Our Pinterest-Inspired Dining Room Makeover | DIY Board and Batten Feature Wall
- Aug 6
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Our Pinterest Inspired Dining Room Makeover
If you’ve ever fallen down a Pinterest rabbit hole and convinced yourself you could completely transform a room over the weekend… welcome, you’re in good company.
Our dining room wall was one of those spaces I walked past every single day knowing it had so much potential. It wasn’t bad, it just felt… unfinished. Like every other builder-grade wall you’ve probably seen a hundred times before.
After saving more inspiration photos than I’d like to admit, we finally decided to stop talking about it and actually do something.
The vision
I knew I wanted board and batten, but there was one detail I couldn’t get past.
Almost every inspiration photo had the board and batten sitting above the baseboards.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that look, it just wasn’t for me.
To my eye it always broke up the wall, and I wanted something that felt a little more custom, almost as if it had always been part of the house.
So we took a bit of a risk.
We removed the baseboards completely and decided to run the board and batten all the way to the floor.
Looking back, I genuinely think it made all the difference.
The process for This DIY Dining Room Makeover Accent Wall
The prep probably took longer than the actual installation for this DIY Dining Room Makeover Accent Wall.
There were more trips to the hardware store than either of us would like to admit, lots of measuring, and enough second-guessing to make us wonder whether we’d bitten off more than we could chew.
Once everything was mapped out, we cut each piece to size and started installing.
One little trick that saved us so much time was cutting a scrap piece to use as a spacer between every board. Instead of measuring every gap over and over again, we simply slotted the spacer in before stapling each piece into place.
It kept everything perfectly even and made the whole process so much less stressful.
Then came the glamorous part…
Or not.
Mudding.
Sanding.
More sanding.
And somehow still finding more sanding to do.
If you’ve ever tackled a DIY project, you’ll know this stage isn’t exciting—but it’s what makes the finished result look polished.
Choosing the paint
I wanted a colour that felt warm, calming, and timeless.
Something that would work with the rest of our home without feeling too trendy.
We landed on a soft sage green "SayBrook" by Benjamin Moore, and the second the first coat went on I knew we’d made the right choice.
Bringing it all together
Once the wall was finished, it was time for my favourite part.
Styling.
We replaced the builder-grade pendant with one that felt so much more like us, added new dinnerware, layered in a few simple pieces we’d been collecting, and suddenly this dining room felt completely different.
Not because it was perfect.
But because it finally felt like ours.
More than just a DIY
One thing I’ve realized since becoming a homeowner is that these projects are never really about the trim, the paint, or the decor. They’re about creating a home where our family gets to grow.
Where birthdays will be celebrated.
Where we’ll host family dinners.
Where our babies will colour at the table while dinner cooks.
That’s the part Pinterest never really shows.
And honestly…
I think that’s my favourite part.
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