DIY Board & Batten Wainscot Combo Wall |2-Story Family

This wall…. it’s been the bane of my existence… Okay, it’s not quite that dramatic, but it kept calling for a DIY.  At least I try convincing my husband I can “hear these walls talk” telling me what the house wants/needs 😉

Thinking about the board & batten process on the wall, I originally thought I would do a pattern similar to this;
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But after consulting w/ my friend Julie, who is an amazing interior designer, she came up w/ this;
Knowing that this wall was going to be in the works, I knew the fireplace wall was also going to get some updates.  I started w/ that because I wasn’t sure if I would be “wrapping” the framework across that wall, to the built-ins, then the large t.v. wall.
And here is the family room as of today!… I love how the board & batten turned out and totally transformed the feeling of this space.  The wall, being 19ft tall was literally a big, bear, empty wall.  The room itself is good sized at 19ft x 17ft, and the tall walls made it feel less intimate.

Here are some before & afters;
I can’t believe how far this room has come since we bought our home… It’s definitely more our personal taste now.  It’s really a refreshing, cozy feeling now, and I love it.  

This was also a fun little task to do, and super simple!  The vent cover before wasn’t the prettiest to look at, and you could see the studs behind it.  A quick DIY frame w/ the Kreg Jig and some aluminum sheet metal cut to size, viola!

A couple of iPhone pictures throughout the process;

The next project?  Building a custom piece to go under the t.v. along that wall.  It definitely needs to be more proportionate to the wall length.  Since the t.v. is mounted, we don’t need it to hold the t.v., but the satellite box, PS3, etc.  The large speakers are getting moved across the room and cables hidden beneath the carpet line.  Here are some pieces that I love the style of… I will make ours to fit the height under the t.v. and a bit wider;

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I’m even thinking a nice pop of color… Like this:

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