Board and batten backsplash

Welcome to my first attempt at board and batten! For a kitchen back splash. Starting small is a good thing, no?



This was my inspiration. I have a bank of 3 windows along one side of the kitchen. And I fell in love with these distressed wooden boxes. This is one of 3. I knew it was a great way to get more whites into an otherwise fairly woodsy looking interior.



I had these cedar whatever they are given to me by a neighbour. They were rough as can be so I started by sanding the heck out of them. Then I gave them a coat of primer, as well as a good quality exterior semi gloss. The white I used was tinted JUST enough to knock out the blue coldness of the white.

TIP : You can still have white but just the tiniest knock down can make all the diff.


Here is the area I worked on. Boring indeed. But I wanted something I could do myself that didn't take 10 years and was over the top expensive. So I just waited.


First I did some crack filling (that I hadn't done right the first time because I swore I was going to tile this area).

TIP: Sometimes you can NOT cheat, darn it.

I then gave the wall 3 coats of semi gloss exterior. And I used some leftover moulding I had from a project I never did. This is old style boring door moulding. I simply flipped it upside down so I'd get the beefier end facing up. I used finishing nails, then countersunk the nails, then filled it with a whipped lightweight wood putty.

TIP: (Putty sands smooth, so don't use caulk for this part because you want to sand the holes smooth)

Then I cut all those little boards to size with my circular miter saw and treated the install the same as the base moulding. I was going to caulk around the edges of all joins but I decided not to in case, you know, I changed my mind. :)

Tadaa!

Just a little touch of elegance makes all the difference.

Sometimes I think I may replace the cedar boards with perfectly smooth ones, but the texture from them does add abit of interest.

Here's a shot of what's adjacent to the stove wall, so you can see how nicely the white ties in.

Tip: Wouldn't The Nester be proud of me for those lamps?!?

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A Soft Place To Land's DIY Day, Aug 5 2009

Between Naps on the Porch