What’s the difference between Board & Batten and Wainscoting?  Hell, I don’t know!  But I know that when I did web searches on both, board and batten pictures were more what I was looking to do, it was higher up on the wall.  If anyone knows the real difference, please let me know!

After researching professional sites, I made my plan of attack and headed to Home Depot.  First, they cut an 8′ x 5′ piece of 1/4, sanded plywood into 2″ strips.  They were so happy to do that for us.  I was ready to buy the precut 8′ strips (lath), which came in 1.5″ wide x 48″, which is the height I needed.  But the guy strongly suggested I have him cut the plywood since it would only be $13.00 vs. a lot more if I purchased the strips already cut out, so shoot, I said you betcha!  

I next needed moulding for the top.  I picked something pretty plain.  I didn’t want it to be too decorative.  Since I wasn’t going to put a wood “wall” on there, the actual wall became that part.  So all I needed was some good white paint and nails for my nail gun.

I wanted my board and batten to be 48″ high and the wood strips about 17″ apart.  I cut one piece to be my guide.  However, what I found useful was measuring the wall I was working on and dividing that width in inches by 17″, that way I wouldn’t be short.  I was able to adjust the width accordingly.  You can’t tell at all that some of the distances between vertical strips is 16″ and some are 18″. 

Next I painted.  I decided to paint the moulding separately and just put it on the prepared walls.

On a side note, you can see that we had also pulled up our carpet and were installing vinyl plank flooring.  More on that later.

The entire project only took me about a week.  Not bad since I did quite a large living room, foyer and hall. 

Here are a couple of “after” pictures a few months later.  I decided to get rid of those tan/orangey walls and I’m SO glad I did.  The hardest part of that job was deciding on which color gray paint to use!  I never realized I’d get so crazy about it.  Used below is Sherwin Williams Dovetail.