Step 1 – Measure (twice!)

We wanted to keep the costs down so we used plywood that home improvement stores will cut down for us into the exact sized boards we needed.

This saved us a major step in our project. 

But learn from our mistake and measure twice! We may have had some extra wood after our project was complete. LOL

Step 2 - Sand & Prime

We used 3/4″ thick plywood cut down to 4″ wide strips for the horizontal boards (the top board going around the room).

The vertical pieces were each cut to 3″ wide out of 1/2″ thick plywood boards.

I sanded & primed all the boards in my garage using a simple palm sander to sand the plywood so it was a bit smoother. 

I then primed all the boards with a basic white paint primer.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of these steps!

Step 3 - Installing the Boards

There wasn’t much exact measuring involved here. 

We were a little lazy (LOL) and didn’t want to waste time with a lot of cutting around outlets and light switches. 

So we just lined the boards along each wall to determine the spacing we needed for each wall.

A nail gun & liquid nails helped be sure that all the boards were securely attached to the walls.

Step 4 - Caulking

The next step was caulking all those pesky seams.

Not all the boards lined up perfectly…

…but a little wood putty & caulk helped with that.

Ahhh…so much better!

Once all the boards were up & caulked I painted them with white semi-gloss paint.

We just love how the board & batten brightened our master bedroom!