diy board and batten.

we moved into this house knowing it would need a lot of love from us to make it a place that felt like "us".  after removing carpet from the front entry and adding more of the bamboo hardwood featured in the rest of the house {in place when we purchased - not what i would have chosen!}, the entry needed a little something else.  i had been watching board and batten pop up around blogs and magazines and love the look.  so i mustered up the courage to show my husband and ask him if he would be willing to tackle a board and batten treatment on one wall of our entry.  he loved it and we went to work planning it out right away!!

{ta-da!}

i don't have any great photos of it - these {in progress photos} are all iPhone pics, but it give you an idea.  the finished product photos were done at night, so they aren't great, either {such is life}.  we used these two  {really great} tutorials for guidance along the way:

{the natos board and batten}

{casa de lewis board and batten}

here is our version.  it was a Memorial Day weekend project last year.  i left the house with the three littles so my husband could start and complete the project - all in two days!

here is what we started with.  before i left town, we ran painters tape along the wall where we wanted the ledge above the paneling to reach.

john sent photos all weekend to show me his progress.

we also fixed up the baseboard trim with shoe moulding along the bottom {something we will continue as we work on rooms around the house}.

primed & painted paneling.  primed and painted walls.

finished.  then we just added hooks from target {of all places!}