the great board & batten wall part 2 - tutorial

Hi friends! As promised, here is the tutorial and materials list for the great board & batten project of 2013...that was started the last week of 2013 so really I guess it's the great project of 2014!

If you missed part 1, here it is...if you're not interested in the nitty-gritty, that's the post you want
:-)

Remember what it looked like before? A big empty useless wall. That door goes down to the garage so like everyone else, it's our primary entrance and exit to the house.

[before].

A couple of trips to our home away from home, Home Depot to pick up the supplies:

the materials list, all from Home Depot except paint...

• backboards [optional*]: 1/8"x4'x8' Sparta Oak Panel - 3@11.63 = $34.89
• horizontal molding: 1"x5"x6' Primed MDF Boards - 3@5.45 = $16.35
• horizontal molding: 1"x5"x8' Primed MDF Boards - 1@7.26 = $7.26
• vertical molding: 1"x4"x12' Primed FJ Pine Board - 2@10.14 = $20.28
• vertical molding: 1"x4"x8' Primed FJ Pine Board - 1@6.76 = $6.76
• hooks: Liberty 3 inch Heavy-Duty Coat & Hat Hook, Antique Brass - 7@3.28 = $22.96
• paint: Kelly Moore Dura-Poxy+ untinted semi-gloss - approx 1 quart=$12.50
• table saw: already owned
• DAP painter's putty for filling in the nail holes: already owned, barely made a dent in it; about $5.50 for the little tub
• totally awesome Ryobi Cordless Brad Nailer - already owned, but if you want one they're only $129 USD. I swear this is the best $129 I've spent in years
• DAP's Alex Painters Acrylic Latex Caulk - 1@$1.67=$1.67

*backboards: we wanted a really smooth overall look especially since the paint was going to be glossy and our textured walls weren't going to give us that look. I've seen tons of wonderful board & batten projects with only the vertical battens and horizontal pieces...it's just not what we wanted here. 

Total cost [excluding nail gun and painter's putty]: $122.59...smokin' deal to completely transform this unused wall into something beautiful and useful!

Measurement pic below:

[the measurements].

You may be wondering why each of the backboard pieces was cut separately rather than a couple of big pieces laid down [which would've been easier]. The logic of cutting them as separate pieces has to do with the existing baseboard: if we'd just laid the 1/8" thick backboard on the wall and put the vertical battens over it, the battens would've stuck out 1/8" over the baseboards. Does this make sense? Total layers would've made the whole thing too thick...this way the vertical battens are flush against the existing baseboard.

Everything was cut with our table saw, then secured to the wall studs with the awesome Ryobi nail gun [I swear Ryobi isn't paying me to love their nail gun, I bought it myself and I just love it!].

You'll see from the picture below that it works on a battery rather than a compressor, which is really convenient. Of course that does add to the weight of it but I think it's a great trade-off.

[yay Ryobi nail gun!]

We did the bottom section first, moving left to right...backboard, vertical, next backboard, next vertical...and so on.
We topped the bottom section with the 1"x5" horizontal molding pieces. Then moved to the top section working again left to right filling in the backboards:

A final 1"x5" horizontal topper capped off the whole thing.  Then we caulked along the seams, used painter's putty to fill in the teeny nail holes, gave it all a light sanding with the orbital sander, then painted, and finally hung the hooks.

Painted and hooked and ready to decorate! Um, yes even though it's meant to be functional, a little decor is a must  :-)
Now this is what I'm talking about...

[all decked out].

[large hanging basket: Rachael Wall Basket, medium, World Market]

[small hanging basket: Betty Coin Weave Seagrass Basket, brown - small, World Market]

and this too...for some reason my favorite shot!

[yay baskets]

I hope I've explained this in a way that makes sense. But I'm happy to answer any questions in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!