Saturday, March 22, 2014

The great dilemma #1: board and batten height

I have begun the living room... And I ran into a problem right out the gate.  It's a struggle I feel that most people deal with. But no one ever talks about it.  And I've read a LOT of blogs about board and batten... It's the dirty little secret of the wainscotting genre... 

Height

Man!  I have been agonizing over this one!  How tall do I make this baby?  I LOVE tall batten.  I love how clean and bright it makes a room.  But it's difficult to decorate around and I have some things I would like to put on my living room walls.  Also, we have a fireplace mantle that I worried about.   

So how about a mid-height?  I like that too.  But we have high ceilings.  Would it look like I chopped my wall in half?  And light switches!  Gotta work around those.

Short?  It looks good.  It's fine.  But it's short.  However... It would solve all my other problems.  

Begrudgingly, I set out with my chalk line and white paint to begin.  FINE!  I'll go short!  


Turns out... I love short!  It looks like it's going to be perfect.  44" up the wall.  More than half the wall left on top so it's not cut in half and still a goodly amount of crisp white.  

If you struggle with this dilemma, you are not alone.  My suggestion is to just chalk a line and slap on some paint.  See how it looks.  You can always paint higher.  I think I'll do taller battens in the hallway or my bedroom where I don't have so much to put on the walls.  

So the home office nook/living room has begun!  Stay tuned.  :)