DIY Geometric Board and Batten Wall

I'm not sure if it's the colder weather or something else, but I've been getting moodier in my decor lately. While I'm still a firm believer that white paint fixes everything, I've been seeing beautiful kitchens, living rooms, and offices painted black and have been getting the itch to paint a room in my house black.
 
My master bedroom has been in flux since we moved in. It was the first room that I removed the wall paper in and painted, but then I did nothing else with it. It has sat for three years. No headboard, no design, no cohesive furniture. 
 
I finally had enough and decided to give it a little love, starting with a geometric feature wall. This project was super easy to do and cost me less than $50 in supplies. ​

Part of what spurred this project was a gift card I had to Home Depot from my wedding shower. I used it to purchase an airstrike nailer and wanted a project to try it out with. I had been seeing board and batten walls all over the interwebs and wanted to try one, but ultimately decided to go with a geometric pattern rather than a standard grid.
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I used 1 x 2 boards and 2 inch nails. I do not have textured walls so I didn't use the "board" part of the board and batten, thought I do regret that now and if I did it again I would (more on that later). ​
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The first thing I did was to remove the chair rail that was up on the wall. It actually came off far easier than I expected it to. Next, I filled in some holes in the wall as best I could, but my house is old and my walls are fairly beat up. If this was a forever and ever project I probably would have skim coated the wall, or put up boards to get a uniform smooth surface, but we are planning a remodel in the near future, so I skipped that, if I did it again, I wouldn't.
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I found a pattern for a "quilt" and used it as a rough guide for where to place the boards. I really didn't know how it would turn out or what it would look like, but I tried to concentrate the boards in the middle of the wall where a headboard wouldn't cover them.
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I started with one board diagonally on the wall and then built off of it. You can see the progression here.
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I used my circular saw to cut the boards and my speed square to figure out the angles. I did have a few gaps, but used wood filler in them.
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To secure the boards to the wall I used 2 inch nails and my nail gun. I did not use liquid nails because as I said this is a temporary project. If this was a permanent board and batten I definitely would have used liquid nails prior to nailing.
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The 1 x 2's are very light so it wasn't necessary to find the studs. This all made the project very easy to complete. Once I got going the whole process only took about an hour and a half.

I decided to make a bold choice and paint the wall black, something I hadn't done before in my house (I'm usually a white/beige kinda gal). I really wanted to do the whole room, but I'm going to have to work up to that.
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Since I was painting the wall a dark color I didn't have to calk where the boards meet the wall. If you do this and pick a light color you will need to calk since it will cast a shadow if you don't.
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I may add some crown molding to the top of the wall, but overall I'm happy with how it turned out. It added character without adding "stuff" and gave the room a completely different feel. I also made a fabric headboard to go with it, but more on that later!
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I was worried that the black would make the room feel small, but I actually feel like it feels bigger than it did when it was a blue/grey color. I also think the black on the one wall definitely highlights the wood, though I'm still toying with painting the whole thing.
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All in all this project was good for me because I stepped completely out of my comfort zone, the geometric wall and the black paint were very far from my usual choices. It was easy to make and would be a great weekend project if you're looking to jazz up your existing space. ​

​Have you ever stepped completely out of your design comfort zone?