Double Board and Batten (and how to get your spacing!)

This past month I’ve been busy working away in our oldest two boys’ room and it’s been so fun to see it transform. I started by removing the baseboards and skim coating all of the walls in preparation for board and batten and wallpaper! You can read that post here.

I knew from the beginning I wanted to do a double board and batten to make their room feel a little more modern for their surfer dude inspired theme. I absolutely love the way it turned out! One question I received throughout the process on Instagram was “How did you figure out your spacing?!” Well, let’s knock out the details in this post!

Step #1:

First thing’s first—measure your wall! Go ahead and measure it in inches so it’s easier in the next few steps. Take a look at your wall and decide what your preferred spacing would be. My wall was 129 inches long and I was wanting the spaces between the battens to be about 24 inches. Round your number to the nearest whole number. This number is the number of spaces you will have.

Example: 129 inches ÷ 24 inches = 5.3 spaces ≈ 5 spaces.

Step #2:

Add 1 to that number and this is your number of battens.

Example: 5 spaces + 1 = 6 battens

Step #3:

Next you need to multiply your number of battens by the batten width. If you are going a single board and batten just use the width of your board. If you are doing a double board and batten like I did you need to add up the width of two boards and the space between the boards. My battens are each 1.5 inches wide and I had a 1.5 inch space between. This means my total batten width is 4.5 inches. (1.5+1.5+1.5=4.5)

Example: 6 x 4.5 inches =27 inches

Step #4:

Now you want to subtract that number from your wall length.

Example: 129-27=102 inches

Step #5:

You’ve made it to the last step! Now you want to take that number and divide it by the number of spaces you calculated in the first step.

Example: 102 ÷ 5 = 20.4 inches (I rounded to 20.5 to make it easier!)

And that is how you calculate your spacing! It might seem like a lot, but it’s actually pretty simple once you understand the basics.

What size boards did you use?

• Baseboards- 1×6 primed pine
• Vertical battens- 1×2 MDF
• Horizontal header- 1×4 MDF

Installing board and batten is a great beginner project, especially after you nail down your measurements! It adds visual interest to a room and will make your space feel custom. Let me know if you decide to tackle this project! I would love to see your before and afters!