dining room board and batten.

This room has taken forever to complete. My poor dining room has looked like a construction zone for months now. I'd like to say this is the biggest project I've ever tackled, and while it might come close, the truth is that it just involved a lot of painting. I don't mind painting itself, and I love the difference it makes, but it's the prep work and the clean-up that makes me put it off. Finally, though, I got my butt in gear and got this at least finished.

I've been wanting to play around with adding some kind of architectural treatment to walls for a while, and I love this look:

[Source: It's the little things that make a house a home]

There are a million ways to do this, and of course, this just mimics the look of true board and batten, but I am so happy with the way it turned out. The entire thing is made out of a single 4x8 piece of 1/2-inch MDF (less than $30). I had Home Depot rip it in widths  I needed, then I cut the lengths individually at home. The only other costs were for liquid nails, caulk, and paint.

The MDF and lower half of the walls are all painted with the same paint I'm using for all of the trim in the house, and the top color matches the living room (and the hallway, once I get that painted). I have shower curtains that I'm going to convert into window treatments. I want to create a gallery to fill the walls - I'll add to that over time. And at some point, the light fixture will need to change, but I'm still waiting on finding the right option for that.

In the meantime, I can't wait to entertain in this new space! Who wants to come over for dinner?