Board and Batten

ok I don’t even clean my living room before I start a project! 
1.  Here is the 1 x 2 going up to help “support” our creation….it will help support the boards….that lay on the crown…that makes our shelf. 
Wow!  I sound like a nursery rhyme!
  2.  Hang the crown just like you would from the ceiling.  Only nailing the bottom half. Those boards in the previous picture are now behind the top of the crown.

3.  Used these boards painted white to create our shelf.  When set on top of the crown it is nailed to it and into the 1 x 2 I talked about earlier.  Makes a nice steady shelf.  Still with me??
 
4.  Paint before you hang your vertical strips.  MUCH EASIER!!!
We used lattice found here for our strips: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=5990-1487-L%2026710PINE&lpage=none .  NO MDF CUTTING FOR US!  These come in 8 ft and 10 ft sections at our lowes and are perfect for conforming to the wall.  Since they are only 1/4 inch thick, they also butted up nicely against our baseboards.  We choose to add a horizontal strip (of lattice) under the crown for a good transition between the two.  It really adds to the the look if you ask me.

5.  You can see the horizontal strip in this picture.  Here my husband is using a paint stick to mark the width between strips….just to make sure we liked how we centered then and that they didn’t hit any outlets.  It was the perfect tool to get accurate widths!

6.  Boards up now!  He used 2 in brad nails for the bottom of the crown (to get into the studs) and 1 in brads for the top shelf and the vertical boards.  You can see that how that 1/4 x 4 x 4 boards lays here.  It wasn’t nailed in yet.  But, caulk and wood filler will be your best friend :)

7.  Almost done.  It was a little tedious painting those strips.  I would recommend hitting them with spray paint before you put them up and then given them a coat of your glossy trim paint when their up….wish I would have thought of that sooner :) Once everything is painted, you caulk, wood fill and touch-up. 

8.  All done! Supplies cost was as followed:
Vertical boards were 4.90 each.  We used 7 of them.  They come in 8 and 10 ft sections. We used 10ft so that we could cut then in half (or less than 1/2 in our case)  5 1/2 were used for the vertical strips, 1 1/2 ish were used for the horizontal strip below the crown.
Crown was $19 for a 16ft piece.  We only needed 13ft.  Anyone need a 3ft piece of crown???
1/4 x 4 x 4 boards were less than 5 each.  We used 3 1/4 of them.
1 x 2 boards were 2 something each.  We used 2 of them
You’ll also need caulk, a saw and a tape measure.  A laser level is a great idea too!
Total cost with trim paint (cause we were out) was a little less than $100.