Board & Batten on a Budget

This post for a board and batten tutorial contains affiliate links. I make a small portion when these links are used, at no additional cost to you.

Board and Batten is a great way to give a new place a classic and timeless look. But, it can get a bit expensive. By using a thin underlayment instead of heavier lumber or boards, we achieved this fun look on a very tight shoe string budget. See the tutorial below!

In the summer of 2011, we did our first board and batten project in our hallway bathroom. You can see the post on that here. While it was a nice project and still looks great, it was a bit pricey (we used the Cadillac of lumber...apparently). And, it was very labor intensive. We did things completely different this time...and LOVED the result (and our pocketbooks are super happy, too). See our complete step-by-step tutorial below.

From Builders' Beige to Board & Batten (& BLUE!)

In the spirit of mentally moving out of our cookie-cutterville house into a custom-woo-woo-woo...we took our hall bath from the worst case of Builders' Basics to our Board, Batten & Blue Bath for our Boys (there's some serious alliteration in there somewhere).

I give serious props and appreciation to the following blogs who gave wonderful tutorials that we thoroughly used on this project: Shelley & Cason and their rockin' Framed Mirror Tutorial at The House of Smiths, The Nester for her super informative Board & Batten Party post that allowed me to look at lots of other folks' B&B projects and get totally inspired, and the Centsational Girl for her great B&B tutorial that we ultimately decided to use for our model...right down to the the gorilla glue on the shelf.

Absolutely no natural light to speak of so the pictures aren't what I dreamed of...oh well.

The mirror inspired by the House of Smiths!! They rock. Although my husband hopes they stop doing so many awesome projects so I stop getting so many awesome ideas that become "the next thing on the list"! I'm currently thinking about whether I need a towel warmer.

It was fine, but nothing to write home about. 

And the lighting? Seriously? This home is only six years old...whose "bright" idea was this?

Interesting Aqua...loving it!!

The first board to go up....fingers & toes crossed!!

Thank you, Hilton, for my shower cap from our last hotel stay. It enabled me to not have to painstakingly pick paint out of my hair for the next week. A necessity when painting a ceiling.

Don't laugh. It was 106 here all week. We moved our "woodshop" to the entryway and kept the shop vac ready at all times to deal with the dust. We also learned that our circular saw makes 45 degree cuts...nice to know. 

Yay!! The mirror fits!

Loving the hooks vs. the towel bar. They're like jewelry to a room.

Hardware....we live in one of those homes where the builder opted for a hardware-free home...so nice to finally have proper pulls and handles.

Still need to replace the faucet...but that's for another day. We're pooped.

I even splurged and bought the hotel-like bath mat (a glorified towel if you ask my husband)...but we like it.

So happy to have this all done. It was quite a bit more difficult than we originally thought it would be. But, it gave us confidence to tackle other things of this nature. Our next biggie is transforming our kitchen island!! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Partying here: Serenity Now, Tatertots & Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Romantic Home, i <3 naptime, Homemaker in Heels, Under the Table & Dreaming, Craft-O-Maniac, Eisy Morgan, Savvy Southern Style, Primp Your Stuff Wednesdays, Whassup Wednesdays, Somewhat Simple