Hi friends, what’s up with you? I’ll tell you, this week I’m super busy creating so much fun content. I wanted to make sure and slip in this recent project in around all the Earth Day DIY’s I have planned this week. This area is in our upstairs loft space was just a little boring and it felt a little cluttered. It’s been in need of attention for a while, so we decided to start in phases. This is phase 1 of the project and phase 2 probably won’t happen until summertime. We have so many outdoor projects to complete, the upstairs will have to wait. However, I’m so happy with how much better this is already looking.

 

There was actually nothing really wrong with the before except that I wanted a more classic simple look for this area since it’s so visible from the floor below and as you walk up the stairs. Here’s what it looked like before…

 

 

Again, nothing wrong with it, I just felt it was a bit too busy and cluttered feeling for a small wall space and I wanted to give it more personality.

 

 

I also didn’t want it too look so country farmhouse and wanted more classic, clean lined appearance instead.

 

 

I love the classic look of board and batten so I knew I wanted to start with that to give some depth and texture to the wall.

The first step was to remove the current baseboard so we could get a unified look all the way around. Just a crow bar and hammer was all we needed to lift the baseboards off.

 

 

Next we measured the area of where the board would go first and where our outlet and switch holes were located. Once we had those measurements, the boards were cut to allow space for those spots. When doing wall designs like this is best to use the 2/3 rule instead of dividing your wall right in half.

 

 

 

 

 

Once the board was ready we attached it to the wall with our nail gun.

 

 

Then we started with our bottom trim piece first and then added the top and sides.

 

 

 

Once the outline trim was on, I painted it all so I could roll the flat board areas easier before the batten pieces were added.

 

 

After I painted, we caulked all the gaps and filled in the nail holes.

 

 

Once all that was dry I lightly sanded the areas and and painted the entire space. It took 2 coats of paint to get the look I wanted.

 

 

For the gallery wall part, I got inexpensive black frames and attached some cording to the back. Then I added these fun vintage hooks to hang them from. I love how much character it gives the space yet still looks clean lined and simple.

 

 

Then to finish off the area, I painted all the doors Mopboard Black by Benjamin Moore. I love the classic, sharp look of black doors and they stay much cleaner.

 

 

For phase 2 the plan is to do another fun feature wall in the center space between the two doors to the right (but that’s a surprise). However, most importantly the carpet will be replaced with vinyl wood planks and then of course restyled for a cozy retreat area our guests can enjoy.

 

I hope you enjoyed the easy DIY and something like this can be done in so many areas. Here’s an option that we did in our lower level hallway How To Update A Boring Hallway With Board And Batten & A Gallery Wall or this option for our mini mudroom project Easy DIY Mini Mudroom Idea

As always if you have any questions, please feel free to ask or leave comments. Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already so you don’t miss any of this weeks posts. 

 

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Happy Decorating