When I realized it was time to learn to love where I lived, I decided a good start would be our entry wall. I wanted to add character to this (flipped) home -character that reminded me of the historic home we left. I think honestly, this house is just lacking personality. It looks like every other average home out there, and I wanted it to be more than that. ​To spruce it up, I played around with a bunch of ideas.

The first thing that came to mind was beadboard. We had beadboard in our main level powder room at Dresden, as well as in our dining room there. In this house, it's in our mudroom and main level bathroom. It's fairly easy to find at both Home Depot and Lowes, and I'm sure in any other big box hardware store as well, and is fairly inexpensive. However, the panels aren't quite as big as I would have liked them to be. ​

Image credit: diydecormom.com

If you read my last post, Board and Batten DIY, then you read how much I miss our 9ft ceilings. For this house and it's standard 8ft ceilings, I'm determined to draw the eye up and help our ceilings to look taller. So for the entry way, it was important to me to bring the trim all the way up. And while I'm sure it's possible to stack many beadboard panels on top of one another, I was afraid of a constant horizontal seam at right about eye level. 

I also thought about the scale of beadboard on my wall. It just seemed so busy on our long wall, I couldn't talk myself into it. It just felt too much and too casual for the space I had envisioned for us. Not that we're not casual. ..because we totally are. I mean, can you be fancy with 4 dogs? Never too fancy, anyway. 

So then my mind wondered over to a Board and Batten entryway. Still a nice addition to an entry wall, and definitely has the character factor going on. I think what I like most about this option is that it's 100% customizable and also super cheap. The 'sections' created are totally up to you on both placement and scale. I would also be able to stack boards on top of one another without an obvious seam the full length of the wall. 

Image credit: thehandmadehome.net

This option, contrary to beadboard, felt like it could lend itself to a few different design styles. It's definitely a traditional design, but pairs well with others. It has a casual look to it, but also has a feel of formalness. Might I add that this option was CHEAP?! Like, super cheap. So cheap, the hubs didn't bat an eye when I asked him if I could tackle this project. 

Image credit: thriftyandchic.com

If you want to read up on how I did our board and batten DIY, head on over to that post by clicking here. It was so cheap (I spent less than $50, including paint) and so easy, I did it all in a weekend. And honestly, I probably could've had it done in a day if I also wasn't watching Lenna every waking moment, but we all know how that goes. Just getting as much done during nap times and after bed time! 

Anyway, thanks so much for stopping by! See ya next time!

​XO Heather

Board and Batten is a beautiful and super easy wall application to do yourself. It’s timeless in design, adds SO much character to a blank wall, and I did it all by myself in one weekend!

It's no secret that I've had a hard time connecting with this house. Our house on Dresden gave me all the feels the second we walked in the door for our first viewing. It was an older home, built in 1913. This new house was missing that old charm and the character I loved so much. We've been here for over a year now, and honestly, I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to get a move on adding in that charm? Sure, I'm a Mom now and that takes a lot of time and energy. But now I'm ready to move at a rapid pace to love where I live. First stop, the entry wall.

After lots and lots of research, I was finding that many other DIYers were using 3" boards, and spacing them out 13 inches. I measured out 3 inches on a sheet of paper, and cut them out so that I could visually see if I liked how it looked on my wall. Because these MDF cuts are so lightweight, there really was no need to attach these to the studs. I mean, if painter's tape can hold them up, you're good. 

The spacing looked good, but once I started taping my MDF boards in place before nailing in, I realized the spacing wasn't working well with my outlet, so I adjusted them as needed to work better with my space. I ended up using 6 boards, spaced 18 inches apart. 

Had I not, I would've been cutting around an outlet...which is more annoying than anything. ​

Also, it's extremely important to make sure your boards are level!! Can you imagine how this would look if you got lazy with this step?! I'll save you the imagination and just say it would be bad. Really bad!

For this step, I borrowed the Hubby's nail gun. You can complete this step with a good ole' fashioned hammer and nail combo, but if you have access to a nail gun, it's a no brainer. This step went SO quickly! 

After it was all up, I stood back to see if I was satisfied. Let's just say that I was more satisfied with Lenna actually smiling for the camera than I was with the wall. Our ceilings at our house on Dresden were 9ft tall. This house is the standard 8, and I miss the drama the tall ceilings gave. So I decided to bring the board and batten ALL the way up!

I decided that I really liked the look of two (uneven) sections. Both are rectangular, but the bottom half of the wall is a taller section than the top. I know a lot of board and batten applications feature a square section, but I just didn't like how it looked in my space. 

It's not that any of this was hard to do. It was just so much more time consuming than everything. The details really do matter here because if you don't use a little finesse, you'll see it. 

My biggest obstacle here was the walls themselves. Although these walls are newer than the walls in Dresden, they weren't perfectly straight. There's a spot right at the front door where the MDF boards didn't meet up perfectly due to a curve in the wall, but since the wall and the boards are painted the same color, you really can't tell. 

I struggled a little choosing a paint color for this wall. I wanted to go with a traditional white, but when I got it up on the wall, you lost the beautiful detailing of the trim. I thought about a dark accent wall, but since our space is so small, I was afraid it would be too dramatic. I don't know, I may change my mind down the road. 

With the help of my Instagram followers, I landed on a color very similar to a color we used over at Dresden. The color is Benjamin Moore Dove Wing. It's a creamy white, and in my space, works well with the grey walls we have everywhere else. ...although I'm now thinking that I love the reminder of Dresden SO much, I may paint the rest of the house this color too. And maybe then I'll change the color of this entry wall. Stay tuned!