DIY Board and Batten Staircase

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Today I am sharing all the steps on how to DIY board and batten in a staircase to increase the style in your home as well as the value.

Board and Batten can be used to create a box shape, also known as box molding, on the wall to add interest and architectural detail.  I love seeing this kind of detail board and batten in stairwells, and I am thrilled with how this turned out!

The refinished stained stairs turned out great but once I added the box molding and painted the walls and risers, that’s when the magic happened!  The staircase wasn’t dark and scary anymore.

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Here is a picture of where I finished off after refinishing the stairs. They turned out great but the next part of the project is really what took them from good to amazing!

Here is What You Will Need:

What kind of wood to use:

I used 1/2 inch mdf for this project. They ripped the wood down a 4X8 sheet into 4-inch strips.  The guy at the store was able to get 12 boards out of it but only used 7 for this project.

You can choose to use 1×4 pieces of lumber but that is a bit more expensive. For my space, the 1×4 would stick out from the existing baseboards because it is thicker than the baseboards. So I went with MDF for practical and economic reasons.

Materials and Tools:

• 4X8 sheet of MDF
• Digital Angle Finder
• Liquid nails
• caulk gun
• Nail gun
• Nails
• Caulk
• Wood Putty
• Level
• Primer
• Paint – This is the one I used for this project, the board and batten in my dining room and on all my baseboards. It’s supposed to be harder once it’s dry to preven chipping.

DIY Board and Batten Staircase

Adding molding is actually pretty easy.  On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being easy and 5 being really hard I would give it a 2.  As long as you have a miter saw it’s really a piece of cake.

Decide On The Size of the Boxes

First, you need to decide how big you want the boxes. I decided I wanted them to be about 18-24 inches. I measured down from the top of the stairs 24 inches and used that as the bottom mark for my boards.  

The interior of my boxes is 20 inches.  If you have a very large wall you may want to make your boxes larger because if they are small they will look very busy.

I actually mapped out on the wall exactly where I wanted the boards so I could see it visually. This also really helped me to know exactly how much product I would need.  All I used was a pencil, tape measure, and a level.

How to attach the wood to the wall

I did the vertical boards first, measured, and cut the boards with my miter saw.  The hardest part was figuring out the angle.  

I assumed it would be 45 degrees but nope.  Using a digital angle finder you can figure out what the correct angle is and cut the wood appropriately.

Use liquid nails in a caulk gun and apply to the back of each board. Put it on the wall and make sure it is level. Then attached to the wall with a nail gun using 2 inch nails.

Then I measured the horizontal boards, cut and repeated the steps to apply to the wall.

I caulked the corners where the wood met the wall and used wood putty where the wood met wood.  Once I sanded and cleaned again, we are ready for paint!

You can see in this picture above that I angled the wood by 45 degrees where it met the end of the wall.  I accomplished this with my miter saw. The reason I did this is that it gives a more finished look than just a blunt end to the wood.

Prime and Paint the Board and Batten

Once the caulk is dry and everything is clean you need to tape off and cover these beautiful steps you just stained.  I used just plain old newspaper!

I used some primer that I had on hand and covered the wood risers and MDF with it.  

Once it was dry I used this new paint called Alkyd paint. The guy at the paint counter at Home Depot recommended it.  

It’s a combo of oil and latex-based paint. This product is said to level brush strokes, have a harder finish, and cleans up with soap and water.

I am not sure about its leveling abilities but as far as cleanup goes, it did come off with soap and water but not very easily.  I will see how well it wears and let you know if it takes a beating better.

*UPDATE! This paint holds up amazing! I used it on all my baseboards and window trim. It’s not totally chip proof but it holds up way better than regular paint does.

After three coats of paint, I am done and I cannot believe the change. This is such a big transformation and I couldn’t be happier with it.  

From smelly brown carpet to beautifully stained wood with architectural features I would say this was a complete win!

The Finished Board and Batten Staircase

Related DIY Wall Treatment Posts:

• How to Easily Install Shiplap
• DIY Board and Batten in the Dining Room
• How to Create a Focal Wall With a Herringbone Stencil
• Faux Finishes for Walls: How to Age a Wall With Glaze
• DIY Picture Frame Molding on the Walls
• How to Inexpensively Create a Reclaimed Wood Wall