of our home the master bedroom is not a huge room but it has a lot of natural light and a window that looks out on to our pool deck. It’s one of my favourite rooms in the house and where I go to destress and read or meditate. I wanted to make a feature of one of the walls to give the room some added character. After considering some options we decided to add board and batten with a shelf so that I could display photos.

Upgrading the skirtings

We added large skirtings in the hallway and kitchen when they were remodelled. This time we didn’t want to go to the added time and expense of replacing the skirting in the master bedroom. After looking at some different options we decided to add the extra height to the existing skirting. This way the skirting height will be consistent throughout the house.

To do this we just added another smaller skirting on top of the existing one. To make it look better and reflect the flat edge of the new larger skirting in the other rooms we turned it upside down. We also placed it so that the height matched the skirting in the hallway and kitchen. The final step was to paint the whole thing with our trim colour which is Dulux Vivid White. I loved how well it came out and will continue to do this in the other rooms of the house that don’t get full renovations.

Adding the board and batten for interest

The process of adding board and batten is actually pretty straight forward. It’s all about getting the measurements right.

To begin with we worked out the height we wanted the shelf to finish. Then we added two vertical lengths of 66 x 11 finger jointed primed pine from Bunnings at each end. They measured 1266mm from the top of the skirting. We then added two horizontal boards. The first board was placed 855mm from the top of the skirting and the top horizontal 1200mm from the top of the skirting. We used a nail gun to attach the timber to the wall.

The wall was then divided into four and the six vertical pieces inserted between the horizontal boards.

Adding the decorative shelf

The next step was adding a piece of timber above the top horizontal board. We wanted this piece to be slightly larger than the other timber so we went with 138 x 18 finger jointed primed pine from Bunnings. To make the shelf part we added two pieces of 92 x 18 finger jointed primed pine on top of each other to make a thick shelf. To support the shelf we used veranda brackets. We could get two supports from one bracket which was great for the budget.

To finish off we added some decorative trim between the two different sized horizontals and around the two joined shelf pieces. We then painted the whole thing with our trim colour of Dulux Vivid White.

The finishing touches

I love white bed linen and tend to use it in every bedroom. I love that I can change the look of the room without spending a lot of money. A few new cushions and some other small touches and you’re done. White just feels fresh and bright and I love that. You can also bleach it if necessary to bring back the whiteness.

We have an old sofa in the master that we’ve had for about 30 years and I still love it. Pink has been my accent colour in the bedroom for a long time so I’ve decided to add in some green together with the pink. I am a pink girl and luckily Tony doesn’t care 😂.

Bedlinen

All of the white bedlinen I’ve had for a while. The bedspread and waffle blanket are both from Bed Bath n Table. They are good quality and wash up very nice. The large green cushions are from Wheel and Barrow. The wreath above the bed is from the Adairs Christmas range. I love how it looks on the recycled piece. Mixing old and new is something I love to do throughout the house. The linen piece at the end of the bed came from H&M Home, its actually a linen tablecloth but I love it at the end of the bed! Their online store didn’t have a link to the green but this is the style I purchased.

This beautiful pink throw was a Christmas gift from my gorgeous daughter. I fell in love with it after she took me to visit a lovely shop called Heartfill. It wasn’t on their website so unfortunately I couldn’t link it. This space is my favourite spot to read and plan.

If you love looking at renovations, have a look at our kitchen reveal and small laundry room makeover. I hope this post inspired you to try some board and batten in your own home.