Upgrading a plain, rectangular room is easy with a millwork accent wall. Accent walls are a creative way to pull focus in a room and add some visual stimulus to your home. Whether you are looking for a natural look, texture, or color, nothing gives you more diversity to hit these points quite like wood trim. There are so many ways to use a basic millwork trim to give you a unique accent wall with endless options. Need some inspiration? Here are some design ideas and details about using a board and batten accent wall.
Board and Batten
Originating in Scandinavia and other northern European countries, board and batten design was first used as a simple and effective way to protect the exterior of a home from harsh weather conditions. Employing this technique was simpler than others as the boards didn’t require complex woodworking. Still true to this day, board and batten style is an easy and economical way to add a design accent to your home, whether it be on the exterior or interior.
If you like a farmhouse or country-style home, bringing this home exterior technique inside will give you a classic beauty without a lot of work. On the outside of a home, this look requires multiple parts (the board and the batten, or cross piece that gives its signature stripes), inside your home you can achieve this same effect with beautiful millwork simply applied to the wall. Varying the wood thickness and placement gives you endless design options to complement your home design.
Once the specific layout of the accent wall has been established, do not be afraid to add a bold or deep color for an extra push. Although deep and bold color choice can really make this design pop, using a neutral color palette is also very alluring and an undeniable classic look for board and batten. Whatever colors you land on, consider that using different shades of the same color palette and paint sheens can really enunciate the levels of depth between the two surfaces. By making the wall a shade darker than the battens or by giving the battens a slightly shinier sheen, it brings out the difference in their depths.
If you want to change to something more traditional and statelier, consider upgrading your wall with a stained hardwood board under a stained batten. It will give a rich, warm touch to any home and a palette of stain options to choose from to accentuate your home finishes.
Don’t want a full accent wall? Consider a board and batten half wall. Max out the battens at 4’ and top the battens with an accent sill to separate the board and batten from the rest of the wall. The accent sill can be used as shelf or simply as décor. Another use for the partial board and batten is a 2’ H section that runs along the ceiling. And as always, going with a full wall of board and batten never fails to impress.
There are many ways that a board and batten wall can make a home stand out above the rest. If you are in the Greater Seattle area, we want to know how we can make your board and batten wall dreams come true. We have been providing quality doors and millwork to the Greater Seattle area since 1990 and are ready to help you start your next project. Give us a call at Interbay Door (425-485-6404 or info@interbaydoor.com) today!
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