Top

Shine Your Light

/ Home Improvement

Foyer Board & Batten

Board and batten is a simple DIY for an amateur carpenter.
Hello there lovelies in blogland!
Are you ready for a Little Engine That Could story?

 

Believe it or not I am actually done with phase two of my foyer makeover! Phase one happened last year when I painted the walls, pulled the nasty carpet off the stairs, and painted the risers and spindles. What a difference that made. You may also recall that ages ago I showed you the treads and rails that I finally got around to refinishing with a dark brownish black stain. And now — my most recent project, and biggest undertaking as a DIYer to date — installing board and batten!

Now I know many, many people have gone before me in installing board and batten – it’s nothing new. But this was a big, huge deal for me because it’s truly the first carpentry project I did almost entirely by myself. You know, despite my lack of experience and the This Old House rating of the installing board & batten on stairs:

Yeah…..me and my big ol’ stubborn Irish genes!!! My husband Mark is quite handy, but he travels for work, spends weekends coaching and running around with our kiddos, and just doesn’t have the time or energy to do projects like this that we really feel add character to a home. So instead of pining away for board and batten for another five years,  I took the bull by the horns and did it myself. Mark showed me how to make different kinds of cuts on our compound miter saw, and I consulted him about issues that arose, but I installed the whole thing myself!

 

So do you want to see how it came out? I’m excited to show you!
Oh wait – this wouldn’t be any fun without seeing before pics!

 

 

And now – here she is – my fourth child board & batten!
{Not quite decorated yet – that’s a whole other project!}

 

{See the mantle in the family room below?
I thought making the board & batten the same height would be visually appealing.}

{Oh angled cuts, how I love thee! NOT. You are the bane of my existence!}

 

 

To the ladies with no carpentry experience but a big desire to change your house
this post is for you.
The moral of the story:
If I can do something like this without much experience, SO CAN YOU! Have someone show you how to safely use a saw (you can rent one if you don’t own one already.)  Home Depot and Lowes offer free classes on various DIY topics all the time.Yes, a saw is dangerous but you can operate a stove, right? A mixer? You know how to use sharp knives without impaling yourself??? Okay then, you can learn to use a saw. Some of you are mothers – if you can raise a child, well then – using a saw is a no-brainer!!

Installing in the foyer was easy peasy – all straight cuts that go up very quickly. However, I’m not going to tell you making angled cuts for the stairs was a piece of cake. Even though I read many a tutorial beforehand, the learning curve was ginormous for installing on the stairs. I labored over making it look professional, which meant ripping more than one board off the wall after nailing it up and discovering that it wasn’t right, making 10+ trips to Lowes and Hope Depot thanks to mismeasuring and/or changing my mind about trim, spending hours, hours!, caulking, painting, touching up, spending way too much money on wood, and generally obsessing over what has turned into my baby.
But – I did it!
And I’m really happy with how it came out. I feel blessed that I found the courage to try this.
Yep – I am woman, hear me roar!And I learned a lot along the way that has me all fired up to take on another project involving my saw and nail gun. Crown molding perhaps? I know a few of you were waiting on the deets about how I refinished the treads & rail, so in the very near future I’ll post about that as well as the ins-and-outs of installing the board & batten.

  UPDATE! Check out the progress of our foyer (and house) here!

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  1. René says

    Amazing! It looks so fresh and clean, modern and inviting. Great, great job! I hear you roar woman! Might be picking your brain one day if I get my courage up.

    Happy weekend!

    Reply

  3. Shelley says

    It looks so amazing! I've been wanting to do board and batten for a while now. So makes me want to start on it now!

    Reply

  4. Sandy says

    Way to go girl, You are a woman and we can hear you roar.
    It is a job I never would have done.
    I painted 2 staircases once Never again.
    I can imagine you shared it with a lot of other blogs.
    Awesome! Your company may never want to leave this beautiful foyer.

    Reply

  5. Ellie says

    Good for you! It looks amazing. I did board & batten in my son's nursery and it was a lot of work! I can't imagine doing all of the angles and cuts. Wow!

    Reply

  9. A Vintage Vine says

    To funny, I was vacuuming and just realized I had not checkin on you today…I got on and BOOM, there it is! Just what I had been waiting for..it is AMAZING,even better than I imagined…..Plus, you did it yourself!! I'm so impressed, thanks this has been so fun following you during this….I bet you feel like Bob Villa has nothing on you!!!

    Reply

  13. Jenny says

    Oh my gosh, are you kidding me?!? This looks AMAZING!! You asked if I could do some Christmas urns for you – well, if you come over and do the board and batten up my stairs, you have a DEAL! ;-). We tried it, but the angle cuts and curvature of the stairs drove me and my husband to drink. Seriously. I lived with half patched walls for I don't know how long, because we ended up tearing it all out and haven't touched it since.

    Straight line board and batten I can do, but those angles just make my brain hurt. I got instructions from Lisa at A Vintage Vine, so we might give it another college try. I'm inspired by yours! Looks AWESOME!

    Reply

  15. Good Time Charlie says

    Your stairs are so absolutely gorgeous!!! These are exactly what I want, I just showed my husband and he agrees. We want to pull up our once lovely, now matted carpet and I love the two tone look. Any chance you could post a more detailed tutorial on some of the tips and tricks and things you learned? I am total DIYer and most things I do by myself too. I am saving this picture, printing, blowing it up and pasting it to my stairs!!! Thank you so much for sharing, visiting from a Vintage Vine. Oh yes, I am following now too!

    Reply

  16. Good Time Charlie says

    One more thing, I just can't help myself, I have a linky party every weekend Friday-Sunday. I would so love it if you could stop by and link up. I want to feature these stairs. I know there are so many gals out there who would benefit from this post. I truly do believe we can do so much more ourselves than we give ourselves credit. My husband is often gone too (and not terribly handy), so I am the power tool handler of the family. I wish I could start on this today!!

    Reply

  18. Miss Charming says

    I can imagine all the intensive work that went into designing and installing the board and batten. Your stairs look absolutely amazing! You did such a great job. (I think it would look beautiful next to the fireplace, too.)

    Reply

  26. Brandi says

    Holy smokes! You did an amazing job, Lisa! Such transformation! I would love to have that look in my home too! Maybe one day I'll get the courage! : )

    Reply

  28. Ashley says

    I saw this while linking up at Beneath My Heart. I love the new look! I also checked out your kitchen…it looks great! New follower here!

    Happily following,
    Ashley @ Thereisnoplacelikehomemade

    Reply

  32. Dixie Sargent Redmond says

    No carpentry experience? You did a great job!

    My husband is too busy to do stuff like this, too. And really isn't interested, either. And I think I *could* do it…if I got up my nerve. Thanks so much for sharing.

    What kind of miter saw did you use?

    Dixie

    Reply

  34. Anonymous says

    I love your entryway and am very envious! Do you need to nail the boards into the studs and did you use a nail gun? Thanks so much!

    Reply