PROGRESS (board & batten) in the office!

Can I just start out with a WHOO?!

And a WHEW!! Cause I’m exhausted.

:)

It’s been two months since I’ve addressed my office redo, and I’ve had the mdf for the board and batten treatment on the walls for about that long. It’s been piled in the garage all that time…and every time I’ve stubbed my toe, tripped over them or watched them gathering dust since January, I have thought… I MUST get that project done.

And I just kept thinking. No doing. :)

I was hesitating because for this space, I really, really wanted to pull out the baseboards in the office before I installed the B and B treatment. I wanted to install fat, thick ones like in the inspiration picture I showed you a while ago:

So I hesitated. And worked on purging. Did a little change in the living room. And took a couple trips to IKEA. :)

I hesitated because as I’ve mentioned before, our baseboards are SUCH a pain in the booty to remove. I’ve done it in a bathroom and our laundry room, and oh. my. good. NESS. – they are so hard to get off the wall. It’s just crazy. I’m talking two inch, thick nails holding those puppies in.

Every time I’ve done it, I end up damaging the drywall, which has been OK because I’ve installed beadboard. But in the office, I was sceered. I knew some damage would be covered by the boards, but not all. But I was also afraid to not take them out – would it look wonky? Unfinished? Wrong?

Well, I was looking at the blank walls of the office yesterday morning and just decided to take a risk and just install the stuff already. I wasn’t going to rip out the baseboards -- I would just install the mdf boards right over them. I knew it wasn’t going to be perfect, but none of my projects are. They all have little imperfections and quirks – that’s how I roll. Why stop now? :)

I just wanted to get it done and said to heck with perfect. I was going to get my vision up on the walls!

And once I started, it was hard to stop. I got everything done yesterday and today. I started with my primed boards from Lowe’s:

They’re 3 1/2 inches wide, 3/4 inch thick and came in 12 foot lengths. I had them cut in half so they were easier to work with. I would have had them cut from a sheet of mdf like I did on the staircase, but I really wanted primed mdf for this project.

There’s a LOT of wall space to cover this time. And to paint. :)

I started by nailing the boards along the bottom over the baseboards:

And I wasn’t horrified. :)

I used my nail gun and two inch nails to install all of the mdf. I wanted something thick enough to get through the boards, the drywall, and into the studs (where I could get them).

Then I figured out how tall I wanted the treatment, and started putting up the vertical boards. I cut a 13 inch board and used it as my spacer between each vertical piece, then put the boards along the top:

I was loving how it was coming along, but I wanted a little more character, so I added a some detail by adding another line of boards:

I went ten inches down from the top boards. I waffled between ten and 12 inches, and wish I would have thought about the light switch before I decided on the ten:

:) Again, SO not perfect. But with some caulk, spackle, and some paint, you won’t even notice it in the end. Pinky swear. The lamp in front of it will help too. ;)

I was so in love with how it turned out! But I still wanted to add a little somethin’ -- it was the detail I had seen in my head all these months, and I knew I had to do it.

So, it was back to Lowe’s we went to grab some more primed mdf, but this time it was the 1 1/2 inch width:

I took the smaller mdf and created a shelf around the top of the board and batten:

I just nailed it down into the 3 1/2 inch boards that went around the top. It’s super sturdy – I didn’t even use glue. 

I found that small trim (looks like mini-crown molding) to put along the bottom, under the “shelf.”

The hardest part in the room was this area by the doors – the corners took 22.5 degree cuts instead of 45’s;

They just took a few extra practice cuts. ;)

You can see how they came together where it hits the window:

It’s gonna look fantastic once it’s all painted!

The imperfections are everywhere – I spaced the boards around the room based on light switches and plugs, but I completely forgot under the windows. So when I went to add the boards under the sills, I realized the measurements were way off.

I figured since I’ll always have drapes up, I decided to wing it and just put one single board right in the middle of the window:

You won’t see the empty space where there should have been other boards, because it’ll be covered by drapes. *ThankyouLordforfabric.*

Because I was working around a plug, I ended up not having enough room for a whole board in one corner. I went ahead and put it up, so one section is about half an inch smaller than the others:

Can you tell which one it is?

Wait, don’t answer that! Just say you can’t tell. ;)

I had to do that in a couple spots, but I’m about 150 percent sure I’m the only one who will notice when it’s all painted. And even if they do notice, I’m quite sure I’ll be the only one who cares.

I finished it all off by putting up the trim around the windows:

Most of that will be covered by the drapes too, but I just love the look!

And now, the room is finally coming together!:

It only took 43 foot boards, which ended up being about 118 cuts, 150 trips in and out of the garage, and climbing up and down something like 624 steps.

Or so. :)

Needless to say, I haven’t needed to work out this week.

It’s far from complete, but I can finally see my vision coming to life:

That’s my DIY memo board leaning there – I need to figure out how I’m going to hang it with the addition of the ledge. I think I’ve figured it out.

Next up – caulking, spackling and sanding. If that’s not enough to make you cry a few tears, after that it will need a couple coats of paint. Whimper.

(Yet again, I have not followed my own advice of painting before installing.)

But I’ve gotten this far, I know I can DO THIS people!

Then I can get moving on the drapes, accessories and art:

I didn’t want the ledge to stick out too much, but I wanted it to be just wide enough to hold frames.

Here’s one of my favorites, waiting on the perfect spot:

It’s soooo dreamy. :)

But for now, our garage looks like a sawdust bomb went off:

And my shoulders are practically screaming at me. :)

I showed you some of the board and batten installation details in a video in this post. It isn’t hard – I swear to you. It’s time consuming, but not hard. I use a nail gun and compound miter saw for this project. You can do it by hand, it will just take you a lot longer and you’ll need a few more shoulder massages. ;)

I used 19 primed 3 1/2 boards, 12 feet each, and the total cost for those and everything needed for the ledge ended up right at $200.

I can’t believe how far this room has come – the before:

And now:

Can you believe it’s the same room? I can’t, and I live here. ;)

And you know what – I don’t even notice my whack baseboard/mdf board combo. It really doesn’t bother me. I took a risk at having it less than perfect and I’m so glad I did.

I’m linking this up to my friend Nester’s Take a Risk Day party! Have you taken a decorating risk lately?