DIY wooden cornice board {board & batten trim}

When I think of board and batten, I don’t usually think of it in a form of a window treatment. Usually, board-and-batten describes an interior paneling that has alternating wide boards and narrow wooden strips, called battens.  The boards may be placed horizontally or vertically and may vary in width. A cornice board is usually a molding or decorative strip used on top of window and extends to the ceiling. The two don’t usually go together but in this case, a wooden board and batten cornice board seemed to fit the bill for this room.

Our mudroom was not only an awkward space with multiple entries but the window posed a design problem that I struggled with for a couple weeks.

My dimensions may be different than what you need . The list below is just what I used for our window.

The window before was plain and boring. I couldn’t use panels because the hooks were in the way so a valence was the only solution. I tried a roman shade but it didn’t look right and I also didn’t want to spend $75 for a window shade so I decided to make one with wood. We have an over abundance of left over wood around here.

Sorry, some of these pictures were taken with my phone so the quality isn’t the best. First nail your 1×2 brace to either side of the window. This will give you something to nail your 1×8 (or whatever length you cut to fit your window) piece of pine to. My window is 48 inches wide but I added 2 inches to each side because the “brace” is 2 inches wide, therefore adding an additional four inches in width. I cut my 1×8 piece of pine (the cornice top piece) to 52″ in length. It is kind of like hanging window brackets higher and wider then the window to add visual appeal to the window. Does that make sense? My wooden 1×2’s are essentially the window brackets.

Once that was completed, I trimmed out the 1×8 piece of pine with some molding. I just used 1×1 pine that I had here at the house. You can buy decorative molding at Home Depot or Lowes but I liked the idea of free :).

Once everything was nailed together, I filled in the holes and spaces with caulking and painted it white. There you have it, a board and batten cornice board.

There are many alternatives to using wood when building a cornice board.  We happen to have quite a bit of wood around here so that is usually my first choice. You can also purchase pre-made cornice boards made from foam or other elements but you are stuck with the pre-made design. There are endless possibilities when using wood. I am thinking about making one with an arch for another window or even a shutter style. How cool would that be? I’m getting ahead of myself. I have so many ideas floating around in my brain! For now, I’m pretty happy with how the baby wooden board and batten cornice turned out. Be sure to checkout the rest of the room here, mudroom makeover,  DIY shoe storage and DIY barn closet doors .