Grid Board & Batten In The Office

Ready to add interest to your walls? We recently added grid board and batten in the office and I’m sharing our full tutorial!

Our new office space is coming together beautifully, but when we started with the blank and bare guest room (read more about the room switch here), I knew I wanted something to help transform the space. I wanted something different. I wanted a place where I would feel inspired to work everyday. I wanted to feel cozy and warm and welcomed. Adding grid board & batten in the office did just that, and paved the way for everything else we’ll be adding and creating for the room…

From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to do some sort of a wall treatment, but I wasn’t exactly sure which way I wanted to go with it, although this picture inspired me a whole lot. I spent a few days debating on exactly what I wanted to do, and we spent plenty of time measuring out different options, putting tape on the wall for perspective and creating drawings to narrow it all down. From the start, my heart was set on doing grid board and batten, but I didn’t know if I’d want it installed on every wall, all the way to the ceiling, or what size boxes to create. After all the drawings, taping and measuring, we finally devised a plan…

And man oh man did those walls turn out incredible. They have completely transformed the room and I can not wait to have the space done so that I can fully enjoy everything this room has to offer. The walls are just the beginning, but they absolutely set the tone for the room.

Here’s how we installed them, and what we used:

Grid Board & Batten In The Office

Affiliate links are provided below. Full disclosure here. 

Supplies:

• 1/2″ MDF 4′ x 8′ sheet, we used 3 sheets, cut into 4″ strips
• Table Saw
• Chop Saw
• Brad Nailer
• 1 1/4″ 18 Gauge Brad Nails
• Air Compressor
• Level
• Measuring Tape
• Caulking Gun
• Caulking, we used 5 tubes
• Wall Putty, we used a 1/2 pint
• Sandpaper
• Skinny Foam Roller
• 1 Gallon Paint

Step One: Paint The Walls

To start, I painted the walls World’s Away by Valspar in eggshell…

I knew there would be no way I’d want to paint the walls after the grids were installed. No fun there.

Step Two: Rip Down MDF Material

For the actual wall treatment, we first decided on the size of the grid pieces. We used 1/2″ MDF 4’x8′ sheets that we ripped length wise into 4″ strips.

Step Three: Install Top & Bottom Wall Pieces

With the strips cut, we installed the MDF pieces along the top of the wall, right at the ceiling. We used our 18 gauge nail gun and nailed the strips into place, making sure everything was level as we went…

We also installed the strips right above our existing baseboards all the way around the room…

Step Four: Install Vertical Boards

With the pieces installed along the top and bottom of the walls, we started installing the vertical boards. And this is where it got a little bit tricky because of how we wanted to install the grids in the room, and how we wanted them to continue around the room and wrap around each wall, making them look like they “continued” around the room.

Based on our room size and shape (140″ x 149″), and the size of our “boxes” we decided to have the first vertical board on the north and south wall of the room start in the center of the wall. On the east and west walls of room, we placed the grid space as the center of the room. This insured that the dimension of our boxes would appear to be similar in size as they wrapped around the wall. This will vary depending upon your room size and shape.

Anthony began nailing the wall strips in place, measuring the length as he went, and using the level to make certain they were straight…

We placed the vertical boards 18″ apart, to the inside of each board.

He cut a guide piece to length and used that as an easy way to get the space between each vertical piece installed easier and faster…

Then, he used our nail gun to attach them to the wall…

Our wall texture did make things a little bit difficult, just because they aren’t completely smooth. In several different spots, if we were to nail the board in place, they would have sank too far inside the wall, leaving a big gap. To fix it so the boards sat more flush with one another, we shimmed behind the boards that needed it with paper.

Anthony cut the paper into strips and folded them to the thickness he needed…

And then shoved them behind the wall strip…

We then nailed the board in place, and future caulking would cover up the evidence of any shim. And just like that, the boards sat flush with one another. We had to do this in several different places.

Before we knew it, this is what we were left with…

Step Five: Install Horizontal Pieces

Next, we started cutting and installing the short pieces that would go between each vertical board. Since this was the first wall we were installing the grids on, I had him show me two different options. Originally, I was going to have three boxes, but he installed one at a lower level and I loved how it looked…

I went ahead and had him install each different size in one full section for a good visual…

I loved the smaller boxes and the dimension they added. I knew they’d be more work to install on every wall, but my heart was set on them.

The inside height of each box ended up being 21″ tall.

Again, Anthony cut two guide pieces, cut to the length of the inside of the ‘box’ (21″), which made the installation of the horizontal pieces much easier…

We nailed the boards in place, and continued our way up, and across, the wall…

The picture below shows what I mentioned above about the grids needing to continue their way around the wall. We installed the short pieces at the end of the wall, and would continue adding the same board on the other wall to create a seamless appearance…

We continued the same pattern as the first wall, just working our way around the room…

And because we took the time to measure the walls, we could somewhat determine how big our boxes should be based on the wall size and how we wanted them to wrap around each wall. The corner boxes are slightly smaller in width than the rest of the boxes, but not enough that you would be able to know at a glance.

We also had to take into consideration both windows in the room, and the doors, which I’ll show you a little later in the tutorial. I decided early, before choosing what to do on the walls, that I wanted to trim out our windows. This made installing the grid boxes a little bit more difficult, just because we had to notch around the window trim…

We continued working our way around the room, and over the course of a few days, we had most of the walls done…

There were a few different places where the pieces came into contact with an electrical outlet, so we trimmed them out to make it look more seamless…

Step Six: Caulk & Fill Nail Holes

As Anthony worked on the walls, I began the very long task of caulking each box and filling the nail holes and seams. This took a while, but I was able to work on it a little at a time, which was good because there was a lot of it to do. Blood, sweat and tears went into this project. Okay, maybe not the tears, but definitely blood and sweat. I had to alternate fingers and switch tasks because my fingers were raw in several places from caulking.

I won’t kid you, this was time consuming, but I knew it would be worth it in the end…

I used wall putty to fill the nail holes and seams, and then went back over every strip with a piece of sandpaper to make sure everything was smooth…

Step Seven: Paint The Wall Strips

Once I had everything sanded, I used my vacuum to remove all the dust, and then wiped the boards clean. I was finally ready to paint…

This went by pretty fast, just because I already had the walls painted, and was just painting the strips and cutting in each and every box…

I went back and forth on painting the window trim the same color as the wall, but I really wanted to keep the white paint on our existing baseboards, and I knew white window trim would tie in with it beautifully. I’ll be sharing more about the window trim a little bit later.

Overall, I am absolutely, positively in love with the walls. Were they a labor of love? You bet. Were they worth it? Absolutely.

I’m also in love with the color. I went a little bit outside of my norm and didn’t paint them white (haha) but again, I trusted my gut. I wanted the office to have warmth, depth and a certain level of sophistication. The color is perfect, and I love how it changes throughout the day. At times it appears very gray, and others it looks more green. It’s exactly what I was going for, and I love the depth the grids add. I love the look of the shadows inside each and every box. You could say this is a favorite project of mine, and the perfect backdrop for our new office.

Coming up, I’ll be sharing more about the window trim, the new closet doors we built, the desk area and so much more! We’ve also made a few other small updates around the house, so I’ll be sharing them as well. We certainly have a lot of changes happening around the house, and it’s been fun and exciting to see everything come together!

Here’s to having a completed office soon, I know I need it… especially before tax season, hahaha! 🙂