One of the fun things about working with different families when they build with Thomsen Homes is the different DIY projects they do after they build their home with us. It is so great to see the personal touches that they add to the home and Reagan and her husband Jacob have been so gracious to share their Thomsen Homes journey as well as dive into a DIY project in their master bedroom. Sit back and become inspired as Reagan shares her tips on creating a faux board and batten accent wall in their Thomsen Home. Follow Reagan on her instagram @reaganlange.
Since closing on our 2180 bi-level Thomsen Home in August 2018, we (mainly I, Reagan) have enjoyed decorating every room in the house! Home design has become a huge hobby of mine and I love getting inspiration from people I follow on Instagram. Some of my favorites include @studiomcgee, @hartman_haus, @frengpartyof6 (fellow Thomsen Homes homeowner!), and @jaci.daily just to name a few. When we first moved in, I found myself playing it safe design-wise. It took me a while to settle into a specific design style I enjoy for my home because I wanted it to fully emulate what I enjoy. Up until 2020, we had not made any major design changes to our home because I wanted to really think about it and make all the right choices. Building with Thomsen Homes allowed us to have a great foundation for any interior design choices we made moving forward. I love the light wood floors we chose as well as the white walls throughout our home (Sherwin Williams Snowbound). These light and airy elements allowed me to think freely on my interior design aesthetic and fully research what I found to love for our home.
The “Master” Plan
Last spring we were at home quite a bit due to the pandemic. My husband Jacob and I decided to make a dramatic change to our master bedroom by building our own faux board and batten accent wall. I am so happy with how it turned out! The color we chose was Sherwin Williams Iron Ore in a matte finish. This color is not quite black, but is a wonderful compromise between black and deep charcoal. Since the master bedroom in the 2180 floor plan is right off the main floor, I knew I wanted to do something “moody” to our room since our door is open most of the time. In fact, I feel like this dark paint color made our bedroom feel bigger than it was originally, believe it or not! The board and batten brings a huge wow factor that this room did not have before!
Faux Board and Batten
Here are some extra details about our faux board and batten wall: We chose to use primed wood boards from Menards in a 2.5″ x 8′ size. We liked the primed option because it provided a smoother appearance. In total, we applied seven vertical boards because that’s the spacing that seemed the most natural on our particular wall. We also decided to “frame out” the entire wall using boards that lined the ceiling as well as the floor. We ended up taking out the existing baseboard on this one wall and replaced them with the new boards to make a cohesive appearance. This gives the project a finished look in my opinion. We applied the boards with liquid nails and also nailed the boards to the wall. They are absolutely not coming off any time soon! To further make the look appear “professional” and finished, we added wood filler to any nail holes and caulked all the edges. This made a huge difference in the final look! Also, our existing outlet covers were white, so we opted to swap them out to a black option so they blend into the wall seamlessly.
Tips along the way
Some lessons learned from doing this project on our own include: paint AFTER the boards are on the wall! For some reason we thought it would be better to paint the entire wall first, then paint each individual board with a sprayer. This was so time consuming and in the end we wished we had painted everything as our final step, not the first. Another lesson learned was that we wish we would have invested into a nail gun. We used our handheld drill for everything and using a nail gun would have been so less tedious. Additionally, I found that it was helpful for my visual mind to put together a mood board in Photoshop to see how I wanted the end result to look, including the bedding, lighting, and decor items I planned to buy. Sometimes it’s hard to envision all my ideas together, so putting this mood board together really helped!
As first time homeowners, we enjoyed tackling this project that we are so proud of. We conquered this project at our daughter’s nap time over the course of a few days and it was so worth it in the end. The before and after photos speak for themselves! If you are looking at making a change to a room in your home, paint makes a simple but HUGE impact. Give a dark, bold color a try…you might be surprised!
