board and batten project

i've always loved the look of board and batten and the comfortable cottagey feel it creates. even before all the moving boxes were unpacked, I knew i'd soon be nailing up boards.  

 

i recruited some help- who

 thankfully worked for iced coffee! if you haven't tried pioneer woman's technique for iced coffee, you must!

it is delicious . . . and it may or may not involve sweetened condensed milk!

so for sure, diet friendly. ;)
 

not the best quality, but here are some pictures of the living room before.

 

 

once the distance between the boards was determined (to say this took some time is an understatement), we measured their length and started making cuts. 

the list looked something like this (as you can tell the floor is far from level!):

 

 

while boards were being cut i painted the top of the wall a color that was eventually redone.

i just couldn't stand it. i won't go into details but i've actually used this color before and liked the results. this was far from the same experience.

 

in the background of the picture below you can see paint that caused problems.

cheers to hours of work wasted! 

 

 

 the brass hardware was begging for spray paint so i obliged.

it was easiest to secure the pieces to a cardboard box to spray all angles at once. 

boards going up prior to painting.

 

it was overcast when the "after" pictures were taken so it doesn't quite do the room justice.

it really feels so much brighter.
next up on list for the living room: new carpet, wall décor, perhaps build a coffee table.