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. :)
