Floor to ceiling board and batten trim in a moody blue to give you all the speakeasy pub vibes, sign me up! The power of paint + the leather banquette statement piece transformed this small space in our basement dining nook.
For how I hung the art over a board and batten wall click here. For the full basement mood board, and budget breakdown click here, and to plan an IKEA kitchen with budget breakdown click here & kitchen reveal check this post. Now all the details on this dining nook.
Leather Banquette Statement Piece
A year ago when I was planning this dining nook space, I had planned for a builtin banquette and to paint the walls the same color as the navy cabinets. My sweet friend knew that was the “look” I was going for and while I had every intention of building the builtin bench 100% from scratch, when she sent me this leather banquette what was on clearance at a nearby consignment store, Shabundy’s, I immediately called and purchased it sight unseen. The leather banquette is originally from Pottery Barn as a custom piece. With a quick google search I was able to find a 2nd matching, but straight configuration piece, and ordered it.
The straight banquette took 4 months to arrive (thank you C0V*D shipment delays), but it was WELL worth the wait. The two fit like a glove. Speaking of fitting like a glove, the day I went to pick up the first banquette from Shabundy’s they had it plastic wrapped and ready for the back of our truck. Once I arrived home, I recruited my husband to help me bring it down the stairs and we had quite the time getting it down the stairs. Talk about the ultimate “PIVOT PIVOT PIVVVVVOOTTTT” Friends moment. We tried everything, for a few hours, and could NOT fit it. It wasn’t until we recruited a few neighbors and decided to upwrap it from the plastic that we discovered the leather seating portion and the base were two separate pieces. 12 screws later, and we easily carried down the stairs blushing with embarrassment.
Color Match Cabinet Color
Next step was color matching the cabinets, paint & board and batten trim. Since our cabinets are thermofoil instead of painted, the supplier, Semihandmade, didn’t give out a matching paint color. So I opted to take a scrap piece of trim from the build and brought it straight into Home Depot where they color matched it with their machine. (You can do this at any paint store. Bring a scrap piece, a drawer or cabinet door, even a quarter size chunk of your wall and get it color matched).
*TIP: If you are selecting darker paint colors try and go down a sheen. The shinier the sheen, the more light it will reflect which can mess with the moodiness you are going for. Typically for walls I choose Matte or Eggshell finish. For furniture or cabinets I opt for Satin.
These were the cabinets that I bought for the kitchen, and here’s the color matched paint code. I will warn you, the color is CLOSE, it isn’t exact so I wouldn’t try to touch up the cabinets with this paint color. But on the walls and ceiling next to the cabinets, it looks identical.
Custom Board & Batten
Creating a board and batten wall is a great beginner project. For tips and tricks that you might not know, check this blog post here. For this dining nook I decided to board and batten 2 walls and run behind the banquette. Since the seating runs almost 1/2 way up the wall, it seemed like a waste of wood trim (which is $$ these days) to run the accent wall floor to ceiling or on the lower 2/3 which is how most traditional board and batten done. Instead I ran a lower trim 1×6” board in the middle of the wall so 2” would be visible from above the leather banquette.
How To Install a Board and Batten Wall
1. Cut to length & install your header and footer (top and bottom boards). If the length of your wall is longer than the wood use a splice cut 22.5 degrees to join the two boards together into one long board.
2. Install all trim with 2” brad nails 18 gauge, with my go-to nail gun. It’s battery powered, cordless, and the only finish nail gun you’ll need. For tips on how to install these boards click here.
3. Measure out your batten placement. Traditional battens are spaced 16” apart, but you can play around with your spacing by placing painters tape on the wall. Use this board and batten calculator for easy spacing measurements!
Tip:
When doing more than 1 wall with board and batten trim you have 2 options. Option 1: choose your spacing, example 16” and go all the way around the room with each board 16” apart. Option 2: Treat each wall as its own accent wall. Space one wall 16 inches, and the second wall 15 inches or 17 inches. When you step back you’ll never notice the difference in spacing, but the battens might look more symmetrical or in a better layout if you do it this way. This also applies if you are going to have a batten run into an electrical outlet or switch.
4. For my board and batten, wall A is spaced 16 1/4” and wall B is spaced 17 1/4”.
5. Measure from your footer to header (a laser level is handy for quick and accurate measurements) to determine the length of your 1×3” battens. Measure each one individually because the odds are.. they will vary anywhere from 1/16 to over 1/2” (with an unloved floor or ceiling).
6. Fill all nail holes with wood filler. My two favorites are Dap Plastic Wood & Wood Bondo.
7. Caulk the seams between the wall and the board and batten.
8. Sand with an orbital sander or sanding block until smooth to the touch
9. Paint using my go-to paint brush, foam roller for trim, and Wooster roller for the wall.
For the full process watch this highlight bubble saved on Instagram, and be sure to follow along on instagram @honeybuilthome for my latest projects.
