Board and Batten Kitchen Backsplash

You all know that I've been tormented lately about our back splash. Tormented, I tell you. It keeps me up at night. We I have been throwing around several ideas that just never came to fruition, for many reasons. Too white, too ugly, too much money, too ugly, too much beadboard, too much money, too much money.... get it?!

So, Tuesday afternoon I just started painting. I painted it the same color as the cabinets. Then I saw these in our garage. They were strips of wood that were left over from having to rip 1x3 to make 1x2 for the bookshelf. I kept them because I had big plans for some flexible wood artwork on the wall....hmmm...never got to that....

Lightbulb! Board and Batten back splash. No idea if I had enough or how I was going to do it, or if it was going to look okay, but I did it anyway!

And I took pictures along the way just to document the insanity that is me. Now, you will either like it or you won't. There's no wishy-washy feeling on this one. You either think it looks cool, or you think it looks a little like the old drop down basement ceilings....you choose. Please choose the first.

Whenever I do something dramatic like this I always wait to form my opinion until the next day when I have fresh eyes.

I started by nailing a strip to the base of the shelves and right above the counter. Can't leave the tv unplugged!

Then I measured it all the way around and spaced strips every 21 inches. That's what it came out to. Roughly. I used a tiny level to make sure they were straight and nailed them in.

Thank you pneumatic nailer and compound sliding miter saw.

After that I filled holes and areas that weren't quite perfect. Although there weren't very many of those....ha. Who am I kidding, there were tons.

I capped off the ends with a piece as well. Here I actually had to separate that end piece because the cover overlapped and it didn't work. It looks good now though. 

And now, here it is. Please ignore the almond colored face plates, outlets and switches. Those will be replaced on my next trip to HD.

It is a shame that it is so hard to see!

Is anyone else saying in their head, "she really should paint that trim on the window now. It would look so much better." Because that's what I'm saying!

Here it is again....I am really liking how it turned out. Like I said, I came down the next day and I was sold. And - it was totally and completely free. FREE!

So...hit me with it....what do you think? Should I paint that window? Should I tear it all down and start over? I can't believe I'm throwing this out there....eh....I asked for it....