Entryway Board & Batten

Living in the typical 3 level townhouse, our entry is VERY limited. It's basically a landing. There's no room for a little table or bench... and there are 2 doors in that little space! The front door opens, and the garage door is on the immediate left, and stairs straight ahead. It's a whole lot of awkward, especially when we are entertaining guests... which is often! Our coat closet is at the top of the stairs, which means a traffic jam when we try to store coats and purses too. Not to mention, we never have enough room in that closet.

In addition, I also found it to be a fairly boring space. One very blank wall and 2 doors. I did hang some pictures on the wall, but it wasn't cutting it. I started searching blogs for Board and Batten ideas in an entryway and found a lot of them. BUT, most of them followed a mudroom style with benches and shelves which we just can't accommodate regardless of how much I would like to! We took this project on well before blogging, so not many photos of the process, but you probably don't need to see much either! It's fairly straightforward. Here are the end results:

Supplies:
Casing (for centre pieces)
Baseboard (for outer pieces)
1"x3" Pine for the Ledge
2"x2" Oak for underneath the Ledge (just for support)
LePage No More Nails Adhesive
Finishing Nails (we used a compressor nail gun)
Wood Filler
Caulking
Sanding blocks (Moderate & Fine grit)
Behr White Semi Gloss paint
Floetrol
Paint brushes, roller, drop cloth.
4 Amerock Arrondi Brushed Bronze hooks

I could give a full tutorial, but I think there are a couple of really good ones already out there, like this one from Kate at Centsational Girl, this one from Ana White and this one from Sada Lewis. The bottom line is measure, measure, measure. And measure again. Oh yeah, and pre-plan with measurements :) Have I made myself clear?! The project ended up taking about 8 hours and costing $34 plus the hooks which were definitely a splurge at $75 (after shipping and taxes from Amazon). But I loooove them. Pretty, pretty, pretty. I really wanted an antiqued gold or oil rubbed bronze finish but contemporary style and couldn't find anything I liked after scouring at least 10 stores. Worth it.

Source List:
Herringbone Rug from West Elm
Orchid canvases from Urban Barn (a couple years ago)
Frames are from Ikea & Home Sense (a couple years ago)
Cast Metal "&" from Restoration Hardware
Glass Votive Candle Holders from Home Sense (a couple years ago)

These items are on the ledge now, but not shown in these pictures... I will have to put some updated photos up shortly, as soon as I fill/replace those blank "placeholder" frames!
Mercury Glass Vase from Pottery Barn (but I didn't buy it as a set, just one individually)
Artificial Forsythia from Joann's

I have some bigger frames that I plan to put in place of the small ones to give a bit more height, but they need spray painting first. I think this treatment makes the entry way much more interesting and functional. Are you inspired to try a Board & Batten treatment?

xo,
Andrea