Board & Batten Staircase- Part 1

I absolutely love wainscoting!  It adds so much to a room that may otherwise be plain and simple.  Don't get me wrong, I actually love simple.  I am not much for decorations, though I love how other people's houses are decorated.  I just don't "buy" decorations to outfit my own home.  Our decor consists of family photos & momentos and "souvenirs" that the Laird gets when we travel.  In our previous house, our living room was affectionately called "the Jungle Room".  Painted bright green, the Laird's dream was to have every inch of wall space covered with cool pieces from our travels.  Redwoodshire does not currently have a great place to designate as "the Jungle Room", though we have a corner of our dining room that will be designated as the "Jungle corner".  As our family grows, we do hope to add on to this house, in which case we will add a room/ den to be the real Jungle Room.  For now the "Jungle Corner" will do.  One reason I love the wainscoting is that it is a built in stand alone decoration- there's no need for more.  Though decorations always make things look even better.  

Back to wainscoting.  During our kitchen renovation, we installed a PVC wainscot back splash.  It turned out great.  After that experience, I discovered that "wainscoting" is a broad term covering many different styles- bead board.... board & batten...etc.  And of course, they are all beautiful.  It mad me want to do wainscoting throughout every room of my house! Unfortunately, wainscoting comes at a price- both monetarily and time.  Thankfully, the Laird also loves the look. 

Wainscot project #2: Board & Batten along the staircase

We had to finish trimming/ enclosing the ledge of the new stairwell, so this project fit into the job at hand.

When we bought Redwoodshire, the stairs were quite different.  Check out Farmhouse Stair Renovation Part 1  and Farmhouse Stair Renovation Part 2 for the whole story.  We love our new stairs- they completely functional (not too steep & narrow) and cute!  After installing Bead board Wainscoting as a back splash in our kitchen, I discovered there are many different styles of wainscot.  The Board & Batten looked fairly simple, yet it adds so much to visual appeal.  I thought of just the place to test it out- our stairs!

BEFORE:



















There are a number of ways to do Board and Batten.  Our method involves using the wall without adding a board.  

Materials include:  MDF 1 x 4 (for both the headers, footers, and battens), cove moulding, Liquid Nails, & nail gun

Tools included:  Compound miter saw, level, angle finder (not sure what it's called), pencil, nail gun


The Laird attached base and head boards first.  He used Liquid Nails & a nail gun to attach each board/ batten. Our battens are 15-16 inches apart.  Along one wall, there was already a built in ledge.  We added a shelf and trim to finish the ledge.




MID-PROJECT:

At the moment, the board & battens are all installed. The caulking process is underway.  And we have yet to finish the job with paint.   There is 1 final batten to install at the bottom of the stairs- unfortunately the thermostat is placed in such a way that we would have to cut around it to install that batten.  After brainstorming ideas to get around the thermostat, without making it look terrible, our friend, suggested simply moving the thermostat over an inch.  Genius!  He instilled confidence that this was a job the Laird would do easily.  Trimming the stair ledge was last weekend's project.  The Board & Batten was mostly done this weekend- minus painting.   Board & Batten Staircase- Part 2 will include that final batten installed and finishing paint!  

The angle at the base of the rising battens was a bit tricky, but after a few trials, the Laird figured out the trick (they are all the same angle).  Despite the mini-challenges and that we haven't finished the job yet, we absolutely love how much it has already added to our stairs.  We love it so much, that we plan to do it around our dining room when it comes time for that renovation.