Bold Half-bath with Board & Batten
The most-used bathroom in our house has been transformed! This tiny powder room packs a punch with black paint, a vintage rug and warm details.
This little bathroom started as a boring greige box. It’s the most frequently used bathroom in the house by us and our guests. It’s on the main level of our three-story townhome, steps away from the kitchen and the living room.
Early in 2019, Andrew and I installed picture-frame moulding in our owner’s suite and used matte black paint on our headboard wall. I loved how it turned out and thought the black would pair nicely with crisp white board and batten. Besides, we had lots of leftover paint!
Andrew and I bought primed lattice from Home Depot and created a border that ran above the baseboard, down the sides of the walls and directly under (and behind) the Wilmore casing. Did I mention that have been purchasing our moulding from Queen City Lumber!? In their showroom, they have historic mouldings and trim—styled after neighborhoods all over Charlotte. I had taken home a sample of the Wilmore casing and decided it would be perfect as picture ledge moulding.
Then, we added vertical lattice and did our best to evenly space the pieces on each wall. On three of the walls, roughly nine inches apart looked best. On the fourth wall by the door, we placed the lattice 7.25 inches apart (the wall is short and anything bigger didn’t divide the space nicely). Once we figured out our spacing we taped the lattice to the walls. Andrew brad nailed the lattice into place.
Pro-tip: choose batten spacing that looks best to your eye on each wall. As long as the spacing is similar, you cannot tell the difference!
Next up: crown moulding! We chose double beaded cove crown (which we also used in our bedroom). Andrew created double-layer crown by using picture-frame moulding a few inches (we used a piece of the picture ledge moulding as a spacer) below the main crown. I sanded, primed and painted while Andrew installed a new light fixture, pivot mirror, and brass hardware. Then we left the room at “almost done” for a while.
A few weeks later, I dragged Andrew to a pop-up shop at the metropolitan and met Liz from The Woven Knot. (She is soo cool and has an eye for sourcing the sweetest vintage rugs.) I scheduled a rug consultation and had Liz over to test fit a few options for this bathroom. Andrew and I picked this darling rug!
The back wall felt pretty bare and I had my eye on the Tree of Life series prints by Hilma af Klint. These prints have some of the same colors as the rug. A warm-toned woven basket, light beechwood frames and waffle weave hand towels finished off this little powder room.
Oh, you need to go to the bathroom? Right this way!!
Sources: Sources: board + batten and trim color: Sherwin Williams Extra White | Satin; black wall color: Sherwin Williams Carbonized | Matte; lattice; Wilmore casing, double beaded cove crown and Johnny Moore moulding: Queen City Lumber; pivot mirror; roman shades: Elite Shutters & Blinds; vintage rug: The Woven Knot; wall sconce; hand towels; basket: Home Goods; frames; Hilma af Klint prints
