Mud Room Part 4: DIY Board and Batten with Peg Rail Top

<< DIY Mud Room Part 1: DIY Mudroom Bench

<<DIY Mud Room Part 2: Adding Mudroom Locker Cabinets

<<DIY Mud Room Part 3: DIY Mudroom Lockers

The bench is built, the cabinets are installed, the lockers are done. It’s time to finish the other mudroom wall off with a DIY board and batten with a peg rail top!

This is the perfect detail wall that will really finish off the corner mud room unit, and the addition of the peg rail will add extra space to hang coats, towels and decor.

DIY Board and Batten

Board and batten is one of my favorite mill work styles. It’s essentially when vertical and horizontal pieces of wood come together on an interior or exterior wall for design.

There are varying styles of board and batten, in the mud room I did a half wall design with a peg rail on top. This design provided me with both pretty and functional.

What you need:

• 1×2″ common board
• 1×6″ common board
• 1/4″ plywood to match the 1×6″ common board
• 1×4″ common board
• level
• nail gun
• wood glue
• 1″ dowels
• sandpaper
• 1″ spade drill bit

How to make a peg rail

The peg rail will serve as the top of the DIY board and batten.

Measure the length of the top of the board and batten wall, then cut the 1×6 to size.

Determine the number of pegs you want to include in the peg rail. Measure and mark the center of the board, then mark where each peg will go spacing them evenly.

Using the 1″ spade bit, bore holes in the 1×6″ across the middle.

Cut the 1/4″ plywood to fit the back of the 1×6″ with holes in it.

Attach to the back of the board with a nail gun and finishing nails. Use 3/4″ finishing nails so they don’t come through the front of the board.

Cut the 1″ dowels to the length that you like. For this peg rail, I cut them to 5″ lengths, this leaves about 4″ exposed for items to hang on.

We will be using this rail primarily for towels in the summer as the mud room is the entry from the pool, so this length will work well.

Place a generous amount of wood glue in the holes of the 1×6, then place the cut 1″ peg inside each hole. Use a mallet to make sure they are firmly inside the holes and let the wood glue dry.

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Wipe off any glue that comes out of the holes (wipe well because the glue won’t be able to be stained if you are planning on staining it).

Once dry, it’s ready to mount on top of the board and batten.

How to make the board and batten wall

For this board and batten wall, it will be coming off of the bench in the mud room so won’t rest against any baseboard.

If you are placing this on a wall where the batten is going down to the floor, remove baseboard and replace with a 1×4″ board.

Cut the 1×2″ to the height that you want your board and batten wall, taking into account the peg rail and shelf top.

For this build since my wall corner was butting up again the cabinets on the other wall, I wanted the top of the shelf to meet the bottom of the cabinet.

Place the peg rail on the wall and nail it into place, then lay the 1×4″ across the top of the peg rail like a shelf, and nail into place through the top down into the peg rail.

Space the 1×2″ battens out equally under the peg rail and nail into place with the nail gun.

Caulk along the edges of the batten boards where they meet the wall, the peg rail and the bench, then wipe clean.

Finish the DIY board and batten with peg rail

At this point, the batten wall with a peg rail is complete! Fill in all of the joints where wood meets wood with wood filler.

Let the wood filler dry and sand the entire project.

Prime and paint the batten and the wall.

I chose to stain the peg rail and shelf with Varathane Early American, and painted the batten and wall with White Dove Benjamin Moore.

I just love the way this wall came out! It might actually be my favorite part of the entire mudroom (shh don’t tell the lockers!).

More Posts in the DIY Mud Room Series

• DIY Mud Room Part 1: DIY Mudroom Bench
• DIY Mud Room Part 2: Adding Mudroom Locker Cabinets
• DIY Mud Room Part 3: DIY Mudroom Lockers
• Mud Room Part 4: DIY Board and Batten with Peg Rail Top (currently reading)
• DIY Mud Room: Final Reveal and Styling (coming soon)