Elegant Dining Room: How to Add a Chevron Board and Batten Wall

Hi there! Well… we missed a week for the One Room Challenge, so we have a lot to catch up on! As a refresher, Gretchen and I are…well… refreshing her dining room. Because I needed some focus, I dubbed the dining room our Elegant Dining Room Refresh (super creative, I know), and it certainly has lived up to its name! This week, we added a chevron board and batten wall. This is such an easy (Okay, not easy. But also not hard. Definitely time consuming.) and relatively inexpensive way to add elegance. So, here is what we (mostly Gretchen) did.

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Just a reminder… This is a hobby blog and should be read as such. I am not an expert or professional in any areas discussed. This blog is used to share experiences and should not be taken as professional advice in any way, shape, or form. Always use appropriate safety measures when using power tools. 

The Paint

We decided to paint the walls Benjamin Moore’s Chantilly Lace. This is the perfect white in my opinion. Crisp but not cold. Warm but not yellow. I don’t know how it does it, but this paint seems to be perfectly adaptable. And the name just seems to fit right in with the elegant dining room we are refreshing! It is easier to paint a coat or two on the wall first and then do one final coat once the chevron board and batten wall is up.

The Supplies

We grabbed these primed mdf boards from Lowe’s. At under $2 for an approximately 8-ft board, you won’t feel bad if you make a mistake cut (hypothetically speaking of course ;-)). While we were at Lowe’s, we also picked up some liquid nails. We already had a saw (I think it was similar to this one), a portable table saw, caulk, this nail gun (I think), and 1 1/2 in, 18 gauge brad nails. (Obviously, take all of the necessary precautions and read the instructions.) 

The Process

Back at Gretchen’s house, we decided to measure as we went. For some, it may be easier to measure and cut all at once, but we were too nervous to make one erroneous measurement and have to start ALL over. No thank you.

So, we started by creating a border on the wall with the mdf boards. (We just went on top of the baseboard and below the crown molding.) Gretchen and I started with the bottom horizontal board, put liquid nails on the back using the caulk dispenser and attached it to the wall, and finally used the nail gun to secure the mdf board to the wall.

 

Because the length of the wall was greater than our 8 ft board, we then took another 8 ft board from the other side of the wall, pencil marked where it met our secured board, and used the saw to cut along that line. Next, we double checked that it still fit snuggly to form one continuous horizontal line along the bottom trim, applied the liquid nails, attached it to the wall, and secured it with the nail gun. And then did it all over again along the crown molding.

After that, we moved on to the outer vertical pieces. Again, we started with our 8 ft boards at the upper corner, used the liquid nails and nail gun. Unfortunately for our space, we just, JUST missed using only the 8 ft board. Our space was just an inch or so over the board. So, we had to again hold up an extra board, mark how much of that board we needed, saw, triple check it fit, apply liquid nails, and nail gun it. Again, we repeated at the other end of the wall.

We then measured from the inside of both of those vertical pieces to the center of the wall and added another vertical piece at that center point by liquid nailing, attaching it to the wall, and securing it with the nail gun.

Next up… you guessed it… more measuring! We knew that we wanted seven vertical pieces, including the border vertical boards. Because we are both pretty visual, we decided to lean the boards up to get a general idea and then adjust them from there. We started to the right of the center board and set two more boards roughly equal distance between the center and the end vertical piece. We then measured to make sure the distance between all of the boards was equal or “close enough” (you could really drive yourself crazy trying to get them exactly, exactly even!). Then, it was back to the liquid nails and nail gun. On to the other side of the center for some repetition.

And then we stepped back. We were both so surprised by what a difference just the vertical board and batten made. It already seemed elegant. Just to explore every.single.option, we talked about doing squares/rectangles instead of the chevron board and batten wall. Because the day flew by with all of that fun measuring and the kids would be home from school soon, we decided to step away and come back to make the decision later.

The Chevron Board and Batten Wall

Because “stepping back” means not thinking about it for approximately 2.5 seconds for both of us, Gretchen soon texted with the best, most brilliant idea! She used a masking tape that was 1.5 inches wide… just like our mdf boards… and taped up the chevron. She measured equally along the vertical boards and then taped up the chevron pattern from those points. And, I was back on the chevron bandwagon. Doesn’t it look amazing?!?!

All she had to do (I said that as I sat typing this and she was saw-ing the mdf boards- lol!) was press the tape so it was snug, mark where the cuts needed to be made, take the tape off the wall, line it up on one of the 8 ft board, mark it, and send it off to her husband to saw on the portable table saw (we maybe should have just used that for all of the cuts). He made miter cuts that were about 55-60 degree angle cuts. Then, it was back to the liquid nail and nail gun process.

Once all of the boards were up, Gretchen caulked where the boards met the wall. We filled the nail holes and then sanded. The wall is now ready for one last coat of paint! 

We are still deciding on the rug, but here is a link if you’re interested. And you can find a link to the current rug in this post. 

It is so exciting to see this project come together!!! Don’t forget to come back next week to see the final reveal! And, in the meantime, check out all of the wonderful ORC participants as their rooms come together here. 

Summary

You will probably still need to read the narrative but here is a brief breakdown/general order of events:

1- Buy needed supplies: paint (primer if painting over a darker wall), mdf boards, liquid nails, brad nails, caulk, masking tape, wood filler, sandpaper (220 should work fine)   (Equipment needed: nail gun, saw, caulk gun)

2- Paint walls (1-2 coats)

3- Put up boards to create a frame along the wall

4- Measure and put up vertical boards

5- Mark vertical boards equally as base points for the chevron

6- Use masking tape to put up the chevron/diagonal boards

7- Mark the tape where you need to cut it

8- Transfer tape to the mdf boards and mark the boards

9- Make your cuts

10- Put up chevron/diagonal boards

11- Fill in nail holes

12- Caulk between the mdf boards and the wall

13- Do a light sand with a piece of sandpaper on the holes and caulk

14- Paint the wall

15- Step back and admire your work!