One Room Challenge | Week 5: Vertical Board & Batten

Reveals out the wazoo this month! Between last week's closet reveal, this week's playroom reveal, and next week's One Room Challenge reveal, I am going to be having some celebratory drinks after it's all over. It's week 5 and crunch time! Everyone is wrapping up their spaces and per my M.O. I still have large chunks to complete and shopping to do.

You can visit all the One Room Challenge guest room posts below. This space has already come so far and this next week is going to be fun.

Week 1: The Befores
Week 2: Mood Board & Plans
Week 3: Making a Hard Wired Sconce into a Plug In
Week 4: Painted Ceiling Fan

We painted our entire house "Repose Gray" by Sherwin Williams and I love it. It's the perfect neutral gray - not too warm and not too gray.The guest room is also Repose Gray, but the walls still lacked visual interest.

I have always admired the board and batten and wainscotting look whenever I see it. I could see the potential for some vertical board and batten in this room, but was nervous about putting it up. 

This photo from Phillips House Co. gave me the final inspiration I needed to pull the trigger.

This week I installed all the boards and caulked. Once it's completely finished, it'll be the perfect shade of Repose Gray.

First, I drew out the sketch of how I wanted the b'n'b to look. Then I made measurements and calculated how much board I would need. Since I decided on a window height and 16" apart, it ended up being roughly 150 feet. At $6 a board for the 1"x3"x8', the total ended up being around $127.

I spent the extra $1 per board to get the primed boards. They are generally smoother and less warped at the hardware store. Plus, it cuts down significantly on prime and paint time.

I know I need to take more pictures of me doing the work, but it is so hard because I literally hate taking pictures of myself. But I got at least one this week!

The first step was securing all the top horizontal boards and level. Once they were all nailed to the studs, I measured and made the cuts for the vertical boards. Since our walls aren't 100% straight, I had to measure each individual board. Time consuming, but if you have an old house you won't regret it. I decided to space each board 16" apart a.k.a. on the studs. Once I made the cuts, it took about 10 minutes to nail everything down.

Caulking is another story - that took me a few hours. Time consuming, but boy if some white caulk can't totally make things look 3000% better.

It looks good now, but I can't wait to get that gray paint up. I'm still debating on painting the trim gray too. Also, should I paint the windows and doors too? Or maybe just the windows? I don't think I can just paint the windows and not the doors because then the doors will be the only piece of white on the walls Let me know your thoughts on all that.

Week 5 is in the bag and next week will be the reveal! You can see all the guest participants this week and be sure to keep an eye out on their Stories for some behind the scenes!