At the start of the year my husband, Jon was diagnosed with Spindle Cell Sarcoma which is a relatively rare soft tissue cancer. We were fortunate to be referred to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for his treatments which include radiation five times a week for three weeks, surgery, and then recovery. The drive is five hours round trip and we have been so grateful to the family members and friends that have spent time driving him back and forth each day.
One of the most important things I can do for Jon is to make sure he gets rest. He has never liked our duvet insert or pillow. The walls were dark and uninspiring. So my wheels started to turn and I thought what if I could pull off a one day room makeover as a surprise while he was gone at treatment.
A good friend of mine flips houses so I asked her if she thought I could pull off a transformation in 6.5 hours and she said no way. So I knew I would need to recruit some help. It took three of us working non stop to pull off the surprise. We finished 15 minutes before Jon and his driver pulled into the farm. I seriously have the best friends.
Euro Shams (smaller 24x24 size) | Pillow Cases/Sheets in Ivory (another option) | King Size Pillows | lumbar pillow (similar option, option) | Duvet Cover | Duvet Insert | Quilt Old (similar option) | Blanket (not visible but it is one of the comfiest things on our bed)
I knew that board and batten could be an easy way to make a big statement, but there are so many styles. I decided to go with a roughly 1/4 and 3/4 design considering it would be faster than doing the whole wall as squares and even if I did addition horizontal boards most of them would be covered by the bed.
I selected MDF boards that were 3.25 inches wide, and when with a 6-inch baseboard along the bottom. I only replaced the baseboard on the feature wall as I knew doing new baseboards and trim throughout was something that was a little behind my skillset and timelimit.
Our walls are textured. For true board and batten you would cover the blank wall with a smooth board first before adding your crossbars, but since again we had a time limit and one day we'll still do the remodel I opted to skip that step. We painted the top board, two side boards (the ones against the outer walls) and the baseboard prior to installing with a nail gun. Although we still had to touch up the paint once the nail holes were filled, this prework made it so much fast because we didn't have to worry about any edging painting work. While the boards dried we painted the wall, then the installation of all the boards began. Lots of sites will recommend using liquid nails and a nail gun, however, we only used a nail gun.
Our walls are textured. For true board and batten you would cover the blank wall with a smooth board first before adding your crossbars, but since again we had a time limit and one day we'll still do the remodel I opted to skip that step. We painted the top board, two side boards (the ones against the outer walls) and the baseboard prior to installing with a nail gun. Although we still had to touch up the paint once the nail holes were filled, this prework made it so much fast because we didn't have to worry about any edging painting work. While the boards dried we painted the wall, then the installation of all the boards began. Lots of sites will recommend using liquid nails and a nail gun, however, we only used a nail gun.
Ordering oversized paint swatches from Samplize helped out so much. You can stick these huge paint samples to your wall to see how the color looks throughout the day. I choose Swiss Coffee for the feature board and batten wall and Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter for the other three walls. If in doubt paint it Revere Pewter. The color goes with everything and over the years I have convinced so many friends to use it in their house. Mindful Gray was a very close runner up for this project. We only did one coat of paint due to a short amount of time so we went with a higher quality paint for better coverage and fast drying time. I think there might have been only a couple wet spots as we were dragging furniture back in!
We also never had side tables in our room. We figured that it was too tight of a fit. I did some measuring and found this skinny side table at 19 inches wide and it fits perfectly. Who knew the joy of not having to put your stuff on the ground would bring!
When we got married one of the places we registered was Pottery Barn, and I can say the quality of their bedding is amazing. My tip for soon-to-be or current brides... get the GOOD bedding because it is really expensive to replace down the road. I also have always loved duvets with a cover instead of a comforter. Duvets are much less expensive to switch over a comforter and easy to wash. A lot of people cringe at white bedding but I love that you can bleach it. Plus, the quilt at the bottom of the bed I will pull over the top of the duvet if Miss Izzy, our Australian Shepard, decides she needs to be up there.
The key when mixing white bedding is to choose a white that doesn't lean too yellow and to make sure your fabrics have some texture.
For more inspiration and step by step instructions on Board and Batten walls I suggest checking out:
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