DIY SHIPLAP ACCENT WALL + BOARD & BATTEN TUTORIAL + FAMILY ROOM REVEAL

Dec 3, 2019

A special thanks to my friends at Sherwin-Williams for sponsoring today's post with the paint needed to complete this gorgeous DIY project! All opinions are mine alone.

I am so, so excited to share this post with you because we finally started to paint our home + start to make our house feel like a home. I love, love having a new construction home, but the white walls were starting to feel like we were living in a hospital, and we needed to add a little of our style to our home + add in a few upgrades!

In today's post, I'll be sharing how to install your own shiplap accent wall, board & batten + revealing our finished family room! It's going to be a bit of a long post, so grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine...well maybe not wine, we'll be talking about power tools here, and enjoy today's post full of DIY tips, tutorials, and a gorgeous room reveal.

Below is a mini sneak peek!

Materials Used //

Paint // 

White Paint--We used Sherwin-Williams Ceiling Bright White SW 7007 in a Satin finish
Dark Paint--We used Sherwin-Williams Cyberspace SW 7076 in a Satin finish

The Premium Wall & Wood Primer is quick-drying and is perfect for crown moldings & wood trims--just like what we were using.

For our paint, we chose to use Sherwin-Williams Emerald®️ Interior Acrylic Latex paint in a Satin finish. It is an amazing formula as it's a paint and primer in one. Emerald®️ Interior paint provides exceptional coverage and advanced washability in all finishes. It also has outstanding resistance to water streaming and spots and contains anti-microbial agents that inhibit the growth of mold and mildew on the paint surface.



I just loved the way it went on so effortlessly and covered both the walls & wood. For our shiplap wall, we used two coats, and for the rest, we only used one coat + a few touch-up areas where it was user error and we missed painting a couple of sections.

A huge thank you again to Sherwin-Williams for gifting me this paint in order to bring this DIY project and many, many more to you as we head into 2020!

Other Materials //

4'X8' Sheets of 1/4" Plywood
Tablesaw (We rented ours!)
Fine Sawblade--the smoother the cut, the better!
Nail Gun + 1.5" Nails
Circular Saw
Protective Eyewear
Chair Rail Molding
Level
Laser Level
Stud Finder
Spackle + Putty Knife
Sandpaper
Rags (we used old washcloths!)
Painters Tape
Tarps/Drop Cloths
2" Angled Paint Brush
Paint Rollers (Fine)
Ladder
Sawhorses
Wood Caulk & Caulking Gun

Prep Work //

The night before our DIY adventures began, my parents came up from Maryland, and we headed to Lowe's for most of our necessities. We piled the materials into my FIL's pickup truck and set up shop in the garage awaiting daylight so we could begin our weekend-long project.

My husband and Dad went to Home Depot to rent the table saw early in the morning, so we'd have it all day long. It was less than $75 to rent for the day (24 hours), and it was a pretty good quality one, too!


My Dad and I ripped all of the 4'X8' plywood sheets into either 10" boards OR 3.5" boards. The 10" boards are what we used for the shiplap wall and the 3.5" boards for the chair rail and board & batten. You'll want to calculate how much wood you will need based on which project you would be doing.


It's best to have someone help you hold the boards (that was my job) and have someone else cut and direct the wood--especially when you are dealing with sheets so large. We used the 4'X8' sheets, because it was more budget-friendly. It took a little bit more prep work, but it was worth it to us to save hundreds of dollars.

P.S. Use protective eyewear...it's the one thing we didn't think of grabbing at Lowe's and SO wish I had.


Next up, line up the boards on sawhorses and wipe them down. You want to get rid of all of the sawdust before you start priming them. If you don't have a blade that cuts perfectly smooth, you will want to sand the edges as well. We grabbed a brand new blade to put on the rented table saw, and it made a huge difference in prep time!

After you've cleaned off your wood strips, it's time to start priming.


It took my Mama and me about two hours to prime all of the wood strips. We primed the tops and all around the edges with Sherwin-Williams Premium Wall & Wood Primer to give the paint something to stick to. We opted to use mini rollers to give the wood a smoother finish.


Once they were finished being primed, it was time to line them out on the sawdust-covered driveway (oops! haha!) to dry, and start prepping exactly how the shiplap wall and board & batten would be laid out as well as where the studs were in the walls to be able to secure the boards properly.

Below is the template we used for the shiplap wall.

Where the boards meet on the shiplap wall is a stud. We also mapped it out so that it would follow a pattern, but also so that no seems would ever touch in two rows. It's an alternating pattern, which makes it easy on the eyes and aesthetically pleasing.

Below is the template for the Board & Batten in the family room. We used this same pattern, however, we did end up raising it a few inches, and I never got a picture of that, but you get the idea!


In each of the templates on the wall, we used a pencil, stud finder, and laser level to help mark where each stud was as well as where we were going to want a board to come down to meet the baseboard. The other awesome thing about using the 4'X8' 1/4" sheets of plywood (besides it being budget-friendly) is that it goes right up against most existing baseboards, so you save a step and don't have to remove them!!

Creating the Shiplap Wall //


Chris and my Dad used the 10" thick strips that were primed and started to nail them using a nail gun and 1" long nails to the wall--assuring that each end was nailed into a stud. You want to start at the top and assure that the top is perfectly level, as it will be the most noticeable if it has any flaws.

The top section had one long board in the center and two shorter boards on the sides. The second row had two long boards that met in the center. Then the third alternated back to the three boards, and so on down the wall.


As we got to the bottom of the wall, we knew we were going to have a gap. Since we are painting the wall a dark color and a couch would be in front of it, we thought that it would be more noticeable to add an extra piece of wood than to simply leave it painted.

Pro-tip: Cut each row of boards one row at a time. This will cause less wood waste and fewer mistakes.


While Chris and my Dad were installing the shiplap wall, I taped off the ceiling throughout the entire family room and began cutting in Sherwin-Williams Cyberspace SW 7076 along the top of the walls, corners, around the sliding glass door, outlets & plugs, and around the entry door. We did not use primer on our walls since our walls were already painted a Sherwin-Williams paint originally by our builder.

Installing Board & Batten //


My Mom used a roller and painted on the Sherwin-Williams Cyberspace SW 7076 to the line on the wall where the chair rail would eventually cover. You can see in the picture above where the bottom of the chair rail is already starting to cover up where the paint will meet it. This helped us save time and the energy of having to cut in such a dark color against the chair rail, so we painted before it was installed.

After the paint was dry, we installed the bottom of the chair rail along every wall (except the shiplap wall of course). We put two nails at the top and bottom of the board at each stud. The marks that you take the time to mark in the beginning come in handy each step of this project. Be sure to use a level before securing it to the wall. You want it to be perfectly plumb.


Next, my Dad came through with the nail gun and helped me attach the top of the chair rail, which added a nice decorative, finishing touch. This top piece also covered where the dark paint color meets the chair rail so it's seamless.

Where these chair rail pieces joined a door frame or in the middle of the wall, they were left flat, but where they join at a corner, they will need to be cut on the circular saw at a 45° angle. We secured these to the wall with the nail gun as well into each stud.


The picture above is what the wall looked like after the top two pieces of the chair rail were attached (3.5" wood horizontally installed and the decorative chair rail) as well as the vertical pieces that make the board & batten look. If you couldn't tell in the wall template photos, I took a ruler and measured from my center stud mark 1.75" from each side and drew a vertical line. This helped show and estimated where the board should be secured. You'll want to also use a level to assure the vertical boards are perfectly plumb. Give each board a few nails from your nail gun, and boom, you are ready for the next step!

For a seamless look, you'll want to take your putty and putty knife and fill in over each nail hole and wood joint. I also opted to caulk the chair rail seams, board & batten sides, and corner connections for a more professional, clean look.

On the shiplap wall, I also used the putty and putty knife to go over every nail hole, but did not putty over the seams.

Once your putty is dry, you'll want to sand each spot. We also sanded the boards with fine-grit sandpaper to smooth over the first primer layer and prep for paint! Before doing any painting, be sure to prep your wood by going over it with a washcloth to remove any excess dust.


Next, it's time to paint the board & batten sections. Start by taping off the baseboards and the top section of the wall. I used a slightly wider painters tape for the top section to make sure I wasn't going to get paint all over my freshly painted dark wall.

I used my 2" angled paintbrush to paint the wood sections following the wood grain and used a roller for the actual wall itself. I used my paint brush to cut in around the edges of the wood and around the outlets.

I used Sherwin-Williams Ceiling Bright White SW 7007 for the board & batten and chair rail.

For the shiplap wall, we used a paint roller to apply the paint. We did two coats on this wall since wood really soaks in a lot of paint! Since we used primer, we only needed the two coats for a nice, rich color, but we were told we might have to do three.

The Finishing Touches //

Once we painted the entire room, we went through and did a little bit of touch up paint. Some sections were missed with the dark color, so we touched up there, or the white paint got on the dark wall, etc. After we finished our touch up paint, it was time to remove the painter's tape.

There were only a few spots on the ceiling where I accidentally got the dark paint on the ceiling and didn't wipe it in time, so I had to go back and fix that, as well as a few sections above the chair rail where the white paint got in between the tape and got on the dark wall. I used a small craft paintbrush to fix those tiny mistakes, and we were almost finished our weekend DIY project!

After the paint was dry, we went through and reinstalled the switch & socket covers, cleaned up our messes, and it was time to put the room back together.

Are you ready for the reveal?! If you've read along this far, you deserve to see this gorgeous room!
Our family room is my husband's classy man cave, game room/movie room. I am so thankful he has such a great taste in decor, and I just have to shout out the fact that he chose the colors for the wall, and I'm obsessed!

Drumroll, please...

Pin Me For Later!

The Jonesy //




We are loving the mix of leather and accents of gold. The contrast is what really makes this room stand out and pulls the decor together.



With leather furniture, we chose to accent with linen throw pillows which add a little bit of brightness in the midst of the dark colors.



The shiplap wall turned out so well, and we are obsessed. It's quickly becoming one of our favorite things about our home. We added two framed posters to this wall, and it was the perfect addition.



A little greenery went a long way for us, too! We added a fiddle leaf plant in the corner and a little greenery on the coffee table as well. The natural elements tied all the colors together, and the room flows where ever you may be looking.



The gold accents make my heart forever happy. I have always loved gold accents, and the way gold pops on Sherwin-Williams Cyberspace SW 7076 is so beautiful.



On the coffee table, even the decor matches the color theme. We accented with grays, blue-greens, and golds. The cement candle and blue-green bottle were some of my favorite Target finds. Even the books we decided to put on the coffee table tie the colors together.


The picture below showcases the simplicity of the board and batten, but the huge impact it really makes in the room. It was such a simple DIY project, and I can't wait to add it to a few other rooms throughout the house as well!





I hope you enjoyed our first DIY project room reveal! Stay tuned for our entryway reveal, powder room reveal (they're almost finished!!), and coming soon in 2020, we'll be painting and showing some garage storage solutions, and more DIY projects as we move up to the main level.

A huge shoutout to my parents who helped us for three days to prep, cut and install the walls, paint, and put together our family room. We couldn't have done it without them...or my Dad's power tools! Thank you again to Sherwin-Williams for helping make our house to home journey possible.

6 comments

  1. This room is gorgeous! The paint color is the perfect contrast with the white & bold furniture :)

    -xo, Azanique | https://www.lotsofsass.com

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  2. I LOVE this space! We have a navy wall in our bedroom and I've been debating adding board batten or wainscoting to it in the future or to our family room's walls as well. I love what you did to it! It looks so beautiful!

    - Ro / https://acupofkims.com

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    Replies
    1. You should definitely add board & batten or wainscoting! It makes such a HUGE difference!! :)

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  3. Love this so much! Would you say these photos are pretty true to color for Cyberspace? It’s a finalist for one of our new home colors!

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    Replies
    1. Yes! I would say they're pretty true! The photos with the shiplap wall are probably the most *true* to color. We are obsessed with it!

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