To say our new drop zone/DIY board and batten coat rack wall has been life changing would be an understatement. This little hallway remodel may rank as one of the smartest decisions I have ever made. Like EVER. Today I not only wanted to share how this project has improved the functionality of our home, specifically, our garage entryway, but I also wanted to FINALLY share how we built this bad boy.
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In my original post regarding this project, I mentioned that the idea to create this wall was inspired by the need for a more organized and functional entry way. We leave and enter our house strictly through the garage door (opposite of the laundry room door) and our past drop zone habits were driving me bonkers.
Coats, hats, shoes, mail...everything was always making it's way onto our kitchen island. Now when we come home we're practically smacked in the face with a coat rack and we have a nice place to organize our mail. The kitchen island is FINALLY back to be using for it's original purpose; meal prepping and eating!
So let's rewind! This hallway started off like most hallways, lonely and useless.
But today it looks like this!
Well, actually that's what it look like back in the Fall. See! I've held this blog post hostage for so long. Since then I've changed up the decor, rug, and added a few wire organizer baskets alongside the chalkboard calendar, but more on that later.
As I mentioned back in September, our faux board and batten coat rack wall was inspired by this project here. We followed Christina's lead and also used MDF purchased from our local Home Depot. Our store sells both 8' and 12' MDF boards and since we wanted out board and batten to be 6 feet high, we went with the 8' boards and I had the very kind, and not sexist-at-all gentleman at the store rip them down for me. In case you have a hard time reading sarcasm, let me tell you that was sarcasm. We also used our circular saw at home for additional cuts.
Materials Used
*Please note some of these measurements are approximates and your cuts will vary on the size of your wall and the look you're aiming for. I'm a visual learner, so I've included an image below that shows in more detail where we utilized each of the MDF boards.
(2) 4 " wide MDF boards that were 6 feet tall {Exhibit A}
(4) 4" wide MDF boards that were 3 feet tall {Exhibit B and C}
(4) 2'' wide MDF boards that were 2.5 feet tall {Exhibit D and E}
Circular saw
Level
Stud Finder
Nail gun and finishing nails
Caulk
Paint and painting supplies
Floor trim or base moulding (for top picture ledge)
Quarter round
Sand paper
Once again here's a "before" shot of our bare nekked hallway.
I wanted to duplicate the board and batten on both sides of our laundry room door. My hubby did most of the labor while I wrangled the two year old from running amok among the work zone area. After finding and marking our studs and triple checking our wall measurements, the hubz started attaching our cut MDFboards piece by piece with the nail gun to the right side of the door.
He started with the top horizontal and far side vertical pieces first, and then worked his way in.
You'll definitely want to use your level for this part of the project to make sure everything is straight.
Next up was the horizontal middle piece and then the 2 smaller
vertical pieces that trim out the middle of the MDF "box".
After he finished the right side of the door, he moved onto the left side and
repeated the process with the boards.
Here's a long shot of the hallway after all the boards had been attached to the wall.
Sorry, I didn't capture any images (i.e. see "wrangling two year old" mentioned above) between the MDF boards being attached and the picture ledge being added, but we'll talk more about that ledge in a minute.
As promised, here's the image that gives you a visual of where we used which boards.
You can see more detailed information on their width and size above in my material's list.
If you happen to have a light switch that interferes with the placement of some of your boards, you'll need to accommodate it by cutting a notch out of the MDF like we did.
Now let's talk about that picture ledge. Originally, I really, really wanted to do something similar to Christina's ledge, corbels and all, but I was concerned with the size and narrowness of this hallway and that the ledge may jet out too far and be a hazard for anyone, well, for anyone taller than me. Which quite honestly, is everyone, minus Little B (although he's catching up!) It's was the hubby's idea to use a piece of floor trim (or also referred to as base moulding) for the ledge. It's slim (if you get the thinner size) and he thought it would dress the wall up a bit. He used the nail gun to nail the trim down to the top horizontal piece of our MDF "box" on the wall. Just make sure the back of the moulding is facing up towards the ceiling, that way the nice, finished side is what you'll see when you sashaying down your hallway. The ledge shelf was then finished off with a piece of quarter round.
It wasn't until later when I went to lean a sign on our newly built shelf that I realized there is an extra bonus to using base moulding as a ledge! You know how floor trim typically has grooves or seams on the backside of the trim? Guess what?! Those "lips" keep your picture frames and signs from slipping off! I know, I know...pretty ingenius, right?
*Image below is not of the exact moulding we used, just there to serve as a visual to give you an idea of what the heck I'm talking about.
After all of the boards, trim, and quarter round had been placed it was time for the next step; caulking. This is the part where I took over. I caulked all of the nail holes and the seams between the walls and MDF boards. Once the sealant dried, I lightly sanded down the boards and patched nail holes. Then the wall was finally ready to be primed and painted!
The www. is full of tutorials for faux board and batten, so I'm sure by now most of you realize that the cheater way to get this wall effect is to just skip the "board" part of the equation (the wall panels) and just paint your walls in between the "batten" part. It's a less expensive option and it still looks incredibly purrrty at the end!
Here's a view from the playroom, which sits at the end of this hall.
Sources for all of my hall decor can be found at the end of this post.
The opposite wall got spruced up too. Although, not as pretty as the board and batten wall it has become twenty times more functional with a chalkboard calendar and wire wall baskets for mail.
Even though this wall is intended to be our new drop zone for coats and stuff, I still have a lot of fun dressing it up. You can see how I decorated it for the holidays here.
I originally painted the board and batten the same color as our trim (no idea what color it is, just had a local paint store match the color), but then it got a new BFF; our new ship lap kitchen wall!
Since the two walls adjoin, it only made sense that if I was painting the ship lap wall Benjamin Moore White, that I repainted the board and batten wall to match it. It was a great decision, because the White Dove looks sooo much prettier and has no yellow undertones like the original color! Yellow undertones=bad. I hope to share more about the ship lap wall soon, but in the meantime you can catch peeks of it over on my Instagram.
Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to know how you organize your family's drop zone? I've deemed 2016 the year of Operation Organization for my house, so any tips and ideas are greatly appreciated!
Sources
Wall hooks and grey rug: Target
Bottom Coat Hooks: Menards (similar ones here)
Chalkboard Calendar: Kohl's
Basket on Hook: Thrifted
Wire Wall Baskets: Michaels Cube Storage Bench: Home Depot
Framed Art: Hand-painted
If you're looking for additional storage ideas, check out our diy playroom shelves project, which is perfect for organizing toys and books. It's an easy weekend project that adds functional yet stylish storage solutions for your kids' play area.
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