I wanted to give my dining room a pop of color without breaking the budget! This DIY board and batten wall treatment is SO easy and super inexpensive! I did the entire thing for under $80! Check out my tutorial below! You can also see the reel I created on this project below!

Materials I used

When deciding which materials I would use for this wall, budget was my deciding factor. I love doing board and batten walls. I have one in nearly every room of my house! I’ve wanted one in my dining room for a long time now, but with wood prices so crazy high, I have put it off. I decided to use a method we have used before in the past and keep my wall exposed. This saved a ton of money and overall I love the appearance it gives when it’s all painted the same color.  I chose to use landscaping bender boards for my battens. These boards can be found at Home Depot and currently they are $3.74 a piece. You can see them HERE! They are 1/4 inch MDF boards, So they paint really well and also I love the slim profile on the wall. The other materials I purchased was two 1 x 4 x 6 boards and two 1 x 2 x 6 boards. 

Spacing on the wall

My wall is just over 11 feet wide. Each of the bender boards have a  3 1/2″ width. I chose to space my boards 9 1/4″ wide apart. I like the look of them being closer together and I decided to start 9 inches from the sides of the wall. I have existing baseboards I didn’t want to mess with, so I just placed the bender boards flush with the top of the baseboards. Because the bender boards are so thin in profile, once I caulked in a later step, these look connected to the baseboard.

How to attach the boards to the wall

Once I figured out my spacing I was ready to start attaching the vertical battens. Because these boards are so thin and light weight, I decided to not use any form of adhesive like liquid nails on the wall. This is good for a few reasons. First, it saves a lot of time. Second, that will leave me with just nail holes if and when I decide to change this wall in the future. It makes it super easy to take down with minimal damage to the surface of the wall. I used a level to make sure my first board was perfectly straight when I attached it, and then I used a 9.25″ spacer that I created with scrap boards in between each board as I nailed them in place. This also helped move things a lot faster and kept me from checking level on each board since I knew the first one was accurate. I attached each board using 2″ brad nails.

Attach the horizontal boards

Next, I attached the horizontal boards. I also used bender boards for this part. I chose to use two stacked on top of each other and split the difference straight in the center. I attach these also using 2″ brad nails.

Caulk all joints and seams

Once all of the bender boards were in place, I caulked all the seams and joints. This is especially important on the edge of each bender board to give it a really good finish once you paint the wall. I used THIS paintable caulk which dries really fast and also paints really well.  I applied it using my caulk gun.

Fill the nail holes

I like to use THIS to fill my nail holes. You can use a putty knife or your finger… That’s the way I do it! I just put a tiny amount on my finger and rub it over each hole to cover them.  I also used a smooth sanding pad to sand over any filler that was sticking up once it was dry.  You can also use wood filler if you prefer on this part. 

Paint the wall

At this point I painted the wall and all of the bender boards in place. I did stop just shy of the top of the top horizontal board because I knew I would be covering those with another board in a next step. I chose to use my VERY favorite trim paint for this project. You can see it here at Lowe’s. I love this paint so much. I recently used it to paint my bathroom cabinets HERE. One of my favorite things about this paint is that it doesn’t require a primer.  For the board and batten wall I chose to use the color Urbane Bronze by Sherwin-Williams. You just tell the paint person that you want that paint brand mixed with the Urbane Bronze color. I used flat for this project. I did notice that it had a much shinier sheen than other flat paint formulas. I would have preferred totally flat for this wall, but I am still ok with the outcome. At this point I painted the wall and all of the bender boards in place. I did stop just shy of the top of the top horizontal board because I knew I would be covering those with another board in a next step. I chose to use my VERY favorite trim paint for this project. You can see it here at Lowe’s.

I love this paint so much. I recently used it to paint my bathroom cabinets HERE. One of my favorite things about this paint is that it doesn’t require a primer. For the board and batten wall I chose to use the color Urbane Bronze by Sherwin-Williams. You just tell the paint person that you want that paint brand mixed with the Urbane Bronze color. I used flat for this project. I did notice that it had a much shinier sheen than other flat paint formulas. I would have preferred totally flat for this wall, but I am still ok with the outcome. I used a 6″ roller to apply it, and used a small trim brush anywhere to cut in that the roller couldn’t reach. This is my favorite roller for almost all projects! I did two coats of paint and let it dry.  I did two coats of paint and let it dry. 

Add the stained wood trim

While the paint was drying I cut the 1 x 4 and 1 x 2 boards to size. I also split the center of the wall to get these measurements. I stained each of these boards using Varathane Golden Oak mixed with a small amount of Willow Gray and let those dry. Once the paint was dry on the wall, I attached the 1 x 4 boards first. I made sure the top of the stained board was flush with the top of the bender boards. Be sure to use a level on this part too! I used a stud finder to mark my studs in the wall just above the top bender board so I was able to nail into studs for these boards since they are a bit heavier. Then, I attached them using wood glue and 2″ finish nails to the top of the bender boards making sure to attach where the studs were in the wall. 

All finished!

Here it is all finished up! I am so pleased with how this quick and inexpensive project turned out. It really added such a warmth to the new dining room and I love that I didn’t break the bank!

Other board and batten wall projects!

Check out some of our other DIY board and batten accent wall makeovers below!

Our Sister’s Wall Makeover

Ashley’s Sons Wall

Bedroom Wall Makeover

Hallway Makeover

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15 Comments

  1. Hi beautiful project! Wondering if you’d share where your dining room table is from !? It’s beautiful

  2. So…. What’s the easy trick to avoiding nailing into electrical wires. I am dealing with this now having to take down a shiplap wall I did. Thanks for the advice as I’m getting a new home and wanting to this in my dining area but NoT repeat my past mistakes!! Yikes advice is appreciated! Many thanks in advance

  3. Love!! Working on similar project for my daughter’s room. Would “pine Hobby board” work as well? The bender boards you linked are unavailable. Thanks!!