Downstairs Board and Batten

I was able to do the board and batten downstairs for about $15.00 (not counting the cost of the paint and primer that I already had on hand). Those of you who have been following this blog for a while, know that I've become a big fan of the lathe boards, which you can buy in a bundle, and I have used them in several projects. Because of their size, I was able to use the existing trim/baseboards. And that was a great thing since we don't have the extra cash to be pouring into a basement makeover. In order for it to look a little more custom, I notched out each space for the batten to fit into. I initially wanted to use our Multi-Max Dremel tool which would have saved me a ton of time, but into the second notch it died on me. That left me to use a wood chisel and a hammer. Yep, I'm pretty stubborn about getting it done with out having to fork out any more money. My friend still teases me about putting up our board and batten in our entry with a hammer and nails because I didn't want to pay the money (at the time) for a nail gun :).

Anyway, I first planned out the spacing. It turned out that the boards seemed to look the best spaced every 11 1/2 inches. Here is what it looked like notched out on the top trim.

Here is a notched out area on the baseboard.

Here's me fitting a board into its notch.

I just placed a couple nails at the top and bottom and a couple spaced in the middle. This time with my nail gun. :)

Here it is with all the slats nailed into place. I always get a bit nervous at this point and wonder if I've done the right thing because it looks so awful. But just be patient. Caulk and particularly paint go a long way. 

I caulked all of the seams and placed wood filler in the nail holes.

I sanded the wood filler smooth and then was able to paint. It took one coat of primer and three to four coats of paint. Yes, it was a beast to cover. But it was all worth it.

Here are a couple pictures of the end result.

And to refresh your memory of how the basement was before:



Here are the "progress" pictures. There is still work to be done but we are getting there.

We are still trying to figure out the placement of a few things in this area, but here is what it looks like today.



Just in case you wondering, no, the play area doesn't always look this clean. Here is where I pushed a few toys out of the way, and of course Sarah was more than happy to give us a pretty smile.